Anatomical Theatre website launches

Morbid Anatomy's launched a new site based on an exhibit of photographs she's done. She writes "I have finally launched the website for Anatomical Theatre, the photographic exhibition of medical museum artifacts. For more information about the project, check out the "Introduction" and "Press Release" pages."

Wax and plaster models as well as other specimens from the NMHM are included.

Lecture on The Early History of NIH Biomedical Computing

This is at NIH.

Lecture: The Forgotten Revolution: The Early History of NIH Biomedical Computing


History of Biomedicine Lecture at the NIH May 16, 2008, 3:30 p.m.
Building 10 (Clinical Center), Room: Hatfield 2-3750

Dr. Joseph A. November, Ph.D., will present the 2008 DeWitt Stetten, Jr. Lecture, titled "The Forgotten Revolution: The Early History of NIH Biomedical Computing," on Friday, May 16 at 3:30 p.m., in Building 10 (Clinical Center), Room 2-3750 (Hatfield side). All are welcome.

About the Speaker:

Dr. November is the current DeWitt Stetten, Jr. Memorial Fellow and an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina's Department of History. He received his doctorate in history from Princeton University in 2006. At NIH his research focuses on how NIH promoted the development of computer technology in the 1950s and 1960s. He is preparing a book on the early history of biomedical computing.

Abstract:

At NIH today, digital electronic computers are a vital, necessary component of almost all aspects of research and administration. However, there was nothing inevitable about NIH's adoption of computers or the ways the machines came to be used. As late as 1956, the majority of NIH's leadership was firmly against dedicating resources to computing in research. It took a hard-fought campaign throughout the late 1950s and
early 1960s, led by Drs. Frederick Brackett and Arnold "Scotty" Pratt, and supported by Director James Shannon, to overcome NIH's reluctance to adopt the new technology.

The campaign bring computers to NIH may be long forgotten, but its consequences profoundly altered not only biomedical computing beyond the NIH campus but also computing in general.

This lecture will cover three interconnected stories. First, it will examine how the Division of Computer Research and Technology (now CIT) grew out of Brackett and Pratt's long struggle to computerize research at NIH. Second, it surveys the far-reaching activities of the Advisory Committee on Computers in Research (NIH-ACCR), which was established in 1960 and generously funded by the U.S. Senate for the purpose of introducing computers to laboratories and hospitals worldwide. Third, it describes NIH's important but seldom-discussed role in the development
of the Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC), a small, general-purpose, real-time digital computer built in 1963 at MIT especially for biomedical researchers; the roots of many aspects of personal computing can be traced back to the LINC.

This presentation is sponsored by the Office of NIH History. The NIH Biomedical Computing Interest Group (BCIG) will be recording the lecture. For more information about the Biomedical Research History Interest Group (BRHIG) and upcoming events, please visit the websites at http://history.nih.gov or http://www.nih.gov/sigs/brhig.


NIH Visitor information:
See http://www.nih.gov/about/visitorsecurity.htm and
http://parking.nih.gov/visitor_access_map.htm.

For more information or special accommodations, please contact Deborah
Kraut at 301-496-8856 or krautd@mail.nih.gov.

Reeve233

Reeve233
Originally uploaded by otisarchives3

This has been a pretty big hit over the last couple of days, so we figure some blog must have linked to it. The wages of sin, y'all.

Chapel at Walter Reed

Chapel at Walter Reed
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

The Memorial Chapel is on the Walter Reed campus. It was built with funds raised by the Gray Ladies of the Red Cross Hospital Service and was dedicated in 1931 as a memorial to those who gave their lives in the service of their country. (The Gray Ladies were so called because of the gray uniform they wore.) The first ceremony performed was a wedding. Sunday services are still held there, and I saw funeral services being organized there last week.

It's a lovely place, inside and out.


Here's a picture of the stained glass window over the altar:


There are "gargoyles" at the top of the tower. Some of them represent the Gray Ladies:


and there are others that represent science and religion. Not sure which one this is.

