Letter of the day, June 20

The photo to the right is from our Medical Illustration Service Library and has the caption "Colonel Frank M. Townsend, USAF, Medical Corps, deputy director of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, examines the bullet that killed Lincoln and the probe used in treating him. On the desk is a vial containing Lincoln's skull fragments. The bullet and probe used by surgeons attending President Lincoln were given to the Institute's Medical Museum by the Lincoln Museum." MIS 05-6595-7. I remember cataloging this image so it was pretty neat to find the letter transferring the objects.

United States Department of the Interior

National Park Service

National Capital Parks

Washington 25, D.C.

June 20, 1956

Miss Helen Purtle

Assistant Curator, Medical Museum

Armed Forces Institute of Pathology

Department of Defense

Washington 25, D.C.

Dear Miss Purtle:

Several weeks ago you made an oral request for the transfer of the bullet which killed Abraham Lincoln, together with the metal probe and six pieces of bone extracted from his skull, from the Lincoln Museum to the Medical Museum.

Since these objects, transferred to the Lincoln Museum from the Judge Advocate General's Office, War Department, on February 5, 1940, have never been displayed at the Lincoln Museum, a memorandum recommending this transfer was sent to the Director, National Park Service from this office on April 30, 1956. Permission for the transfer of these objects to the Medical Museum was granted by Associate Director E.T. Scoyen in his Memorandum to the Superintendent on June 8, 1956.

A representative of this office will make arrangements for the transfer of these objects to the Medical Museum. When these objects are received, please sign the three copies of the enclosed property forms, retain one copy for your records, and return two copies to this office in order to complete the records of the transfer.

Sincerely yours,

[signed] Edward J. Kelly

Superintendent

Letter of the Day: June 19

Post Hospital,
Depot General Recruiting Service,
Columbus Barracks, O. June 19, 1879.

Surgeon General, U.S.A.

Sir:

I have the honor to report that I am preparing for shipment by express, four jars of specimens (pathological) that surgeon Woodward told me, when here recently, would be acceptable at the Army Med. Museum. The largest specimen (cancer of internal organs) needs some change in preservation fluid, (smelling a little), or I would not send them on in advance of their histories: these latter I hope to send in a few days. The jars have new labels to identify their contents.

Very respectfully,
Your Ob’t Ser’t.
C.B. White
Surgoen, U.S.A.

Four new pictures up on Flickr

I put about 10 new pictures up on Flickr in the past few days.

Letter of the Day: June 18

[Donor relations and stealing a march on another Museum – nothing changed in 100 years.]

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 742

June 18, 1895

Clarence B. Moore, Esq.,
1321 Locust St.,
Philadelphia, Pa.

Dear Sir:

I am directed by the Surgeon General to acknowledge the receipt by express of several long bones, showing well developed platycnemia and other pathological changes, and to thank you for this addition to the Museum collection.

With regard to the Philadelphia specimens mentioned in your favor of June 16th, I beg to state that we will be pleased to receive and to put on exhibition any specimens which you may think deserving of permanent preservation. Please have the specimens carefully packed and turned over to Adams Express addressed “Army Medical Museum, Cor. 7th and B Sts., S.W., Washington, D.C.” express charges to be paid here.

Very sincerely yours,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator

Letter of the Day: June 17 - Wheeler survey

United States Engineer Office,
Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian,
P.O. Lock Box 93.
Washington, D.C., June 17, 1874

Bvt. Lt. Col. Geo. A. Otis
Curator Army med. Museum,
Washington

Sir:

By direction of Lieut. G.M. Wheeler in charge of the Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys west of the 100th Meridian I have the honor to forward as a donation to the Army Medical Museum the following specimens:

1 Skeleton of wild Turkey Meliagris var mexicanus No x 4
1 Pathological specimen fract. of leg of M.M.
1 skull monkey macacus cynomolgus from Dr. Yarrow
1 Bottle containing 15 bird crania presented by Dr. yarrow
1 Cranium Picus Columbianus No 892
1 Skeleton Massena’s quail Cyrtonyx Massena No 996
1 Skull of Gray Rabbit Lepus sylvaticus
3 Skulls Navajo Indians {1085, 1086, 11087 [Anatomical Section]
1 Skull Apache ? Indian {1088 [Anatomical Section]
1 Skull of Black Bear Ursus americanus no. R.O. 82
1 Skull of Black Bear Ursus americanus young
1 Sternum of Swainson’s hawk Buteo swainsoni No. 877
1 Sternum Prairie Falcon Falco polyagous No. 64
1 Sternum American Avocet Recurvirostra Americana No 39,
1 Sternum Red Breasted Teal Anas cyanoptera No. 417

It is hoped that these specimens may prove of some little value to the museum under your charge. Please acknowledge the receipt of the specimens.

Very respectfully Your obdt Servnt.
H.C. Yarrow
Surgeon, Nat. Expd.

