NY Times expose on medical radiation injuries

In the past, we've posted pictures of radiation burns from the early years of the 20th century here and on our Flickr site. The NY Times reports that a century later, this is still an ongoing problem:

 

The Radiation Boom

Radiation Offers New Cures, and Ways to Do Harm

By WALT BOGDANICH

Published: January 24, 2010

While new technology saves the lives of countless cancer patients, errors can lead to unspeakable pain and death.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/health/24radiation.html

Brunswig Mausoleum, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans

Brunswig Mausoleum, Metairie Cemetery
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

Lucien Napoleon Brunswig (1854-1943) donated the School of Pharmacy at USC. He moved to Los Angeles in 1903 and became a partner in a local drug company. In 1907 he bought out his partner and created the Brunswig Drug Company with branches in Phoenix, Tucson, and San Diego. Among the company's earliest buildings are three that are still standing on the west side of Main Street, across from the Pico House at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (Los Angeles). He also owned the Brunswig Building on 2nd Street, which was demolished in 1968. Lucien Napoleon Brunswig became the city's largest wholesale drug supplier. He sold commercial medications and patent medicines that he invented himself and supplied to many city pharmacies.

I have no idea why he's buried in New Orleans and not Los Angeles.

Follow the picture to close-ups of the two statues flanking the door.

Some things never change

From our military working dog expert, Mike Lemish:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/world/story/1199588.html

 

The same issue about getting dog food distributed properly was a big problem in Vietnam - now 40 years later they (the military) still have the same problem in Afghanistan. Go figure - some things never change.

 

ARF!

Mike

Letter of the day: January 24

Received wisdom has the Medical Museum collecting American Indian remains, and later transferring them to the Smithsonian, but this form letter shows that material went both ways.


Smithsonian Institution
U.S. National Museum
Washington City, Jan. 24, 1878

Sir:

In accordance with the arrangement between the Smithsonian Institution and the Army Medical Museum, I have the honor to transmit the collections mentioned below,t he receipt of which please acknowledge.

Very respectfully, yours,

Spencer F. Baird
Asst. Secretary S.I.

Collection human bones from Indian graves in Santa Barbara Col, Col., gathered in 1875 by the expedition of Lt. Geo. M. Wheeler.

Covetousness, a deadly sin

Medical ephemera
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

These would fit so nice and neatly in our GMPI (General Medical Products Information) collection. I had a serious case of envy. From the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

Goddess of Evils

Goddess of Evils
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

Lest you think we're fixated on STDs... We also think highly of alternative and complementary medicine. From the voodoo section at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

Theater of War

Because I forgot to turn off my alarm yesterday, I was treated to an early-morning segment on NPR called Metro Connection. It was about a DOD program called Theater of War, in which plays of the ancient Greeks are used to make connections with today's soldiers. One of the venues is Walter Reed. You can listen to the segment at metroconnection.org.

Letter of the day: January 23

Sternberg is known as one of the fathers of bacteriology and became the Surgeon General himself. Steve Hill of our staff also notes, "10th Cavalry was one of the two all-black cavalry regiments (Buffalo Soldiers) created shortly after Civil War."


Fort Riley, Kansas
Jan: 23rd, 1868

General

I have the honor to send herewith for microscopic examination (if desired) the kidneys of Pvt: James Garrode Co “G” 10th U.S. Cavalry, who died at this hospital of Brights disease on the 19th inst:

I have a full record of this case, which I will transmit with my next monthly report of Sick and Wounded.

I also transmit a fibrous polypus, removed from the pharynx of Pvt David Young Co “K” 10 US Cavalry.

Very respectfully
Your obt: servt

G.M. Sternberg

Asst. Surg: & Bvt. Maj
US Army

Bvt. Maj. Genl. J.K. Barnes
Surgeon Genl: US Army
Washington, DC

[an accompanying note written on the reverse says “Receipt acknowledged 1-30-68, and statement that kidneys were too much decomposed and were thrown away. Request for history of polypus.]

That Old-Time Gonorrhea Treatment

Those of you who follow our Flickr account know we have a special place in our hearts for STDs. Prophylactics, propaganda, you name it; if it has to do with a social disease, we do our best to publish it.

