An unofficial blog about the National Museum of Health and Medicine (nee the Army Medical Museum) in Silver Spring, MD. Visit for news about the museum, new projects, musing on the history of medicine and neat pictures.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Upcoming Programs at the NMHM
When: Thursdays, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
What: Join the Museum each week for "Faber Hour." Hermann Faber was an Army Medical Museum illustrator during and after the Civil War and is widely known for his meticulous anatomical sketches. “Faber Hours” are drop-in sessions for persons interested in spending directed attention on anatomical, historical or art objects in the Museum. “Faber Hours” will be led by a Museum staffer with a background in medical illustration. Free, no reservations necessary. Bring a small sketchbook and pencils. Questions? Call (202) 782-2673.
SPECIAL SCIFEST PROGRAM! Brown Bag Lunch: "In the Air Intensive Care – A Revolution in Patient Transport"
When: Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
What: Jim Cox, a retired U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) physician, will discuss the evolution of the U.S. Air Force air evacuation system over the last decade. His talk will describe the development of innovative medical technology used to provide life support to critically injured service members during missions lasting over eight hours.
Learn more about the USA Science and Engineering Festival at http://www.usasciencefestival.org/.
SPECIAL SCIFEST PROGRAM! "Three Arrangements: Exploring Our Grand Universe"
When: Monday, October 18, 2010, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
What: How did the universe come to be? That is the big question that physicists Dr. Larry Gladney, Dr. Herman White and Dr. James Gates will pose during their performance. Expect to hear exciting and accessible presentations about string theory, particle physics and astrophysics, and about how these areas of study can help us better understand how the universe came to be. Songs like “On the Mathematical Melodies of Reality” will provide an accessible introduction to the framework of mathematics from Maxwell to Superstring/M-Theory, while “Smashing Atoms on Planet Earth” will describe how scientific instruments have evolved to become the primary lenses to explore the realm of the microcosm.
Special Note: Limited Seating. Pre-registration is required. To reserve a seat, visit http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2010festival/pre-expo-events.
SPECIAL SCIFEST PROGRAM! Brown Bag Lunch: "Revolutionizing Prosthetics"
When: Tuesday, October 19, 2010, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
What: Robert Armiger, a Johns Hopkins graduate and biomedical engineer, is part of a nationwide effort led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to create a neurally-controlled prosthetic arm. The project is funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to enable individuals with amputations or upper extremity paralysis to gain more movement. Armiger and a colleague came up with the idea of using a popular video game to help amputees learn to control their new mechanical arms, calling this technology “Air Guitar Hero.” Armiger, who will be featured as a Nifty Fifty speaker for the USA Science and Engineering Festival, will discuss this project and ongoing efforts in the field of neuroprosthetics.
Learn more about the USA Science and Engineering Festival at http://www.usasciencefestival.org/.
SPECIAL SCIFEST PROGRAM! Brown Bag Lunch: "Resolution for the Missing: Bringing our Fallen Soldiers Home"
When: Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
What:Have advances in DNA analysis made it so that our honored war dead will never again be labeled "unknown"? Come listen as a senior DNA analyst from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) shares her experiences working with scientists from Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in positively identifying U.S. service members missing from past military conflicts. Suni Edson, assistant technical leader of the Mitochondrial DNA Section at AFDIL, will offer a rare look into the role DNA analysis plays in the process of scientific identification, and how advances in technology have increased the number of persons identified each year.
Learn more about the USA Science and Engineering Festival at http://www.usasciencefestival.org/.
SPECIAL SCIFEST PROGRAM! "Manya: A Living History of Marie Curie"
When: Thursday, October 21, 2010, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
What: This one-woman drama by storyteller Susan Marie Frontczak exposes the struggles and triumphs of Nobel laureate Marie Curie— an academically impassioned, vehemently private, fervently Polish scientist, mother and teacher. From the political oppression of her childhood, to scientific emergence and fame to the tragedy that forced her into single motherhood as well as further world prominence, this is a story that reveals the tenacity of the human spirit and the allure of science.
Special Note: Limited Seating. Pre-registration is required. To reserve a seat, visit http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2010festival/pre-expo-events or call 619-723-8820.
Learn more about the USA Science and Engineering Festival at http://www.usasciencefestival.org/.
USA SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FESTIVAL
When: October 23-24, 2010
What: NMHM is proud to be an Official Partner of the inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival to be held in the greater Washington DC area in October 2010. The Festival, which will be the country's first national science festival, is a collaboration of over 500 of the country's leading science and engineering organizations and aims to reignite the interest of our nation's youth in the sciences. The culmination of the Festival will be a two-day Expo on the National Mall on October 23-24, 2010, which will give children, teens and adults the opportunity to explore all facets of science & engineering through hundreds of fun, hands-on activities. For more information on all Festival events, visit http://www.usasciencefestival.org/.