New NLM digital text site: Physicians' Lives in the Shenandoah Valley

 

The History of Medicine Division's Archives and Modern Manuscripts Program (AMMP) is pleased to announce the launch of a new digital texts site "Physicians' Lives in the Shenandoah Valley," (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/digicolls/henkel/index.html) a collection of 828 letters dating between 1786-1907. It is drawn from the Henkel Family Letters collection covering more than a century of life in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

 

The Henkel family settled in New Market, Virginia in 1790. Generations of fathers and sons studied medicine. Over the course of their careers, these physicians ministered to their community, tended to their countrymen on the battlefield, and testified in the nation's courts of law.  The letters of the Henkel family richly document the daily life of men in medicine in the nineteenth century and reveal the challenges of the profession as well as the rewards and responsibilities. Their writings colorfully represent the range of events in everyday life, from the minute details of local issues to the national crisis of the Civil War. The missives convey the concerns and characters of the authors, vividly illustrating the writers' personalities, and their experiences as physicians.

 

The site contains the complete collection of transcribed letters alongside images of the originals. Curators normalized the majority of place names, general subject terms, and MeSH terms (Medical Subject Headings) to aid searching and browsing. The original spellings are enhanced by pop-up window links that display the normalized phrase. All spellings and verbiage are those of the original writers; no editorial interventions were made, although some layouts differ to enhance readability.

 

This site marks AMMP's first XML encoded text collection using the DLXS software. The encoded texts conform to the TEI Level 4 (Text Encoding Initiative) specifications.

 

Project Conception, Transcriptions/Scanning, Content Development: Jim Labosier

Technical Coordinator, Site Design, and Development: John Rees

 

Letter of the Day - June 16 (3 of 3) - hairballs

[Andrea of our public programs staff is fascinated by hairballs and selected this letter.]

 

Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, D.C., June 16, 1880

 

Dr. Geo. A. Otis,

Curator, Army Medical Museum,

Washington, D.C.

 

Sir:

                In accordance with the agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the Army Medical Museum, I take pleasure in sending you a ball of hair from a cow’s stomach, presented to the Institution by Thomas T. Crosson of Livingston, Texas.

 

Very respectfully,

Spencer Baird

Secretary

 

A copy of the above given to Dr. Schafhirt with the spec. June 18, 1880.

Specimen Received June 17, and ack. June 18, 1880. Letter 5616.

Letter of the Day: June 16 (2 of 3)

Jacksonville, Fla
June 16, 1895

Army Medical Museum.

Gentlemen,

I sent you by express yesterday a box of long bones – examples of platycnemia and pathological specimens – from the mounds of Florida. They were taken out in my immediate presence and are exactly labeled.

I have in Philadelphia a considerable collection of pathological specimens also made in my immediate presence. I think they would be more in place with you than where they are at present and I believe I could induce the present possessors to relinquish them.

I would not care to do this, however, unless you have space in the museum to place them – or the most interesting among them – on exhibition. Kindly drop me a line at your convenience to 1321 Locust St., Philadelphia, and oblige

Yours very truly
Clarence B. Moore

Bones received June 18, 1895

Letter of the Day: June 16 (1 of 3) - Paget on Medical Museums

1 Harewood Place
Hanover Square, W.

London, June 16, 1888

My dear Dr. Billings

I enclose some more of the answers to your questions and a few more, probably, will come in and shall be sent to you at once.

I will gladly write what I think on the subjects mentioned in your last letter / May 20th / but it must be admitted that on nearly all points that which may be deemed best for London may not be so for Washington. This is, certainly, try in reference to your first question. Here, we have our British Museum, which, in its Natural History Departments, corresponds with your National Museum, and we have our Museum of the College of Surgeons which, although it may be classed as a Medical Museum, yet has illustrations of Comparative Anatomy & Physiology in their widest range in the collections combining them both would doubtless have the glory of being more nearly perfect than either alone can be; and there would be some utility in this; but I think it is, on the whole, much more useful to have the two; for they are two miles apart; they are chiefly studied by two different classes of persons; their mutual friendly rivalry is generally beneficial; and, the College’s Museum being independent of Government support, insures a larger total expenditure for scientific purposes than the Government might be disposed to grant. Similarly, there are, I think, great advantages in our having for the promotion of Botany not only the collections of the British Museum but those of the Linnaean Society in which are included those of Linnaeus himself.

I should not think thus if our two museums were, like yours, only 150 yards apart and if both were wholly or in any considerable degree dependent on the Government. I should think that in your Medical Museum it would suffice if Comparative Anatomy were illustrated to the fullest range of what may reasonably be deemed its near relations with human anatomy, physiology and morphology. The Museums of our universities and chief medical schools have their sections in Comparative Anatomy and Physiology on this plan; but yours would, of course be larger; and in estimating for it what might be deemed the reasonable range of Comparative Anatomy I would exceed rather than fall short. There is no harm in the overlapping of museums or of the several divisions of any one; duplicates are far less troublesome than defects are; students should not be obliged to go from one museum to another for the illustrations of any but the most difficult subjects.

For these reasons I think that though your Medical Museum should have by far the larger number of specimens of Vertebrate Embryology, yet the Natural History Museum should have many (?); and if they were duplicates of your ones it would not do harm.

