Letter of the Day: May 23

JWS/HP/go

23 May 1963

Mrs. Ruby M. Taylor
Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School
McElderry and Caroline Streets
Baltimore 5, Maryland

Dear Mrs. Taylor:

The Medical Museum of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology has an exhibit on human reproduction that should be of interest to your biology classes. The exhibit shows a series of normal embryos and fetuses. A study is presently being conducted on the abnormal specimens, but they will not be on display for several months.

It is hoped that your students will derive much benefit from the embryology, anatomy and other medical exhibits.

Sincerely,

John W. Sheriden
Colonel, MSC, USA
Deputy Curator

Letter of the day, May 22

[No date on the letter, so we're going with the postmark. Also, one of my favorite things, nice letterhead.]

[May 22, 1918]
Camp Merritt
Sunday

Dearest Mother:
Got two letters from you this week and that sweet card. Also had a couple of letters from Charlie. Didn't get the first letter you and sister wrote, guess they went on over. Dr. Williams is not in N.Y. now- is up in Conn. [Apparent] hasn't his last naturalization papers so can't get in the army.

Met one of my old college friends on the street in N.Y. yesterday afternoon, he is also in service now.

Very hot up here, humidity is great so we feel the heat very much but at that it is a great deal cooler here than in N.Y.

Got my "commutation of quarters" O.K. - am enclosing check for $230 - Use $60 of this for household expenses & tell sister to put the balance on what I owe her. We have had our final physical exam & everything preparatory is finished now and tomorrow morning, we go to the Port of Embarkation & we will be allowed to write no more letters until we get on the other side. I will leave cards here at the port that will be mailed as soon as we arrive safely over there.

Didn't get out to Camp Dix or Mills - would like to have seen Dr Johnson and Archie B.

Capt Sanderson is the man here that I was with in Camp Shelby.

This big drive doesn't look very favorable but I hope they will be able to stop the Germans before they get much farther.

Well, little Mother of mine, altho I'm going far away across the seas, the day never dawns but what I think of the mother and sisters back home and I hope and pray that some day I can come back once more.

I'm proud of the fact that I'm in this war, proud of the work the Medical Corps & Red Cross is doing and I'm trying to do my full share - hoping that when it is all over and peace comes once more, that this old world will be a better, cleaner place to live in. Goodbye - to you and the girls - all the love in the world  and a kiss for each of you.

Luther

Address me.
Capt. L.B. Otken M.R.C.
U.S.A. Base Hospital #22
American Exp. Force
New York N.Y.

Today is the Medical Museum's 148th birthday

148 years ago, a forward-looking medical man in a position of authority authorized the creation of the Army Medical Museum. Here's something I wrote about the creation of the Museum-

Like much of the rest of the country, the Army Medical Department was unprepared when the war began on April 12, 1861. As J.J. Chisolm wrote in his preface to the Confederate Manual of Military Surgery, "Most of those who now compose the surgical staff were general practitioners whose country circuit gave them but little surgery, and very seldom presented a gunshot wound. Moreover, as our country had been enjoying an uninterrupted state of peace, the collecting of large bodies of men, and retaining them in health, or the hygiene of armies had been a study without an object, and therefore without interest". America's last major war had been the much smaller conflict with Mexico thirteen years earlier which began in 1846 and lasted until 1848. As a result, most doctors, whether career military officers or newly-enlisted civilians, had almost no experience with gunshot wounds, especially those made by the newly-developed Minié ball. Minié had developed a conical bullet that came out of a rifled barrel; this high-speed bullet caused a significantly worse wound than the older soft lead ball.

Although, contrary to popular belief, physicians did use anesthesia during the war, medicine had not yet made the great advances now taken for granted. Since germ theory did not exist, bacteria and viruses were not recognized as the cause of disease. Anti-sepsis would not be practiced until the decade after the war. Blood typing did not exist and so transfusions were extremely rare. William Roentgen would not discover x-rays for another 30 years. Penicillin and antibiotics were 80 years in the future. Medical education was extremely simplistic, and the familiar modern hospital-based training would not be instituted until after the turn of the century. Amputation was a common treatment for a wound of a limb, although surgeons tried excision (removal of the damaged bone) more frequently - sometimes causing more problems than if they had amputated. The Department had no ambulance corps. It was not until the second year of the war that Dr. Jonathan Letterman developed a standard procedure for removing the wounded from the battlefield. To address some of these problems, Drs. William Alexander Hammond and John Hill Brinton created the Army Medical Museum.

