Letter of the Day: July 17 (1 of 2)

No 115 Cedar St New York
July 17, 1866

Sir,

I have the have (sic) honor to enclose herewith duplicate accts for cast of Dr. Thebard’s case of elephantiasis of scrotum and also Express receipts for package containing the same, I paid the cash bill $11.50 and will send photography and history of case as soon as received.

I am, sir,
Very respectfully
Yr. Obt. Svt.
John P. Milham
Bvt Lt. Col. + Surg. USA

Dr. Geo. A. Otis
Asst. Surg U.S.A.
Curator A.M.M.

Wash Post on the commercialism of human remains, and art

An artistic body of work's bone of contention
By Monica Hesse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 16, 2010

I hadn't realized the supply had become quite that tight. In the museum, we tend to get decades-old collections.

Letter of the Day: July 16 - spreading the word

War Department,
Adjutant General’s Office,
Washington, July 16 1867

The Surgeon General is authorized to furnish Dr. Pancoast such publications, drawings etc for distribution abroad as can be spared or as may be current with the service.

E.M. Stanton

Letter of the Day: July 15

Ahh, bureaucracies never change…
Commissary Office
Alton, Illinois, July 15th, 1863

Surgeon:

Enclosed I send you a copy of a Voucher, for commutation of rations in favor of C.A. Dresser, certified to by you, but which is defective by reason of the omission of his Regiment, Company and rank, and the clause, in the certificate, which alleges that he has “no opportunity of messing.” Will you be so kind as to insert, in this copy, the requisite additions and return them to me with an authorization to make the same corrections in the original. I have put in, in pencil, the words which you are requested to fill in with ink.

By favoring me with an early reply, you will greatly oblige,

Very Respectfully,
Your Obt. Servant,
R.C. Rutherford, Capt. & C.S.

Surgeon J. H. Brinton, U.S.A.

And the enclosure, with the missing words in bold-
The United States.
To C.A. Dresser
Private Co. A. 11 Regt US Vols.

For commutation of rations while on detached service as Clerk in Medical Directors Office from Nov 12th, 1861 to Dec. 4th, 1861, twenty-three days at .75 per day - $17.25

I certify that the above account is correct, that the commutation was made by my order, and was necessary for the public service -and that he had no opportunity of mess.
J.H. Brinton
Bvt Surg. + Me. Director

Approved
U.S. Grant
Brig. Genl. Com.

Received Cairo Dec. 4th, 1861 of R.C. Rutherford … Seventeen dollars and twenty five [missing] in full of the above account.
C.A. Dresser

Brinton filled the missing parts in, but apparently forgot to send it in because there was another note asking him about it in August.

Bones Abroad

Last semester I studied abroad in Prague. One of the trips I went on was to a tiny town in Bohemia called Kutna Hora. There was absolutely nothing of interest in this town except for a single tourist attraction: the bone church!

This small, unassuming church had a huge graveyard in front and a giant skull ice sculpture outside. My friends, already familiar with my tendency to freak out in the face of anything anthropological, had to constantly remind me to not look so excited in a church full of human bones, but I couldn’t help it - it was amazing! As the story goes, an old half-blind monk was in charge of the church and when the cemetery reached capacity during the time of the bubonic plague, he simply dug up the old bodies in 1511 and put their bones on display in the church. This cemetery was a hoppin’ resting place as it had been sprinkled some years earlier with earth from Golgotha. During the plague, 30,000 bodies were to be interred here.

He turned their bones into works of art, carefully sorting and arranging all the different body parts around the church. There are strings of vertebrae running like garland from the eaves and great shields made of femora hanging on the walls. The focal point of the church interior is definitely the chandelier, a massive, intricate structure of many different types of bones in front of the altar. Sure, it’s all a little macabre but I think this church lends reverence to the dead in a way no other church could.


The chandelier in the center of the church made with innominates, femora, vertebrae and skulls, among other bones

Exciting Intern Project Part III (!)