About Anthropometry – except in so far as it is concerned with specimens that may be put in a museum, I cannot express an opinion. I have never considered it or seen it tried; but it would be admirable it if led to the abolition of measurements by the sizes of eggs, oranges, nuts, horse-beans etc, which abound in what out to be accurate descriptions.

As to “what a Medical Museum should show to the unprofessional public” I think as might safely be determined by the range of the best popular lectures given from time to time; - excluding all things genital or relating to them and all, or nearly all, things pathological of which the chief interest is personal; but not excluding “wonders,” such as skeletons of giants, dwarfs, + the life, or the effects of an accident, for thinking of wonders often leads to more useful thinking about common things.

Then, lastly, as to Instruments with the names of those to whom they belonged, I am very glad that you mention them for you thus give me an opportunity of offering something to your Museum and which I take with even more pleasure, an opportunity of giving some evidence of my great regard for yourself. I will send you a lancet which belonged to John Hunter [815 Misc. Sect.]. It was given to me by Mr. Clift who was his secretary and the first conservator of his Museum and who marked his name on it. And with it will be an Assalini’s artery-forceps [816 Misc. Sect.] , said to be the first ever made in England. It was given to me by Mr. Wardrop, whose works on the Eye and other subjects will be known to you as he was, probably, the first who used the instrument in England, and I never knew it to fail; and even now, when it is more than 70 years old, it is perfectly fit for use.

Pray accept them, and with them my sincere wishes that you and all your work may enjoy complete prosperity.

Always truly yours,
James Paget.

Let me also be remembered very kindly to Mrs. Billings [over]
I do not know when Assalini’s forceps was first described but in his Annals di Chirgia, ? 1812 he speaks at p. 69 of “suis finzetta a doppi usaini?” and a form of it is figured in pl. viii figs 10, described at p. 173.

[Instruments received July 2, 1888. A.M.M. Nos. 815 & 816 Miscellaneous Section]

Rebecca's Post - June 15, 2010

As a new intern at the Human Developmental Anatomy Center, I have been asked to blog weekly about my experiences here. I am an undergraduate at NYU studying physical anthropology, but embryology is pretty new to me. I guess you’ll learn along with me through these blog entries (or at least see some cool pictures from my scanning adventures).

Well, it seems like I have been glued to this chair next to the scanner for a while now. I scan old crinkly acetate models from sun up to sun down (I hyperbolize as well). Usually, it’s not so bad because most of the stuff is really interesting and it’s incredible to handle original models from the 1920s.

Take this scan, for example; it was in a small box labeled only “Tadpole Ears, Streeter, 1920.” Tadpole ears?! At first I thought George Streeter had just pulled a fast one on me, mixing tadpole ears in with collections of human embryos and research on rhesus monkeys, but then I realized it did make sense after all to include tadpoles in a study on development. I continued to scan, appreciative of the great lengths to which scientists went so many years ago in order to understand human development.

As I continued to scan, however, my attention drifted elsewhere and I began to see angry clowns in every slide. This tadpole looks horrifyingly similar to the killer clown in the movie “It,” don’t you think?

Pictures are still going up on Flickr

While we haven't been linking to them as often, the Archives is still posting pictures on the Museum's Flickr site and we put up two images of Civil War soldiers yesterday. Stop in and check them out - 930,000* other viewers can't be wrong.

*but I can - it's 971,000 viewers as of today. 5 new pictures for this afternoon too.

Letter of the Day: June 15 - census questions

Museum curator John Shaw Billings also did a lot of work on the US Census, directing the medical parts of it.

1811 Spruce Street

My dear Dr. Billings,

For my Address next May, as President of the Climatological Society I propose to give a discussion of phthisis in Pennsylvania, considered statistically and in reference to race, occupation and topography.

Will you kindly inform me, though I fear I should not trouble you with this question, what is the present status of the volume of vital statistics and the Statistical Atlas of the Census of 1880.

Have they been published or if not can you tell me when it will be likely that they will be published.

Yours truly,
William Pepper
6-15-85

Pages 128-135 of Table XIII Census Rep sent June 20.

Museum staff on WNYC's Radiolab show

The brief visit to the medical museum is online now and can be listened to at the following link:

Famous Tumors
May 7 2010

To start, Robert tries to touch--literally touch--the tumor that killed President Ulysses S. Grant. But will its keepers (Dr. Adrianne Noe and Brian Spatola) let him?

Letter of the Day: June 14

June 14, 1880

Sir:

I have to acknowledge your communication of the 12th inst., and to return to you the specimen of the foetal calf accompanying it, you were good enough to forward to the Army Medical Museum, but which is not regarded as a desirable acquisition for the section of comparative anatomy of the Museum.

I am Sir, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant
George A. Otis
Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A.
Curator Army Med. Museum

Stabler, James R.
Department of Agriculture

The NY Times as a history of medicine primer

A front page article on the current state of military medical evacuation -

As Afghan Fighting Expands, U.S. Medics Plunge In
By C. J. CHIVERS
Published: June 12, 2010
Nearly nine years into the Afghan war, the pace for air crews that retrieve the wounded has become pitched.

an obituary dealing with 20th century neurology -

Fred Plum, Neurologist Who Helped Coin ‘Persistent Vegetative State,’ Dies at 86
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
Published: June 11, 2010
Dr. Plum’s influential research improved the diagnosis and treatment of patients who lose consciousness from head injuries, strokes, metabolic disorders and drug overdoses.

