Photo of the day, March 24

USS Solace. Commissioned on 08/09/1941; the Solace joined the Fleet on 10/27 and was the first hospital ship to be present in a naval battle when she cared for casualties from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

She won eight engagement stars for participation in this and seven other military operations:
Gilbert Islands, 11/24-26/1943;
occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, 02/03-04/1944; capture and occupation of Saipan, 06/18/1944-07/02/1944;
capture of Guam 07/24 to 08/15/1944;
occupation of Southern Palau Islands, 09/06 to 10/14/1944;
capture of Iwo Jima 02/23 to 03/10/1945;
and the Okinawa Gunto operation, 03/24 to 06/20/1945.

The Solace was the first hospital ship to be refueled at sea while carrying a full load of patients, near the Gilbert Islands in 11/1943, and the first to receive patients directly from the combat area (in the same campaign).

As an illustration of her activity, during 1943 she traveled 37069 miles, took part in 10 evacuations, 6 of them to transport patients from the New Hebrides area to Aukland and Wellington, New Zealand. Total admissions to the sick list that year amounted to 6465, and she spent 5 months as a station hospital.

During the Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations 1800 units of fresh whole-blood, 1200 units of plasma, 136000 sulfa tablets, and 2.5 billion units of penicillin were administered. She admitted and treated about 25000 patients altogether, 70 percent battle casualties, and steamed over 170000 miles before VJ Day. Thereafter she engaged in transporting Pacific war veterans home and was decommissioned 03/27/1946.

The SOLACE had an overall length of 410 feet, displaced 8650 tons, had a top speed of 18 knots and a cruising range of 7000 miles.

Hospital ships. Solace (AH-5) Folder 3 12/10/1916; U.S. Navy BUMED Library and Archives

Letter of the day, March 23

This letter, in and of itself, is only moderately interesting; however, because we picked up a donation of about 400 or so microscopes last week, arguably making ours the largest microscope collection in the world, it is somewhat more interesting. That, and the fact that it bears Walter Reed's signature. Hopefully someone from Historical Collections will report more details here.

Microscopes:
March 23, [189]5

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

General:

In reply to your letter of March 22, 1895, I beg to report that the following microscopes, all in good condition as to serviceability, are on hand at the Museum, viz.:

Large microscope, continental stand, mechanical stage, Zeiss (One of these belongs to the microphotographic outfit.) No. 4
Large microscope with fixed stage (Stand 1B, Leitz,) [No.] 1
Medium sized microscope, Stand II, Leitz, [No.] 1
Microscope B B, Continental stand, Bausch & Lomb, [No.] 6

The foregoing instruments are furnished with suitable oculars and objectives for pathological and bacteriological work, and were taken up upon my property return for the year ending December 31, 1894.

Very respectfully,
[signed] Walter Reed,
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator.

Photo of the day, March 23

From our Hollister Collection, OHA 193. 100 percent perfect condition of teeth. First grade. 03/23/1925.

Universal Health Care

Today's expected presidential signature on the health care bill is a huge change for America, but this issue is by no means a new one. In our Registry of Noteworthy Research in Pathology collection is an article by John R. Mannix, Director of Chicago Plan for Hospital Care, titled "Why Not an American Blue Cross? How Hospitals and Physicians, Cooperating, Might Provide Prepayment Health Services for All." It was written in 1944 in the journal Hospitals.

Mannix proposed that physicians and hospitals create an American Blue Cross and obtain a federal charter to operate in the federal interest. He says that in response to three things - the Depression's bringing to light the need for provisions against future need, strong Congressional lobbying for legislative protection by special interest groups, and taxes chipping away at individual fortunes that previously had been used for philanthropic purposes - the public was demanding guaranteed health services: "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 war to provide for medical care for everyone who needs it." He goes on to say, "The public wants protection. One way or another it will get what it wants. It will accept, indeed welcome, a voluntary system, but meanwhile it is insisting upon the presentation of federal protection because it does not believe that voluntary agencies are going to do the complete job."

Sixty-six years later, it looks like his prediction will come about. It just took a little longer than he might have expected.

Hall of Human Origins NMNH SI

went on opening day

Accession of the day, March 22

Photograph Number 314. Indian arrow - heads removed from wounds.

The specimens numbered 5639 and 5640 of the Surgical Section were contributed to the Army Medical Museum by Assistant Surgeon B.A. Clements, U.S.A. The former is an iron arrow - head three inches in length and half an inch in its widest part. It had been imbedded one inch in the ilium.

The latter specimen was removed from the scapula of a Private of the 5th Infantry at Fort Fauntleroy, New Mexico, in 1861. The arrow entered just above the posterior fold of the axilla; the shaft separated with the slightest traction; probing to the extent of two and half inches failed to reveal the head. After waiting three months it was extracted through an exploratory T - shaped incision. The missile, two inches long and half an inch in width at the base, was greatly bent upon itself by the force of impact.

The specimen number 5641, Section I. [1] Army Medical Museum, was contributed by Assistant Surgeon A.H. Smith, U.S.A., by whom it was removed from the testis of a Mexican herder, some three months after the reception of the injury. This case is mentioned on page 156, Circular Number 3, Surgeon General's Office.

The next specimen (Number 5642) was taken from the left lung of Nat. Crabtree who was killed by Indians near Fort Cooke, Montana Territory, April 24, 1868. It was contributed by Hospital Steward C.T. Smith, U.S.A.

The remaining specimen (5654) was extracted from the brain of a Private of the 14th Infantry, who was wounded by Apache Indians near Maricopa Wells, Arizona Territory, on March 22, 1866. The patient is reported to have been nine days travelling to Maricopa Wells from the place where he was wounded. On April 19th, he was received into the hospital at Camp McDowell, Arizona, and the missile was removed next day by Assistant Surgeon Charles Smart, U.S.A. Under cautious treatment the patient improved, but May 7th, after a very imprudent meal, he was taken with violent symptoms and died on the 13th. A detailed account of this case is to be found in Circular Number 3, Surgeon General's Office, in the article on arrow - wounds.

Letter of the Day, March 22

U.S.A. Post Hospital
Fort Stanton New Mexico
March 22nd 1875

To the Surgeon General U.S.A.

Sir:

I have the honor to respectfully inform you that I have this forwarded to your address for the Army Medical Museum (or chemical laboratory) 2 lbs of genuine Paraguay tea or “Mate” (Ilex paraguayensis) imported from Chili (sic), where it is extensively used in lieu of ordinary tea. As it contains 1.2 percent of theine [i.e. caffeine] an alkaloid so universally craved by different nations, I thought a sample of the genuine article might be of interest, either for analysis or on account of its natural history as an article of diet.

Very Respectfully,
Your obt. Servt
Carlos Carvallo
Asst Surgeon U.S.A.
Post Surgeon

Medical Education in 1920s China

There are many reprints in the Carnegie Embryological Collection about medical education in the early 20th century, mainly in the U.S. and Canada. This one, by E. V. Cowdry, is one of a number of similar articles that he wrote after a long trip to China and Japan in the 1920s. In this article he writes about how the schools melded traditional (like the Golden Mirror text here) and western medical practices. In other articles he shows a clear preference for the Japanese style of education for its greater inclusion of western methods. Cowdry started the Anatomy Department at the Peking Union Medical College (Beijing) which incorporated embryological research as well.

Photo of the day, March 22

First aid being administered in a trench to a Marine prior to being sent to hospital in rear of trenches. 03/22/1918. Toul Sector, France. [First aid. War, Relief of sick and wounded. United States. Army. Signal Corps.] World War 1, 688-Y8-0. 12151