I went to a dusty, off-the-beaten-track museum in New Orleans last weekend - the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. I have a lot of very neat stuff from there, but have to lead off with A Safe and Speedy Remedy for the Cure of Gonorrhea and Gleet. I have never heard of Gleet.

Letter of the day: January 22nd

Here’s a letter showing both how the Museum expanded its interests and influences after the Civil War, and how the photographic collection grew. By the way, this was a very rare operation even through the Civil War. When a surgeon performed one, the case was named after him.

 

Surgeon General’s Office

Washington City, DC

January 22^nd, 1868

 

Doctor:

 

I am instructed by the Surgeon General to acknowledge the reception of your interesting letter of the 20^th inst. A photograph of the patient on whom you operated eighteen years ago, and who has so long survived so dreadful a mutilation, would be a very interesting addition to our collection. In a few days, I will send you a picture we have secured of Dr. Morton’s patient taken nearly a year after the photograph from which the plate in Circular No. 7 S.G.O., 1867, was copied.

 

I should be glad to secure a picture of your patient of about the same size. The expence (sic) will be defrayed from the Army Medical Museum Fund.

 

Please instruct the photographer to print four or five copies and to send them with the negative to me at the Army Medical Museum, No. 454, Tenth Street, Washington, together with the bill.

 

The Surgeon General is much gratified that you and other surgeons of practical experience, in the operation of amputation at the hip-joint, commend the report he has published on the subject.

 

I am, Doctor,

Very respectfully,

Your obt. servant,

By order of the Surgeon General:

 

[George A. Otis]

Ass’t Surgeon, U.S.A.

Curator Army Medical Museum

 

Dr. Washington T. Duffee

N.E. corner of 18^th & Wallace Sts.

Philadelphia, Penna

 

 

Web 2.0? Laughing through my tears

This article appeared in the NY Times today:

Aid Urged for Groups Fighting Internet Censors
By BRAD STONE
Published: January 21, 2010
Five United States senators want the government to move ahead with plans to provide $45 million to help people in other countries evade Web restrictions.

This paragraph could easily have "Walter Reed medical center" substituted in for "China and Iran":

But in the online age the nature of censorship has changed, and regimes like those in China and Iran often deny their populations access to Web news outlets and sites like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

...although we can get to Google. Not Youtube, or blogs though.

Orthopedic surgery book mentioned in Post based on Museum photographs

In a good article about the difference between military and other types of emergency surgery, Surgeon seeks to prevent 'unnecessary amputations' in Haiti's earthquake zone, 

by David Brown, Washington Post January 21, 2010, cites Orthopaedic Injuries of the Civil War. This book was written by Julian Kuz, an orthopedic surgeon, and is illustrated with photographs of wounded soldiers from the Museum's collection.

 

 

 

 

Letter of the day: Jan 21st

Embryology was a new science in 1905 – and the museum was apparently back in the business of taking ‘bottled monsters. Liz Lockett of our embryology collection notes that embryology dates from the 17th century, but the large systematic collections were done at the turn of the twentieth century.’

 

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 8084

 

January 21, 1905

 

Dr. J. J. Repetti,

404 Seward Square, S.E.

Washington, D. C.

 

Dear Sir:

 

I am directed by the Surgeon General to express his thanks for the specimen of monstrous foetus received from you on this day. It will be added to the collections with a properly inscribed card.

 

Will you have the further kindness to furnish the Museum with a history of the case?

 

Very respectfully,

 

C.L. Heinzmann

Col. Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.

In charge of Museum & Library Division

Letter of the day: Jan 20th

The Museum has an extensive numismatics collection – this letter shows how it was built up.

January 20, 1897

Dr. H. R. Storer,

Newport, R. I.

Dear Doctor:

Your letter of the 17^th inst. Has been received. I shall be glad to purchase the medals you offer at the prices quoted, viz:

Rokitansky, 6.10
Howard, Am. Jour. Num., 687, .35
“ “ “ 689, .35
“ “ “ “ 726, .50
------
$7.30

You may send them by Adams Express, freight to be paid here. We have Howard, Am. Jour. Num., #688.

The famine, Germany (Danket dem Herrn) seems to be identical with Pfeiffer u. Ruland #157, but ours has “Ps. 116,” and I can notice no defacement.