The country's last tuberculosis sanitarium -

In Florida, a Lifeline to Patients With TB
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: June 12, 2010
Sixty years after it opened for tuberculosis patients, A.G. Holley State Hospital in Florida is both a paragon of globalized public health and a health care anachronism.

And the difficulties of genomic medicine ten years later -

A Decade Later, Genetic Map Yields Few New Cures
By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: June 12, 2010
The primary goal of the $3 billion Human Genome Project — to ferret out the genetic roots of common diseases and generate treatments — remains largely elusive.

Letter of the Day: June 13

June 13, 1881

Sir:-

I am instructed by the Surgeon General to acknowledge the safe reception on the 10th inst. of the section of skull in the case of a negro named Wood. It was forwarded by Surgeon G. Perin, U.S. Army Medical Director, Dept. of Dakota, and will be placed in the Surgical Section of the Army Med. Museum and numbered 7073. The specimen will be credited to you in the Museum Catalogue, and the Surgeon General requests me to thank you for this contribution to the collection.

Very respectfully,
Your obt. servt.
D. L. Huntington
Surgeon, U.S.A.

Mattocks, Dr. B.
St. Paul, Minn.
(Thru the Med. Director
Dept. of Dakota,
Fort Snelling, Minn.)

Letter of the Day: June 12

Department of Agriculture,

Washington, D.C., June 12, 1880

 

Chief of Army Medical Museum

 

Dear Sir:

 

The accompanying “mummified calf” was taken from the womb of a cow which had not calved for three years.

 

If it is of any value please accept it as a donation from Mr. E.R. Stabler, writer of inclosed (sic) letter. He can give you additional particulars & anything he says may be implicitly relied on.

 

If you do not care for the specimen, please inform me, and retain it until I can ascertain what further disposition he may desireo make of it.

 

Respectfully

Yours +c

James P. Stabler

 

Enclosure:

 

Brighton, MD

Montgomery Co

June 10^th

 

James P. Stabler

 

Dear Cousin

 

I send you by Mr. Wilson a “Dried Calf” which is just as it was taken from the womb of a healthy cow. It is a curious specimen as it remained in the womb 2 years after maturity without decaying in the slightest degree. It has been at least a month since the cow was killed + except for the mould (sic) which you can see on the surface I believe it is just as sound as when it was first removed. I send it to you because I think it ought to be reserved from insects. I have not time to write more just now but will try to see you on Sunday.

 

Your Affec

Edward R. Stabler

GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY HELD FOR NEW MUSEUM BUILDING

GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY HELD FOR NEW MUSEUM BUILDING AT FORT DETRICK-FOREST GLEN IN SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND


Maj. Hugh Darville (left to right), Deputy District Engineer, Baltimore District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Col. Judith D. Robinson, Commander, U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Detrick; Dr. Florabel Garcia Mullick, Director, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology; Dr. Adrianne Noe, Director, National Museum of Health and Medicine; and David Costello, President, Costello Construction; prepare to break ground May 21 on the museum's new facility to be built on the Fort Detrick’s Forest Glen Annex in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Photo by Dave Rolls, Visual Information, US Army Garrison Fort Detrick


Washington, D.C. – June 8, 2010
A groundbreaking ceremony for the National Museum of Health and Medicine was held on May 21, 2010, on the site of its new building at Fort Detrick-Forest Glen in Silver Spring, Maryland. Construction is set to begin within weeks with completion due in summer 2011. NMHM is a Department of Defense museum and an element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, located on the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The brief ceremony was led by three speakers, including Dr. Florabel Mullick, Director, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology; the Museum’s director Dr. Adrianne Noe; and Colonel Judith Robinson, Commander, US Army Garrison, Fort Detrick of Frederick, Maryland. Representing the project management team from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District was Major Hugh Darville, Deputy District Engineer. David Costello, owner of Costello Construction Management of Columbia, Maryland, also participated in the program. In attendance were Museum staff and volunteers, commanders and directors of tenant agencies at the Forest Glen Annex, as well as personnel from the various organizations and agencies central to the building project.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on the 148th anniversary of the founding of the Army Medical Museum, which was remarked upon by Dr. Noe:

"One hundred forty-eight years ago to this day the Army Medical Museum was founded—not merely to examine anatomical specimens and medical instruments for teaching, but to assemble and study objects to improve the care of the wounded and sick in novel ways. That persistent role sets us apart from every museum and research institution in the land. The only tri-service [Department of Defense] museum, our function as a military medical research asset transcends the familiar legacy role to embrace a collections-based agenda with a purpose that is uniquely valuable to the Department of Defense and the nation. But as old as we are, our orientation is squarely toward the future. We collaborate with complex research organizations and collect prospectively. We explore our collections with the tools of supercomputing. And we partner with educational organizations to help design the artificial organs and the imaging technologies of the future."