Surgeon General William Hammond

By the end of the spring of 1862, Surgeon General William Hammond's plans for revising the Union Army's Medical Department were beginning to get underway. Secretary of War Stanton had not liked Hammond's aged predecessor, Clement Finley, and had forced him to retire. Hammond had then been appointed, regardless of seniority, to head the Medical Department on April 25, 1862. His appointment was due to the Sanitary Commission's pressure on Stanton for an younger, energetic Surgeon General who could revitalize the department.

At the height of his authority in May of 1862, the newly appointed Hammond had begun making changes in the Medical Department. Most importantly for the study of medicine and eventually its history, Hammond committed the resources of the Department to forming a museum, which would use its collections and the records of the Surgeon General's Office to compile a medical history of the war. Only a few weeks after taking over the Medical Department, Hammond established the Army Medical Museum, the first federal medical research facility. By creating the Museum, Hammond essentially began government-funded medical research which is now seen as such a basic part of the role of government. As Dr. J. J. Woodward, whom Hammond assigned to the Museum, pointed out years after the war:

The establishment of the Army Medical Museum was undoubtedly
suggested by a most pressing need experienced at the
commencement of the late war. There were at that time but
few persons in the United States who had any experience
whatever of military surgery, and there was no place in he
country to which the surgeon about to devote himself to the
military service could turn for definite information or
guidance beyond what he could obtain from foreign works. It
was natural that conscientious men, many of whom had never
seen a gunshot fracture in their lives, should feel a grave
regret that there was no place where, before assuming their
new responsibilities, they could obtain a more realistic
knowledge of the details of military surgery than they could
possibly gather from books and pictures alone." (Woodward,
Lippincott, p. 241)

Hammond issued several orders to implement his ideas. These were published in the form of "circular letters" which were intended to be passed through the Department until everyone had seen them. In Circular No. 2, issued on May 21, 1862, Hammond specifically stated "Medical Directors will furnish one copy of this circular to every medical officer in the department in which they are serving."

This circular established the Museum, stating:

As it is proposed to establish in Washington, an Army
Medical Museum, Medical officers are directed diligently
to collect, and to forward to the office of the Surgeon
General, all specimens of morbid anatomy, surgical or
medical, which may be regarded as valuable; together with
projectiles and foreign bodies removed, and such other
matters as may prove of interest in the study of military
medicine or surgery.

These objects should be accompanied by short
explanatory notes.

Each specimen in the collection will have appended
the name of the medical officer by whom it was prepared.

Shortly after the initial circular letter was issued, Hammond recalled Dr. John Hill Brinton from duty on the western battlefields. Brinton's orders were extremely laconic, telling him only to report to Washington for special duty. Brinton arrived hoping to receive one of the newly-created medical inspectorships, a job for which he felt well-qualified. Instead, he was assigned to the examining board for surgeons, placed in charge of the Museum, and told to prepare the surgical history of the war. Hammond's Circular No. 5, issued on June 9th, formally created The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion and placed the responsibility for accomplishing it on Brinton and Dr. J.J. Woodward. Brinton was assigned the Surgical part and Woodward the Medical.


Staff of the Army Surgeon General's Office after Hammond and Brinton's departure.

Now, almost a century and a half later, the Museum's fortunes have ebbed and swelled, a great pathology institute grew out of it as did the foundations of the National Library of Medicine, and we're about to embark on yet another move, this time to Forest Glen, MD where a new building is about to be started for us.

Letter of the Day: May 21

Internal Revenue Service,
1st District of New York,
Collector’s Office,
Brooklyn, N.Y.,
May 21, 1903

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

Sir:

Referring to your letter of the 20th instant, relative to the delivery of alcohol, I would respectfully state that the U.S. Storekeeper stationed at the distillery will deliver the alcohol on receipt of the duplicate permit issued by the Hon. Secretary of the Treasury to your office. I would therefore suggest that you have the said permit properly receipted, per instructions on the back of the form, and forward same to the Chief Quartermaster of the Department of the East, to be presented by his agent at the Columbus Distilling Co., 450 Greenpoint Ave., Brooklyn, this district.

Very respectfully,

Edward P. Jordan
Collector of Internal Revenue

Letter of the Day: May 20 (2 of 2)

 

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 8352

 

War Department,

Office of the Surgeon General,

Army Medical Museum and Library,

Washington,

May 20, 1905

 

To the Surgeon General,

U.S. Army.