Very sincerely,

D. L. Huntington

Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army

In charge of Museum and Library Division

Louisville history of medicine and science meeting

Colleagues:

 

The 12th annual meeting of the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science-SAHMS- will be held in Louisville, KY March 5-6, 2010. There will be over 70 papers presented in these two days, along with a tour of the first U.S. Marine Hospital built on an inland waterway. Registration for all students is only $75.00. All meeting, registration, and hotel information can be found at:

 

http://www.sahms.net/HTML/2010.htm

 

Please share this information with your faculty and graduate students.

 

Thank you for your assistance.

 

Jonathon Erlen, Ph.D.

SAHMS Program Committee

History of Medicine

University of Pittsburgh

412-6488927

Times on Web 2.0-influenced museums

Online, It's the Mouse That Runs the Museum

By ALEX WRIGHT

Published: January 20, 2010

New online ventures let users be curators.

 

Some of us would like to try more of this... however, we are blocked from Flickr, Youtube and blogs and similar sites, so, probably not.

Julie Brown speaks at NLM

Julie's done a lot of research in the Museum over the years.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
History of Medicine Division Seminar
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 2-3:30pm
NLM Visitor Center, Bldg 38A
Bethesda, MD

"Health and Medicine on Display: International Expositions in the United
States, 1876-1904."

Julie K. Brown
Independent Scholar

International expositions, with their massive assembling of exhibits and
audiences, were the media events of their time. In transmitting a new
culture of visibility that merged information, entertainment, and
commerce, they provided a unique opportunity for the public to become
aware of various social and technological advances. This presentation
examines how international expositions, through their exhibits and
infrastructures, sought to demonstrate innovations in applied health and
medical practice.

All are welcome.

Note: The next history of medicine seminar will be held on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 2-3:30pm in the NLM's Lister Hill Auditorium. In aspecial program celebrating African American History Month, NIH scholar Sheena Morrison will speak on "Nothing to Work with but Cleanliness: The Training of African American Midwives in the South."

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 NLM Visitors and Security website:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/visitor.html

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
greenbes@mail.nih.gov

Letter of the day? January 19

Stealing the idea from another museum’s blog - http://www.starbulletin.com/features/20100117_ahoy.html - it seems like it might be interesting to look at 150 years of museum history, one day at a time by transcribing letters in the collection. Here’s one from 101 years ago, showing that ordering office supplies never gets any easier. This is page 1 of Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 3629.

 

 

Washington, January 19, 1899

 

Bausch & Lomb Optical Co.

Rochester, N.Y.

 

Gentlemen:

 

I have received through the Medical Purveyor at New York, 4 dozen stender dishes, Cat. No. 4075, D. They are altogether too small for our purpose and I have this day returned them to you, by express, to be exchanged for 4 dozen No. 4075 B. If you will examine your Catalogue you will see that the illustrations of No. 4075 do not at all agree with the figures given as to sizes and proportions, an error which misled us in ordering the goods.

 

 Very respectfully,

 

Walter Reed

Major & Surgeon, U.S.A.

Curator.

 

B&L sent the correct order a week later.

St Roch's cemetery gate

St Roch gate
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

On a visit to New Orleans this weekend, I saw mention of a cemetery founded by a priest in thanksgiving for his parishioners being spared death by yellow fever. Apparently those interred here died of something other than yellow fever. Well, I had to go see this place and thought I finally found somewhere that Joanna of Morbid Anatomy had not been. No. Not only did she beat me there, she got pictures of the discarded prosthetics room with the gate open; I had to make do shooting through the bars. Follow this picture back to the rest I've posted on my flickr page.

Finds from the Carnegie Reprints

Found an article called "Irrational Elements in Some Theories of Life" by C. P. Raven, 1956. Its opening paragraphs really struck me.

"One of the starting points of modern (study of significance) is the recognition that the words of everyday language for each person are charged with a complex of 'meanings', and that part of this complex of meanings, of emotional and volitional elements, is taken over in the language of science.

As the progress of science is entirely dependent on the mutual understanding between people working in the same field, it is important at least to recognize these irrational elements in our scientific thinking, and were possible to eliminate them..."

So much information is presented to us these days from so many sources, how often do we stop to think about the "emotional and volitional elements" that had probably colored what was said?