"The museum has had a long history . . . but it’s not just a museum," said COL Robinson of Fort Detrick. "It’s about groundbreaking research that takes the past and brings it into the future."

"We are creating a new home, and a beautiful one, for one of our most visionary museums," said Dr. Mullick of the AFIP.

The USACE Baltimore District awarded a design/build contract to Costello Construction of Columbia, Maryland in December 2009.

All questions and comments may be directed to Tim Clarke, Jr., NMHM Deputy Director for Communications, phone (202) 782-2672, e-mail timothy.clarke@afip.osd.mil.

Letter of the Day: June 11

Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C., June 11 1878

Sir:

We have to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of “a tattooed head of a Maori, or New Zealander,” transferred to this Institution, where it originally formed part of the collection of the Wilkes Expedition.

Very truly yours,
Spencer F. Baird
Sect. S.I.

Dr. George A. Otis,
Curator Army Med Museum

Letter of the Day: June 10

Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, June 10, 1870

Dear Sir;

We are in receipt of a letter from Prof Quatrefages, of Paris, announcing the transmission to us of casts of the celebrated Cro-magnon crania, that has excited so much interest in France during the last few months, and hope, ere long, to have the pleasure of adding these important archaeological specimens to the Museum under your charge. We are promised full series of similar objects and are allowed to hope even that, in time, we will be possessors of some originals. We find an excellent feeling towards the Institution on the part of the archaeologists of Paris and disposition to place us in the first rank in the distribution of collections.

The Professor asks whether we can send him crania from our American races, definitely named by tribes, and also those of the mound builders, and if you can spare any specimens of the kind I am sure it would be a gratification to Prof. Henry to have you supply them; a satisfactory return will, certainly, be made for whatever may be sent. We are just packing our boxes for Paris and if you will forward to us a few such objects for the Ethnological Cabinet of Paris it will give us pleasure to forward them at once.

We are at present, prosecuting an exploration of Mounds in Tennessee from which we have reasonable grounds for expecting a number of crania. We have given injunctions to those in charge of the exploration to spare no pains in securing specimens and in preventing their being injured by digging..

I am,
Very truly yours,
Spencer F Baird
Asst. Sect. in charge.

Dr. Geo: A. Otis,
Army Medical Museum
Washington

Letter of the Day: June 9 - Whiskey?

Headqurs: 26th R.P.V.[26th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers]. 1st Brig: 2 Div 3 Corps
Camp near Falmouth June 9th 1863

Doctor:

Today I sent through Med: Purveyor Dr. McMillan a small box containing some of the pathological specimens refered (sic) to in your letter of the 6th inst:

I regret that the specimens are in such a bad condition and so few. The barrel containing the same was broken open and contents buried, my Asst. Dr. Dewling exhumed those I sent, further search is now instituted. The impression is that the barrel was mistaken for whiskey.

I prepared several interesting specimens during my leisure expecting to be the bearer of the same to Washington, as I received orders to report to the Department of the Cumberland in April last, but retained here by Genl: Sickles. I hope soon to present the balance in person.

I have the honor to be
Your obedient servant
S.J.W. Mintzer
Surgeon in Chief 1st Brig, 2 Div, 3 Corps

J.H. Brinton
Surgeon U.S.V. + Curator
Army Medical Museum

Letter of the Day: June 8 - Vivisection?

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1523

 

609 Third St.,

Washington, D.C.,

June 8, 1896.

 

Surgeon Walter Reed, U.S.A.,

Curator Army Medical Museum,

Washington, D.C.

 

Dear Sir:

 

In reply to your letter of June 5, 1896, enclosing an extract from the Report of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia on the subject of vivisection, I would say that a very wonderfully distorted, inaccurate and false description has been given of work conducted at the Army Medical Museum some twenty years ago. Those who were practically engaged in the Microscopical Division should know better than any one else the character of the work that was performed, and that all animals experimented upon were under the influence of an anesthetic. One who was not in any manner connected with the Microscopical Division of the Museum, as was the case with Dr. L.E. Rauterberg, could draw upon his imagination very satisfactorily, and write a vivid description of what might have been done with animals, the remains of which he saw under alcohol in specimen jars. I, however, testify that at no time during my connection with the Army Medical Museum, from about 1870 to the end of the year 1895 have any experiments been performed upon animals in which an anesthetic was not used, unless some of the ordinary inoculation experiments, which are practically painless, nor were animals kept in a mutilated condition.

 

Very respectfully,

Dr. J.C. McConnell

Letter of the Day: June 7 (2 of 2) - the Navy's medical museum

 

[The US Navy had a short-lived medical museum too.]

 

Museum of Hygiene

Bureau of Medicine & Surgery

Cor. 18^th & G Streets, N.W.

Washington June 7 1884

 

Surgeon,

D.L. Huntington,

Acting Surgeon General, U.S.A.

Washington, D.C.

 

Sir:

 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of a colored drawing of a Cremation Furnace, designed by Surgeon Charles Smart, U.S.A., and by him presented to this Museum.