(Through the Officer in charge of Museum & Library Division).

 

Sir:

 

I have the honor to ask the Commanding Officer of the U.S. General Hospital at Fort Bayard, N.M. to be requested to have prepared and forwarded to the Army Medical Museum, from time to time, as they can obtained, a series of specimens preserved by the Kaiserling method for the purposes of showing, in their natural appearance, the various lesions of tuberculosis and any other interesting pathological condition that may be encountered at post mortem examination. Such a collection would be of great interest and value, and the number of specimens should be large, in order to show the variations occurring in lesions essentially the same. It is desired to illustrate tuberculosis of all the tissues and organs, including the brain, meninges, bones, serous membranes, testicles, etc.

 

Kaiserling’s method is published in the work on Pathological Technique, by Mallory and Wright, and it requires only care and a little practice to insure success. Sections through organs should usually not be more than an inch in thickness, and for the purpose of identification a small parchment tag, bearing a number in India ink, should be stitched to each specimen. A number of specimens could be shipped in the same container and they should be accompanied by a brief note of the findings at autopsy, stating also whether from the clinical point of view the case was acute, subacute or chronic.

 

Very respectfully,

James Carroll

First Lieut, Asst. Surgeon, U.S.A.

Curator, Army Medical Museum

 

1^st Indorsement

Surgeon General’s office,

Museum & Library Division,

May 20, 1905

Respectfully forwarded recommended.

 

C.L. Heinzmann

Col. Asst. Surg. Genl. U.S.A.

In charge of M&L Division

 

Letter of the day, May 20 (1 of 2)

That darn metric system!!

George Tiemann & Co.

67 Chatham Street,
Corner New Chambers Street,
New York City, May 20, 1884

Dear Sir:

We fear we must have made an error in calculating. We calculated 2000 cubic centimeters being a trifle more than 3 1/2 pints. The light bag, when measured, holds just 3 ½ pints & you state that it held only 11 c. centimeters.

Would you not kindly inform us, how many pints a 3000 c.c. & 2500 c.c. is equal to? We calculated 5 ¼ pints for the 3000 & 4 2/5 pints for the 2500 c.c. The workman can make the instrument better by having it in pint measurements.

Is the above calculation correct? As soon as we receive an answer, we shall immediately make them & send them on. Is the tubing in the one (returned) large enough, or would you like it larger?

Very [truly?] Geo. Tiemann & Co.

W. Mathews M.D.

Surg. U.S.A.

Washington D.C.

[Beautiful letterhead, when you take the time to look at it closely.]

Walter Reed Pictorial History featured in Library Journal

This week's Library Journal includes its most recent edition of "Notable Government Documents for 2009." The Walter Reed Centennial book that Mike and I and several others worked on is included in this list. What an honor. 

This is what they say:

Walter Reed Army Medical Center Centennial: A Pictorial History, 1909–2009. ed. by John R. Pierce & others. Borden Inst. 2009. 279p. illus. maps. SuDoc # D104.2:W17/8. GPO Stock # 008-000-01020-0. ISBN 978-0-9818228-3-9. $35.


The Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, and its predecessor, Walter Reed General Hospital, have treated millions of active and retired personnel from every branch of the military. This collection of photographs and text pays tribute to the center's legacy.

Letter of the day, May 19

Established 1826

Incorporated 1902

Cable Address: TIEMANCO-NEWYORK

George Tiemann & Co.

Manufacturers of Surgical Instruments

107 Park Row

Cor. New Chambers St.

New York City

May 19, 1915.

J.A.P.

Eugene R. Whitmore, Major, Medical Corps, U.S.A.,

Curator, Army Medical Museum,

Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir:

Answering your communication of the 15th instant we beg to say that we have no record of Army Cases prior to those listed in our catalogue of 1868. We inclose lists of

The U.S. Army Field Case

The "  " Staff Surgeon's Capital Operating Case and

The "  "    "        "          Minor      "              "    -

from our catalogue of 1868 -

The latter would seem the nearest to your list.

The case to which you refer must have been made in the early sixties and was probably taken from our stock or made for some individual surgeon as was frequently the case during the Civil War.

If we can be of any further assistance we beg that you will advise us.