Old Walter Reed Hospital

Old Walter Reed Hospital
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

As you may know, our museum is on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC. I bought myself a spiffy new camera last fall and have been a picture-taking fool since then. This picture is of the original hospital, opened in 1909. Stately, isn't it? It was replaced with a, um, not-as-nice-looking building in the 1970s and this one's now used for administrative offices.

Yahoo on TV diseases

Yahoo's got a fun feature on whether or not TV diseases are fact or fiction. I've seen and enjoyed House, but probably not any of the other shows - it doesn't matter though. Disease of the week tv has been around for years.

Regarding slide 3 - FOP - you can see an example at the Mutter Museum.

The Washington Society for the History of Medicine wants you!

Print this out, fill it out and mail it to Judy.

Washington Society for the History of Medicine

Membership Form 2008


NAME: ___________________________________________________________

ADDRESS: ________________________________________________________

CITY: _____________________________________________________________

STATE: _________________________ ZIP CODE: ___________________

TELEPHONE: ____________________________Work_____ or Home_____

EMAIL ADDRESS: __________________

AFFILIATION: ____________________________________________________


MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES:

STANDARD: $15.00 __________

SPONSOR: $25.00 __________

STUDENT: $10.00 __________



Dear WSHM Member

Please make your checks payable to the WSHM. Mail your membership dues and this form to: Judy M. Chelnick, Secretary-Treasurer, WSHM, 4868 Cloister Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20852 Thank You!

Check out our Website: http://wshmdc.blogspot.com/

More medical technology - robot-assisted surgery

Here's an interesting bit about robot surgery - which saves wear-and-tear on both the surgeon and the patient when everything goes right. In the Museum, we have a Satava collection devoted to collecting the groundbreaking medical technology mentioned in the article, and on display we have Penelope, a early attempt at a robot nurse.
Prepping Robots to Perform Surgery
By BARNABY J. FEDER
New York Times May 4, 2008
From knees to the heart, more operations are being performed by robots, under the guidance of surgeons.

Gastric bypass surgery for diabetes?

An exciting new possibility for the treatment (and cure!) of diabetes was reported in today's Washington Post. Trials are being conducted around the world with surprisingly successful results in not just making the disease more manageable but an actual cure. The guess is that the surgery, which removes part of the small intestine, "alter[s] the elixir of hormones secreted by the digestive system to regulate hunger, store energy and influence other physiological functions, helping restore the body's system for controlling blood sugar with insulin." Keep your fingers crossed.

Museo Storico Nazionale Dell Arte Sanitaria (I think this means something along the lines of Medical Museum), in Rome

A couple of years ago, when the dollar was still showing signs of life against the euro, my husband and I took a trip to Italy. While we were in Rome, we made a quick visit to the Museo Storico Nazionale Dell Arte Sanitaria. Being an American and therefore not speaking/reading/writing any language other than English made for an interesting visit in that in many cases I couldn't quite decipher the labels on the exhibits and to do a significant amount of guessing. Here's one I just didn't get at all, no matter the amount of puzzling over the label I did. My husband's take: a labor-inducing machine for those recalcitrant babies who don't want to ease on out on their own.

Teddy Roosevelt and The River of Doubt

Several months ago we had a researcher in the archives whose name seemed vaguely familiar to me but I just couldn't place it. Some time after she'd finished with us I started reading a book about Teddy Roosevelt's exploration of the Amazon after he'd been defeated as a presidential third-party candidate in 1912, a journey that turned into a nightmare and on which he nearly lost his life. Nudge, nudge in my brain about the author's name and the next day I checked our visitor log. Sure enough, the same woman: Candice Millard. This was a fantastic book, utterly gross at times (such as tiny - and I think barbed - fish that travel up a urine stream to the bladder much as a salmon travels upstream, and you don't want to hear how it has to be removed) but I highly recommend it. I can't wait for her next book to come out.

Japanese anatomical drawings

These incredible early 19th century Japanese anatomical drawings reveal a remarkable distinctively non-Western approach to anatomical illustration.

Map of Civil War DC hospitals

Pinpointing the location of Civil War hospitals is harder than you'd expect. I got a call looking for one in Southeast Washington today - I couldn't find it, but I did find this site with a list of hospitals. I don't know if it's complete and I wish the map was larger, but it's helpful.