This past week Rebecca and I have been working diligently to finish up our project and it looks like we should be done by the end of the month (fingers crossed). I am especially hopeful on this point since Rebecca will be returning home after next week. Aside from more editing, it looks like we will be making our project website compatible, with any luck I will be able to recall the basics HTML coding. Converting our PowerPoint document to an on-line set of web pages has had its own share of difficulties, especially regarding the formatting abilities of the HDAC Wiki.

The authors that we contacted last week have been very helpful, offering further papers to look into and advice on the challenges in confronting publishing companies for permission. We would recommend checking out “Self-recognition in an Asian Elephant” PNAS 2006; one of the authors J. Plotnik has been exceedingly helpful and encouraging. If our schedules permit we may even meet with him in person to talk about his research. We also found a great site, brainmuseum.org, which has a large database of brain specimens that we were able to compare and use in our project. We are hoping that our luck with compliant authors continues, since we sent out a few more request for image permission.

This is an image of our projects proposed title page, with images taken from Moore, Persaud and Shiota Color Atlas of Clinical Embryology

Letter of the Day: July 14

Smithsonian Institution,
July 14, 1869

Dr. G.A. Otis,
Army Med’l. Mus’m.

Dear Sir:

We have lately selected from our alcoholic collections a number of human foetuses, animal monstrosities, entozoa, etc, which we shall be happy to deliver to your messenger, together with a human skull [AMM No 623 Anatomical Sect.] from the mounds of Indiana.

Please send us the label of the Indian Cerement lately forwarded by you to this Institution,

Yours very truly
Joseph Henry

John's post

This is an example of one of the flashcards I made.


Hi, my name is John Kim and I go to Magruder High School. I’ve been working as an intern at the Human Developmental Anatomy Center tying packages, working on projects and at the same time learning about embryology. During this week I have been able to work on creating flashcards accompanied with pictures that test one’s knowledge on general embryology and more specifically the nervous system. In total I made 15 flashcards. This was interesting to do because I learned a new thing for almost every flashcard I made. Besides making flashcards, I have also made a couple jigsaw puzzles from pictures related to embryology that can be both fun and stimulate thinking on the subject at the same time.

The image on this flashcard was taken from: http://www.proprofs.com

Letter of the Day: July 13 - veterinary museum continued

Surgeon General’s Office
Washington City, July 13, 1868

Dear Doctor

Veterinary Surgeon Braley has called on the Surgeon General this morning to ask that the “horse collection” may be inspected before it is packed up and sent to the Surg Genl, so that a proper selection of those specimens really desired for our Museum may be made.

Will you please ride over to the Lincoln Depot tomorrow morning, see Braley and the Collection, select the specimens you think desirable to accept and ask him to send them to the Museum building?

Yours very truly,
C.H. Crane

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

Letter of the Day: July 12 - Pompeii

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 9748

War Department,
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library,
Washington,
July 12, 1906

The Kny-Scheerer Co.,
225-233 Fourth Avenue,
New York City.

Gentlemen,

Referring to your letter of the 6th instant, please furnish to the Army Medical Museum the collection of thirty-seven imitation surgical instruments from the Ruins of Pompei (sic, Pompeii), enumerated in your letters of June 12 and 16 and July 6, 1906, as follows:

Speculum
Scissors
Trocar & canula
Cautery iron
Lancets
Dilator
The crochet or obstetric forceps
Colpeurynter
Spatula
Pair of pincers
2 bladed vaginal specula, with wide handle bars
Craniotomy forceps
Surgical forceps
Tongue depressor
Vaginal depressor
Curette
Pincers
Elevator
Female catheter
Drainage canula
Conical catheter, female
Hook retractor, large
Hook retractor, small
Pair of pincers, with button end
Pair of pincers, flat end
Abolition hook
Spoon curette & spatula
Specula & probe
Round spoon on metal handle
Probe & spoon
Probe pointed sound
Spatula & probe
Spatula & sound
Spatula & sound, smaller size
Spatula, small
Probe & curette

You state in your letter of June 16th, “It is possible that we may be able to offer these duty free to the Museum, in which case a reduction of fully 18% can be made upon the prices stated”; it is assumed therefore, that the price quoted in your letter of July 6, 1906 ($220.00) includes the import duty, and as articles for Government use are admitted duty free, you will please render bill accordingly.