Your obedient servants,

George Tiemann & Co.

by C. Fred Stohlmann, President

Public medical appeals through the Post Office

The Museum has a stamp (or philately) collection, although not much has been done with it in recent years. Here’s two new additions to it – cancellations attempting to raise funds for medical charities

 

The 1952 appeal for the American Cancer Society seems early, inasmuch as a ‘war on cancer’ hadn’t been declared yet. The American Lung Association is known for putting out its Christmas Seals and we have a fairly good collection through the middle of the last century.

Letter of the Day: May 18

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1476

 

War Department,

Surgeon General’s Office,

 U.S. Army Medical Museum and Library,

Corner 7^th and B Streets S.W.

Washington, D.C., May 18, 1896

 

To the Surgeon General, U.S. Army,

Washington, D.C.

 

General:

 

I have the honor to report that the roof over the Library room of the Army Medical School is in a very leaky condition. The roof, originally of concrete, began to leak some six years ago. It was then overlaid by a board and tin roof. The boards have become rotten, the tin is riddled with holes in many places, and the whole superstructure should be replaced by a new one, to be paid for from the Museum appropriation.

 

I enclose herewith an estimate of the cost of the repair, viz., $85.00, which I consider very reasonable, and as the work should be done at once, and before rainstorms do further damage, I would respectfully request that I be authorized to accept Mr. Yeatman’s offer, which I herewith forward. To prevent the rotting of the boards in the future, Mr. Yeatman purposes to put in five ventilators to allow the circulation of air between the concrete and the new roof.

 

Very respectfully,

D.L. Huntington

Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army

In charge of Museum and Library Division

 

 

May 18 1896

Approved.

Geo. M. Sternberg

Surgeon General, U.S. Army

 

Letter of the Day: May 17, 2 of 2

War Department,

Surgeon General’s Office,

Washington, May 17^th 1869

 

Dear Doctor,

 

The Surgeon General “approves” of your sending anything you can spare and deem best to convey to Russia.

 

It is desirable to foster the ‘fraternal’ relations which now exist between the “subjects of the Czar”  + ourselves.

 

Very truly yours,

C.H. Crane

 

Dr. Otis

U.S.A.

Letter of the Day: May 17, 1 of 2

Camp Gaston, Cal.

May 17, 1878

 

Surgeon General U.S.A.

 

Sir

 

I have the honor to enclose herewith a Receipt for a package I have this day turned over to the Post Quartermaster for shipment to you, for the Army Medical Museum.

 

The package contains a four-legged chicken. It was hatched from an egg of a common hen and was born alive. Mrs. Williams, a soldiers wife, told me yesterday forenoon that one of her hens had during the night, hatched out a chicken with four legs which was still alive and doing well. I at once went with her to see it. We found the feathered quadruped but it was dead. I do not know whether it was killed by accident, or whether its malformation was incompatible with a continuance of its life. It must have lived several hours at least.

 

I have not examined any of the viscera but have left all untouched. I have placed it in Alcohol, having first filled the alimentary canal with Alcohol, so far as I could by introducing a tube into the throat and allowing as much to run in as would do under a hydrostatic pressure of about one foot.

 

This specimen may not be rare or valuable but it is the first of the kind that has fallen under my observation.

 

Very Respectfully,

Your Obt. Servt.

C.E. Price

Asst. Surg. U.S.A.

A note on the envelope said the Museum's anatomist discarded it.

Accession of the day, May 16

A.M.M No. 10548
Pathological Section

Washington, D.C.
May 16, 1893

Lamb, Dr. D.S.
Pathologist, A.M.M.




Sternum showing attachment of eight cartilages on left side.

From Barbara Lippert, white, single, age 30 years, who was left handed. Died March 10, 1893. Necroscopy by Dr. Lamb, Mar. 11, 1893, for Dr. Amelia Erbach.

See Photographs Nos. 83 & 84 N.S. A.M.M.
Specimen received May 16, 1893

Letter of the day, May 16

[Numbered Correspondence 3138]
May 16, 1898.

Capt. Paul Clendenin,
Asst. Surgeon, U.S. Army.
Key West Barracks, Fla.

Dear Sir:

I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt, on this day, of a fragment of shell with pieces of cloth removed from the chest of Manuel Rivas, wheelsman of the Spanish Steamer, "Guido", and a few cigarette papers found in his pocket. The Surgeon General desires me to thank you for this interesting contribution, the first received at this Museum from the present war.

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

Letter of the day, May 15

[Numbered Correspondence 8336]
May 15, 1905.

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

(Thro' the Officer in charge Museum & Library Division, S.G.O.)

Sir:-

I have the honor to request that in order to facilitate the proper transaction of business a telephone be installed in the room adjoining the office of the Curator.