 

The contribution is very acceptable, and the courtesy of Surgeon Smart is gratefully recognized.

 

I am, very respectfully, +c.

J.M. Browne

Medical Director in Charge

Letter of the Day: June 7 (1 of 2) - Cuba! Yellow Fever! Sea Sickness!

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 4638

War Department,
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library,
Washington,
June 7, 1900

 

Lt. Col. Francis B. Jones,

Quartermaster’s Department, U.S.A.

Army Building, 39 Whitehall St.

New York, N.Y.

 

Sir:

 

Per Special Orders No. 122, Par. 33, A.G.O. May 24, 1900, Actg. Asst. Surgeon James Carroll and I are ordered to proceed from New York City to Havana, Cuba. I have this day been informed by Col. Bird, of your Department, that the transports Crook and Sedgwick will probably sail from New York for Havana about June 20^th, and I, therefore, request that you will kindly reserve accommodations for Dr. Carroll and myself on one of these vessels. As both of us suffer very much from sea-sickness we would be glad to give state rooms amidships, if possible, and on the transport that is considered the steadiest sea-going boat.

 

Very respectfully,

Walter Reed

Major & Surgeon,

U.S. Army

Letter of the day, June 6 (2/2)

Surgeon General's Office
Washington City, June 6th, 1868

Dear Doctor,
I have met with very few "Flatheads" in my excursions through Oregon, and those few seemed to be as intelligent as any other Indians.
I know nothing about their qualifications for membership in a "smelling committee", but hope for their own sake, that they may be deficient in this "special sense", as they live in an atmosphere of "stinks", to which the far famed "City of Cologne", cannot "hold a candle".

Yours very truly,
C.H. Crane

Dr. Geo. A. Otis
U.S. Army

P.S.
The Surgeon General knows no more about them than myself.

Letter of the day, June 6

Controlling health care costs is not a new idea or concern, nor is the idea of universal health care. Also, I wonder if this is the beginning of the movement to have decisions about a patient's care made by hospital administrators?

John R. Mannix, the recipient of this letter, authored another article in the journal Hospitals (April 1944) where he states, "It has been confirmed and emphasized by every competent survey to date, including the Fortune poll, which showed that three-quarters (74.3 per cent) of all Americans believe the federal government should collect enough taxes after the way to provide for medical care for everyone who needs it."

From OHA 287, Registry of Noteworthy Research in Pathology

June 6, 1944

Mr. John R. Mannix,
Michigan Hospital Service,
Washington Blvd. Bldg.,
Detroit 26, Mich.

Dear Mr. Mannix:

Thank you for sending me the reprint of your article in the J.A.M.A. and also for having sent copies to Mrs. Bolton. I have read with considerable care your article on the Blue Cross. I particularly like the material under the heading Emergency is Here. I also favor the idea that such services should be interchangeable in the different parts of the country. I warmly approve your emphasis on the voluntary aspects of the proposal. There is one thought about your proposal which seems to me to deserve further consideration. You indicate that the provision of laboratory services and drugs, as well as the subscriber's stay in the hospital, should be left to the discretion and control of the physician. You know our experience here from your personal acquaintance with it. The selection of drugs should be made with care as to their exact purposes and relative costs. The exploitation of free laboratory services by the attending physician has been a real danger. The physician may also prolong the stay of a patient in the hospital for a variety of reasons not directly connected with medical care. Just how to control these possible disadvantages is a troublesome matter but that some sort of control should be exercised is certain. As you know, the vast majority of physicians are wholly considerate of their responsibilities to the organizations whith which they are connected but a few who allow other motives to influence their decisions may do harm. The greatest harm is not merely in their excessive requirements but rather in the influence brought to bear upon patients in their relations to other physicians. To delegate authority in this connection to administrative officers of the hospitals is not entirely without objection. There should, however, be some responsible group in the professional staff organization with authority to exercise control whenever necessary.

With best wishes, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Howard T. Karsner

Letter of the day, June 5 (2 of 2)

Department of State
Washington, 5 June 1877.

To Dr. George A. Otis,
Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A.

Dear Sir:
Many thanks for your attentive note of this date, with respect of the "Salmo Fontinalis", sent to you by my excellent brother. Having been much of an angler, and lover of the gentle art, it would certainly afford me great pleasure to take a look at him but, I must beg you not to to defer the opening of the box, as you have very kindly proposed, for my coming, as it will be impracticable for me to leave here this morning. With many thanks, repeated, for your attentions.

I am, very respectfully yours,
Your obedient servant[?],
A.H. Clements

Letter of the Day: June 5 (1 of 2)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1515

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

June 5, 1896.

Major Walter Reed,
Surgeon U.S. Army,
Washington D.C.

My dear Doctor:-

Your kind favor is very much appreciated and I am glad I awaited the result of your examination before I entered into a controversy with the officials as to the presence of Anthrax.

The dried specimen of blood was sent me and I had no chance to take precaution against accidental contamination and it remained for me to determine whether among other organisms the anthrax was there. I am curious to know what the rod shaped organism was, which was spore bearing and which not only liquefied gelatin, but showed the feathery growth in slab culture and which was non-motile.

