Letter of the Day: April 25

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 00611

The Warren Anatomical Museum
Boston, Apr. 25, 1895

Maj. Walter Reed:
Surg. U.S. Army:
Curator of the Army Med. Mus.

My dear Sir:

The fine photographs of the skull with osteitis deformans have been received, and will you please accept my thanks for them for the Museum. The process is evidently the same as in the skull in our collection, whatever designation may be given to it. And certainly they are both extremely interesting specimens.

I have also to thank you for calling my attention to formaline as hardening agent, and am using it very extensively. It certainly preserves the color relations of the specimens and their general shape better than alcohol.

I have hardened the specimens in toto in formalin (5%) from 24 hours to several weeks, then then cut the specimens, washed with water and preserved them permanently in 80% alcohol, as from it's higher index it gives a rather more brilliant medium in the jars. In this way have been obtained some beautiful sections of cancer of the liver, tubercular glands, large carbuncles of the neck, tumors, &c.

I use it also entirely for hardening for histological examination in practically the same way, and find that it give fine preparations when stained quite deeply with haemotoxylon (Delafield's) 1/2 hour and afterwards with {new]? Guisen's piczo-fuchsin counter stain- (150 c.c. jot. vol. acid piczo, 3 cc sah. vol acid fuchsin) 3 to 5 minutes.

Hoping that you will always bear me in mind if anything new of value comes up in the way of preserving specimens. I remain

Yours very very truly
W.F. Whitney
Curator

Letter of the Day: July 26

American Museum of Natural History,

Central Park, (77^th St. & 8^th Ave.)

New York, July 26 1880

 

Genl. Geo. A. Otis.

 

Esteemed Sir.

Will you have the kindness to send me a copy of the “List of Specimens in the Anatomical Section of the Army Medical Museum. 1880.” Prefer a copy bound in cloth.

 

I am Sir, with respect,

Very Truly Yours,

James Terry

 

Pl address corr above.

Boxing and bones?

This photograph made me chuckle. This NCP image dates back to 1870 and displays soldiers from the Medical Detachment, U.S. Army Hospital in Fort Riley, Kansas. The soldiers "boxing" (obviously a not-so-candid shot) in the foreground first intrigued me, but it wasn't until I scanned the background that I really had to "lol", if you will. On the laps of two soldiers sits a human skeleton, whose skull has been positioned in a way that allows for him/her to watch the match. Why the skeleton on the lap, you ask? Well, perhaps the mysterious "guest" is the loser of the last boxing match (cue in the "mwah ha ha" courtesy of Vincent Price.) Or, perhaps sheer proximity to the hospital compelled the soldiers to shoot this interesting photo. Either way, it's a keeper.

New malaria book by one of our researchers

One of our researchers, Leo B. Slater, just let us know that his book has been published. That's our photo on the cover, which has been cropped a bit and edited a bit more, and here it is, full size, from one of our Flickr accounts.