On the numerous occasions when it becomes necessary to use the telephone in communicating with the War Department, the Attending Surgeon's Office, Washington Barracks, Fort Myer, the various hospitals or physicians in the city a messenger must be sent from the floor below and the descent must be made to the same floor to reach the telephone from which the message comes. This involves a loss of time that could be remedied by the installation of a telephone with a new number to insure direct communication.

Very Respectfully,
James Carroll
1st Lieut., Asst. Surgeon, U.S.A.
Curator, Army Medical Museum

A note on the reverse:
May 16, 1905
Respectfully returned to the officer in charge, Museum and Library Division, Surgeon General's Office, with the information that the Secretary of War has decided that the number of telephones in use in this office cannot be increased. If, however, the officer in charge thinks the placing of a telephone in Lieut. Carroll's room will be of more importance to the service than where they are now located, one of them now in use can be removed to his room; otherwise, no further action will be taken upon this application.

Letter of the day, May 14 (2)

[Numbered Correspondence 8350]

Caney River Oil Co.
General Office
Harvey, Illinois

Chas. F. Craver, Pres.
M.W. Miles, Vice Pres.
James A. Sharp, Secy.
Arthur H. Craver, Treas.

Our Oil Lands are in Chautauqua Co., Kansas

Monett, Kans. 5/14 '05
Army Medical Museum
Washington, D.C.

I have in my possession the back bone of a large mare that died on my premises here about three years ago - presumably from being poisoned - which back bone is rigid throughout its entire lengty from coccyx to first vertebra of the neck. There are occasional markings showing where the vertebral joints should be & the scars at junctions of the ribs are at the usual intervals, also an occasional part of rib is in place.

It has been broken into two parts - one from coccyx forward is (32") in length & the next piece is 8" in length. - This break is at the marking of a vertebral junction, but it plainly shows that the whole length of 40" was in life rigid & one solid piece. The mare of whose skeleton this is a part was well known this this vicinity - as being an animal of great strengths and value & during her lifetime exhibited no peculiarities that would suggest anything abnormal in her structures. Do you care to investigate this case & would this specimen possess any monetary value? Kindly reply to me at Monett, Chautauqua Co. Kan.

I oblige
Yours truly
W.H. Harp

The reply:

War Department,
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library
Washington.

May 20, 1905.

Mr. W.H. Harp
Monett,
Chautauqua Co.
Kansas

Sir:

Referring to your letter of the 14th inst., in regard to the diseased spine of a mare, I would state that this Museum possesses several specimens of this kind, "spondylitis deformans". I would be pleased to add your specimen to the Museum collection but would not care to pay for it, except the express charges for forwarding.

Very respectfully,
C.L. Heinzmann
Col. Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.
In charge of Museum & Library Division.

Letter of the day, May 14

[Numbered Correspondence 659]
Copy

Edge Hill, King George Co., Va.
May 14, 1895

The Army & Navy Medical Museum,
Washington, D.C.

Gentlemen in charge:-

I enclose you a root that was plowed up by a farmer in this county a few days ago. I am unable to determine what it is. I shall be very glad if you will kindly inform me what it is, etc. The farmer said there was nothing growing above the ground. He found three of the roots together, one of them was about 3 times as large as the one I send.

Any information you can give me will be highly appreciated.

Yours very respectfully,
(Signed) F.F. Ninde, M.D.

May 15, 1895, original transmitted with root to Hon J. Sterling Morton, Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

Letter of the Day: May 13

Fort McPherson, Nebraska
May 13th 1872

George A. Otis
Ass’t Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator, Army Medical Museum,
Washington, D.C.

Sir:

Pursuant to your request of the 10th ult. I prepared for transportation to the A.M.M. the specimen in the case of Private James Casey, Comp. “D” 3rd Cavalry, whose left foot was amputated by Syme’s method, but the A.A.Q.M. at this post, being unaware of any authorization in the premises, referred the matter to the Chief Quartermaster of the Department, from whom, as yet, no instructions have been received. Will you, therefore, please inform me by what authority specimens are forwarded to the A.M.M. by the Q.M. Department and whether, in the absence of any such authority or custom in the Q.M. Department, specimens should be forwarded to the A.M.M. by express, at the expense of the Medical Department.

Very Respectfully,
Your Obedient Servant
F.W. Elbrey
Asst. Surgeon U.S. Army

Visibly Human exhibit

Visibly Human exhibit