A stained specimen showed segmental chains not unlike anthrax.

I shall abide your decision of course and keep quiet as to positive diagnosis.

I am,
Very respectfully,
J. Hamilton Stone,
1st Lieutenant and Asst. Surgeon U.S. Army

Letter of the Day: June 4 (3 of 3)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 702

Boeckmann’s Sterilizer, etc.

June 4, 1895

To the Surgeon General, U.S. Army,
Washington, D.C.

General:

Referring to your letter of June 3, 1895, I beg to state that the Boeckmann’s Steam Sterilizer and metal box for sterilizing catgut was received by me on June 8, 1894. I would further state that, as far as the records of this office show or as my recollection bears me out, no report was requested concerning the merits of this sterilizer. Since the date of its receipt, however, it has been in constant use in the Laboratory of the Army Medical School, and has given complete satisfaction. The inventor’s effort to supply an inexpensive sterilizer for saturated steaming, low over-steam, appears to have been perfectly realized in this apparatus. I first saw it in St. Paul, in the spring of 1893, and was at that time favorably impressed with its superiority as a steam sterilizer. I have not tried the sterilization of catgut since its receipt at the Laboratory, but will do so at once if this is desired.

I very much regret that I should have been under the impression that no report was required concerning the merits of this apparatus.

Very respectfully,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator.

Letter of the Day: June 4 (2 of 3)

Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C., June 4, 1887

Dr. Billings,

Dear Sir:

The bearer, Mr. J. Z. Rogers, who I have known for some time as the keeper of an eating house near the Government Printing Office, desires the privilege of serving lunch in the Medical Museum.

He has had years of experience in the Lunch business, and I have no doubt he would give satisfaction should you grant him the privilege he desires.

Very respectfully,
E.W. Oyster,
Foreman, Specification Room, G.P.O.

Letter of the Day: June 4 (1 of 3)

Lincoln Gen’l Hospital
Washington, D.C.
June 4, 1864

Colonel:-

I herewith send you for the Army Medical Museum, a minie ball, which came from the thigh of Captain A. F. Schwartz of Co. F. 1st Maryland (Rebel) Cavalry. The Capt. Was wounded on the 9th of May in the battle of Beaver Dam. The ball, he thinks, struck a fence before hitting him. It entered about the centre of the right nates and did not pass out. The track of the ball is in the direction of the hip-joint. Probing shows that the bone was not touched.

A few hours after the admission of the patient to the Hospital, on the 21st of May, the ball dropped from the wound upon the bed-clothes, no search having been made for it since his entrance. The patient is doing well.

I have the honor to be,
Very Respectfully,
Yr. Obt. Serv’t
J.W. Merriam
Asst. Surgeon U.S. Vols.

Col. J.K. Barnes
Act’g Surg. Gen. U.S.A.
Washington, D.C.

Letter of the day, June 3

[Numbered Correspondence 1872]

June 3, 1897.

THE KNY-SCHEERER CO.
17 Park Place,
New York, N.Y.

Gentlemen:

The glass globe for the monkey skull has been received in good order, for which please accept my thanks. On account of closing our accounts for the present fiscal year, ending June 30, there may be some delay in paying your bill of $80.00 (2 skulls), possibly until after June 30, but I will have the vouchers prepared and sent to you as soon as the appropriation of 1897-1897 becomes available, which will be no later than July 1st.

Very respectfully,
D.L. Huntington
Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army,
In charge of Museum and Library Division.

Letter of the Day: June 2

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1515

June 2, 1896

Lieut. J. Hamilton Stone,

Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army,

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

My dear Doctor:

I sent you a telegram this morning concerning the culture received late last evening. Carroll plated at once, and it requires only a glance at the colonies to state positively that this is not anthrax.

I will to-morrow inoculate a guinea pig with a 48-hour old culture in bouillon.

Don’t you think it a little risky to draw conclusions from a culture made with dried sheep’s blood which had been sent to you unless this blood had been taken with every known precaution to avoid contamination? One should exercise great care in a matter of this kind before giving a positive opinion. If I can ascertain what the organism is, or if it has pathogenic effects, I will let you know to-morrow. Very sincerely yours,

Walter Reed

Surgeon, U.S. Army

The latest forensic report on an artist

 

Beethoven May Not Have Died of Lead Poisoning, After All

By JAMES BARRON, New York Times May 29, 2010

Letter of the day, June 1

Howe Laboratory of Ophthalmology
Harvard University Medical School
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

Address: 243 Charles Street
Boston, Massachusetts

June 1, 1934

Major V.H. Cornell
Army Medical Museum
7th and B Streets, S.W.
Washington, D.C.

Dear Major Cornell:

I am sending you the ophthalmoscope that Dr. Harrower presented to the Howe Library Museum, but it certainly is not an original Helmholtz ophthalmoscope, because it has a silvered mirror, and the first Helmholtz ophthalmoscope did not have a silvered mirror. If, after you have examined it, you do not find it of sufficient interest to keep, or if you already have one like it, please return it to us.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] F.H. Verhoeff, M.D.