Kindly notify this office of the arrival of the instruments so that an application can be made for their free admission at the Custom House, New York, N.Y.

Very respectfully,
V. Havard
Col., Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.
In charge, Museum & Library Div.

Letter of the Day: July 11 - veterinary museum?

Surgeon General’s Office
Washington City, July 11th 1868

Dear Doctor

Genl. Meigs informs the Surgeon General that “veterinary Surgeon Braley has been directed to turn over to the Surgeon General’s Office the veterinary museum some time since collected and arranged by him for this office and now in his possession, for enlargement and re-arrangement.”

The Surgeon General desires that you will designate a suitable place for the reception + exhibition of these specimens.

I am going to the Arsenal this evening and see what I can do with Genl Ramsay about obtaining the “fourteen skeletons” or “remains”.

Yours truly,
C.H. Crane

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

Letter of the Day: July 10

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 788

July 10, 1895

Dr. John E. Ruebsam
635 F St, N.W.,
Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir:

I am instructed by the Surgeon General to acknowledge the receipt this day of,

1. Leg extension and rest apparatus,
2. Puncture Counter Irritant,

devised by you, and contributed to the Army Medical Museum, and to thank you for this interesting addition to the Museum collection.

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

Surgery cartoon from 1969

This is from the Chicago Today Magazine Dec 7, 1969, in a column called Pause – For  a Laugh. I can’t read the cartoonist’s signature though. The paper was padding out a collection of medical models that was donated to us.

Letter of the Day: July 9

Medical Director’s Office,
Louisville, Ky., July 9 1863

General,

I have the honor to enclose four photographs for the “Cripple’s Gallery”, Army Med. Museum,
+ to remain,
Very Res’lly
Yr Obdt Svt.
J. F. Head,
Surg’n. U.S.A.

Brigr. Gen. W. A. Hammond,
Surg. General
U.S.A.
Washington D.C.

Letter of the Day: July 8

No. 1209 ? Hessan St.
Wilmington Del,
July 8th, ‘74

Dr. Otis
Surg. U.S.A.

My dear Sir,

I owe you an apology for not sooner answering your letter relating to a portrait of my Grand Uncle, Dr. James Tilton formerly Surg. Gen. U.S.A. and of Delaware, of which Dr. H. Tilton, Surg. U.S.A. wrote you as being at my house here.

The fact is I was in Washington when your letter was sent here, and upon its being forwarded to me there, I set out to find you, and met with my old friend Surgeon Gen’l Barnes, with home I arranged to have the portrait sent to him at Washington.

To-day the picture goes to Gen Barnes, by Adams Express, it is an old painting, + is badly cracked by age + exposure to hot rooms, but is an admirable likeness, painted by Rembrandt Peale, at Phil. early in this century. I beg you to communicate to my relative Dr. Henry Tilton of the Army, that his wishes or suggestions with regard to this picture of our relative, have been gladly complied with by the grand=nephie of the old Surg. Genl (after whom I was named) + the cousin of the present Doctor, himself.

Most Truly
Your ? + Obt Srvt
James Tilton, C.E.

The painting is now in the National Library of Medicine -

Little bit of art history leads sideways to embryology

HDAC has a lot of work of Mall’s, who’s mentioned in this article, and was a pioneering embryologist.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/nyregion/06portraits.html

July 5, 2010

A Portraitist, and His Images of the Famous, Come to Light

By DAVID GONZALEZ

 

Working with only a catalog from a 1914 show in Rochester, Mr. Seyffert hunted down a portrait of Dr. Franklin Mall, a renowned professor of anatomy at Johns Hopkins University. The painting, which was in storage at the university, had vexed archivists.