NLM Lecture - "Finding Humanity in Rat City: John B. Calhoun's Experiments in Crowding at the NIMH."

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE,

History of Medicine Division Seminar

Co-sponsored by the Office of NIH History

Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 2-3:30pm

Lister Hill Visitor's Center Bldg 38A, NLM

Bethesda, MD

"Finding Humanity in Rat City: John B. Calhoun's Experiments in Crowding at the NIMH."

Edmund Ramsden, London School of Economics and Exeter University

In a series of experiments at the National Institute of Mental Health from 1954-86, John B. Calhoun offered rats and mice everything they needed, except space. The resulting population explosion was followed by profound "social pathologies" such as violence, sexual deviance, and withdrawal; a "behavioral sink" culminating in extinction. While some were keen to see Calhoun's "rat cities" as evidence for what was going wrong with the American city, others cautioned against drawing strong
analogies between rodents and man. The ensuing dispute saw social and biomedical scientists involved in a careful negotiation of the boundary between human and non-human animals.

All are Welcome

Note: The next history of medicine seminar will be on Wednesday, June 11, 2-3:30pm in the Lister Hill Auditorium, NLM's Bldg 38A. In a special program for Asian American History Month, Judy Wu of the Ohio State University will speak on 'From White Woman's Burden to Orientalized Motherhood: The Strange Career of Dr. "Mom" Chung.'

Sign language interpretation is provided. Individuals with disabilities
who need reasonable accommodation to participate may contact Stephen
Greenberg at (301-435-4995), e-mail greenbes@mail.nih.gov, or the
Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).

Due to current security measures at NIH, off-campus visitors are advised
to consult the NIH Visitors and Security website:
http://www.nih.gov/about/visitorsecurity.htm


Stephen J. Greenberg, MSLS, PhD
Coordinator of Public Services
History of Medicine Division
National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
Department of Health and Human Services

301-435-4995

NY Times on syphilis

As you might expect from an Army museum and a pathology institute, we have a lot of photographs of syphilis (and yaws, a related disease). Here's the NY Times on the natural history of the disease:

Essay
A Great Pox’s Greatest Feat: Staying Alive
By MARLENE ZUK
Published: April 29, 2008
Research indicates that syphilis became less virulent over time, which probably helped it survive.

Veterinary Corps again

Some time ago I wrote about Greg Krenzelok's Veterinary Corps website, where he's devoted considerable time to documenting the role horses played in World War 1. To help him out a bit, we've been feeding him pictures from our collection and he's been putting them on his page. He's made a separate section for our pictures and has given us some really nice credit, as well as giving the link to this blog. Take a look at his site; it's truly a labor of love.

June 11: Mitch Yockelson's World War 1 book lecture

My old colleague Mitch Yockelson (if I can use that term when we were both Archives Techs) is speaking at National Archives Building, Constitution Ave., between 7th & 9th Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20408 US on Wednesday, June 11, at 12:00PM

He's celebrating the publication of his new book: Borrowed Soldiers: Americans Under British Command 1918 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008). A discussion of the book will be held in the National Archives McGowan Theater and a reception and book signing will follow. Use Special Events entrance on Constitution Ave.

I'd encourage anyone interested in military history to stop by. Later in the year, Mitch will be speaking at the Medical Museum specifically on the medical part of the story.

Anatomical Theatre: Medical Museum Images

Came across this nice set of images (click on gallery) done by Joanna Ebenstein, a New York-based photographer and designer, during a one-month pilgrimage to medical museums in England, Scotland, Hungary, Italy, Austria, The Netherlands, and the United States. Wax models, wet specimens, skeletal specimens...and is that Brian's arm I see?

Body Worlds vs. Bodies - the Exhibition

Bodies was on display in Arlington a few months back; and Body Worlds is up in Baltimore now. Our colleagues at Biomedicine on display have a couple of blog posts on what they thought of the exhibits - here and here.

Should you trust this blog?

Ehh, maybe. See "Can You Handle It? Better Yet: Do You Know It When You See It?," by Monica Hesse, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, April 27, 2008; Page M01, for a good discussion of online information versus knowledge.