FHV/T

Letter of the Day: May 22 - Civil War in Northern Virginia

Here's a nice letter for Memorial Day, even though it's from a week earlier. As I've noted elsewhere, writing during a memorializing age when much of Washington was being filled with statues of war heroes, Surgeon General Barnes hoped, "In carrying out the intentions of Congress, it has been my earnest endeavor to make this Medical and Surgical History of the War, not only a contribution to science, but an enduring monument to the self-sacrificing zeal and professional ability of the Volunteer and Regular Medical Staff; and the unparalleled liberality of our Government, which provided so amply for the care of its sick and wounded soldiers."

Centreville Camp Hays 22nd May 1863

J. H. Brinton, M.D.
Surgeon U.S.V.
Curator of the Army Medical Museum.

In obedience to Yours from May 16th I proceded (sic) to Gen’l Abercrombie’s Headquarters in submitting your letter. I was informed that official orders from Gen’l Heinzelmann were received to let nobody pass outside the lines. The battlefield of Bull Run is 3 miles outside the lines. If I could get a permission from Gen’l Heinzelmann and an escort of Cavalry from Gen’l Stahl in Fairfax, I am sure to be recompensed by a rich booty of pathological objects. Please and furnish permission and an escort and I will immediately proceed to the Battlefield and take with me such men well acquainted with the locality and relative places.

After the engagement at Strasburg and the battle of Kross Keys (sic - Cross Keys) I had a little collection, but afterwards meanwhile my captivity in June & July last year they were lost. The cranium Dr. Baron mentioned is lost, but I hope that this loss will be repaired by another one I will send to you.

Very Respectfully Your Obdt. Servant,
Frederick Wolf
Surgeon of the 39th Regt. N.Y.V.

P.S. Allow me to write you next time a letter, concerning views in composing the materials of a military museum which I would hazard to submit to you.

Letter of the day, May 31

We wish we had a benefactor, too.


May 31, 1912.

Mr. Leo Hamburger
Scheffelstrasse 24
Frankfurt, a/M

Sir;

In reply to your of 21st inst. Enclosing copy of letter of 29th Feby., 1912, relative to the purchase of collection of medals, “Pestilentia in nummis” of the late Mr. Pfeiffer for $10,000, you are informed that there is no money available for this expenditure, and that your suggestion to find some prominent man who would be willing to purchase the collection and present it to the Museum is entirely impracticable.

Very respectfully,
Walter D. McCaw
Lt. Col. Medical Corps, U.S.A.
In charge of Museum & Library Division

some of our exhibits

Letter of the Day: May 30

U.S. Marine-hospital Service,
District of the Gulf,
Part of New Orleans La, Surgeon’s Office,
May 30th, 1885

To the Surgeon General U.S. Army,
Washington D.C.

Sir:

On a recent visit to the exhibit of the U.S. Army Medical Department at the Exposition now in this city, I was more than gratified to find displayed therein, photogrpahs of skeletons of Sioux indians donated by me when a hospital stweard of the army on duty at Camp (now Fort) Robinson, Nebraska. If it can be conveniently done, I should be glad to procure copies of the photograps above mentioned and I shall greatly appreciate the favor.

At the time I made the last donation to the Museum Asst. Surgeon Otis (then Curator) promsed me that I should have a full and complete assortment of publications of the Surgeon General’s office, more particularly those relating to the Army Medical Museum. His subsequent illness and death prevented any action on his part and I imagine no record of his promises being made, the whole matter was forgotten.

Very respectfully,
Your obedent servant,
Samuel W. Richardson
Hospital Steward
U.S. Marine Hosp’l Service
(Formerly U.S. Army)
Care of Custom House

Five unmounted photographs of skeletons sent by mail June 8, 1885

Letter of the Day: May 29

This is in regard to Swiss Hospital Corps equipment.

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 738

Copy.
No. 70.

United States Legation,
Bern, May 29th, 1895.

Hon. Edwin F. Uhl,
Acting Secretary of State.

Sir:

In compliance with your instructions contained in Despatch (sic) No. 88 in relation to the purchase of articles for the Army Medical Museum as per request of the Acting Secretary of War, I have made arrangements with the Technical Division of the War Material Administration for the purchase of the articles desired by the Secretary of War. Some of them are on hand, others will have to be constructed, and it will probably be three months from this date, before they can be ready for shipment. In regard to some of the articles which are to be constructed the cost will probably be more than the estimates heretofore reported to the Department. I will not receive or send any of them until they are all ready for shipment.

I have the honor to be, &c.
(Signed)
James O. Broadhead.

History of phamarcy obituary

This is pretty interesting - the world of pharmacy changed immensely in the 20th century -

Robert L. McNeil Jr., 94, dies; third-generation pharmacist marketed Tylenol
By Emma Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 26, 2010; B07

William Osler photos website

Chris Lyons and the Osler Library of the History of Medicine at McGill University have put up a nice website of photographs of the famed William Osler. I especially like the Max Broedel caricature under the Baltimore period.