“We were very interested to have the identity of the artist,” said Nancy McCall, director of the archives for the Hopkins Medical Institutions. “It is an extraordinarily well-done portrait. The head and hands are exquisite.”

 

Lunchtime Art Workshops at the Medical Museum - 7/21, 7/28. 8/4 - Limited Seating !

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!
	Lunchtime Art Workshops at the Medical Museum, July 21, July 28, and Aug. 4, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m., Free!   Enjoy a short discussion about artworks featured in “Wounded in Action: An Art Exhibition of Orthopaedic Advancements” and then spend time creating your own work of art. Explore different media each week in the workshops featured below.   Wednesday, July 21: Sketch wounds as seen in wax models from the Museum’s Historical Collections.   Wednesday, July 28: Draw medical technology, including historic prosthetic devices.   Wednesday, August 4: Sketch sculptures that depict the human form.   These workshops are free, but reservations are required. Ages 15 & up. To reserve a spot or for more information, call 202-782-2673. Art supplies will be provided, but attendees are welcome to bring their favorite materials.
	Where: NMHM (Building 54) Questions: (202) 782-2673 or http://www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum

 

 

 

 

Letter of the Day: July 7 (1 of 2) - Dredging the Potomac

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1589

 

July 7, 1896

 

 

Major Charles J. Allen,

Engineer Corps, U.S. Army,

In charge of Improvement of Potomac river, etc.,

Washington, D.C.

 

Dear Sir:

 

In connection with an investigation which I am now making by direction of the Surgeon General, concerning the prevalence of malarial diseases at Washington Barracks, and at Fort Myer, Va, I have the honor to request that I may be informed as to the date when the work of dredging the Potomac River and filling in the flats was begun, and, if possible, the amount of work accomplished each year., vis.: the number of cubic yards raised and deposited monthly, etc.

 

It is believe that information upon these points may throw considerable light on the investigation in which I am an engaged.

 

Very respectfully,

Walter Reed

Surgeon, U.S. Army,

Curator

 

Letter of the Day: July 7 (2 of 2)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1590

July 7, 1896

Colonel F.C. Ainsworth,
Chief Record and Pension Office,
War Department,
Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir:

In connection with an investigation which I am now making by direction of the Surgeon General concerning the prevalence of malarial diseases at Washington Barracks and at Fort Meyer, Va., I have the honor to request that I may be given access to the medical records of these posts for the period including the years 1870 to 1895.

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

July 8, 1896, permission granted by telephone message

Visiting the Museum in the early years

Here's a bit I wrote some years ago, that may be of interest...

Opened to the public on April 16, 1867, the Museum drew around 6000 visitors by the end of the year. (Lamb, p. 43-4) By 1874, over 2600 people visited some months. (Parker to Otis, April 30, 1874) The standard hours for the Museum to be open, at least on Saturday, were 10 am to 2 pm. During the first years, the staff of the Museum worked from 9 am until 3 pm, Monday through Saturday; in January 1867 an hour was added to the end of the day. (Otis to Crane, January 17, 1874; Lamb p. 43) Even before opening to the general public, the Museum was known enough for Dr. S. Weir Mitchell's fictional story, "The Case of George Dedlow," to appear in the Atlantic Monthly in July 1866. Mitchell's Dedlow, who had lost both his legs during the war, was contacted by spirits during a seance. The spirits proved to be his amputated limbs, preserved in the Medical Museum. "A strange sense of wonder filled me, and, to the amazement of every one, I arose, and, staggering a little, walked across the room on limbs invisible to them or me. It was no wonder I staggered, for, as I briefly reflected, my legs had been nine months in the strongest alcohol." (Mitchell) Undoubtedly, readers of the story would have wished to visit the Museum to look for Dedlow's (fictional) limbs.