Halloween Family Program: Serious Fun with Skulls
When: Saturday, October 30, 2010, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
What: The Museum invites little ghouls and their families to get into the Halloween spirit by learning about skulls. This year we’ll focus on Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a holiday that celebrates the human cycle of life and death.
Decorate your own sugar skull (1st grade and up)
Participate in story time with books about Day of the Dead and skeletons
Make your own skull mask
Learn about skulls from an anthropologist
Halloween costumes are encouraged!
Letter of the Day: October 6
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1736
Fort Crook Neb.
Oct 6th 1896
Major Walter Reed U.S.A.
Washington D.C.
Dear Doctor,
As I am anxious to get the laboratory in the new hospital here in shape for a course in bacteriology this winter, I wish to ask if it would inconvenience you too much to send me cultures of the following bacilli, viz; B. Diphtheria, Typhoid Fever, Coli communis, Tuberculosis, Cholera, Anthrax, Prodigiosus, Glanders, and Finkler-Prior Vibrio.
All of my cultures became extinct in the move from Fort Omaha to this post as no one looked after them when I left to organize this hospital.
Very Sincerely
WB Banister
Capt. + Asst. Surgeon U.S.A.
The Surgeon
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Letter of the Day: October 5
Appleton Station Va Oct 5th 1864
To Surgeon J. H. Brinton A. Medical Depot, Washington
Sir:
Mr. E. Leitz, artist Gallery Broadway New York wrote to me that the Med. Department was in want for an artists in water-colors and that he had recommended me as such.
Therefore I beg leave to give you my directions with the remark that I am unfit for field duty and employed as clerk in the Adjutant’s Office.
I am, Sir,
Very Respectfully
Your obedient Servant
Herman Strider
Comp D, 46th Reg. N.Y. Vet. Vols
1 Division, 2 Brigade 9 Army Corps
Job ad for Project Manager for Museum's move?
We haven’t heard anything, but we also don’t know of any other museums moving in DC –
http://www.jobtarget.com/c/job.cfm?vnet=0&str=26&site%5Fid=8712&jb=7228743
Monday, October 4, 2010
Diagram, Diagram, Surprise! Diagram, Diagram
Letter of the Day: October 4
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 910
October 4, 1895
Dr. Irving W. Rand,
Columbia Hospital,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Doctor:
The portions of liver, kidney and spleen from a case of suppression of urine after Caesarean operation, sent to this laboratory on September 9, 1895, have been subjected to microscopical examination with the following result:
Kidney: Chronic parenchymatous nephritis, with extensive cell change and increase of connective tissue.
Liver: Extensive fatty degeneration; the cells at the periphery of the lobules are uniformly degenerated and atrophied., and some of them have disappeared; slight increase of connective tissue.
Spleen: Shows some cellular hyperplasia in the pulp of the organ. All three tissues contain a moderately large bacillus with rounded ends, and of variable length. As cultures were not taken it is impossible to say what this organism is; it may be proteus vulgaris.
Very respectfully,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Pictures of average Civil War soldiers
SCDV 192 Ulmur, David, CO. M 4th PA Cavalry, battle of Dinwiddie Court House
The Washington Post is reporting an excellent donation of 700 pictures of average Civil War soldiers to the Library of Congress.
Va. collector donates Civil War photographs to Library of Congress
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The Medical Museum of course took or collected thousands of these types of pictures during the war, excepting the showing of a wound, of course. You can see some on our Flickr site. We also have a donated album - Pleasants Photograph Album (1865) - that we scanned and put online recently. Here's the description of it:
Photograph album of Frances Pleasants, who taught wounded soldiers at the Army Hospital in Germantown, PA during the Civil War. Presented to her by her patients, it contains photographs of them as well as other Civil War images. Includes albumen cartes-de-visite, tintypes, and newspaper clippings. Note: where image numbers are missing in the sequence, those places in the album are empty and the pages were not digitized.
Letter of the Day: October 3
Sir:
We were so unfortunate, on Friday Morning, October 2d, 1863, as to meet with the disaster of having our Factory burned. Our furnace is still perfect, and our moulds uninjured, to any great extent. Our stock was entirely consumed, and some of our books destroyed, among them our order book.
Our suspension of business will be but temporary, as we hope to be able to resume operations in the course of three or four weeks. So soon as we are in operation, we will be glad to receive a continuance of your patronage, so liberally extended to us heretofore.
Yours, respectfully,
T.A. EVANS & CO.
Masterden Fluid Glass Works
Saturday, October 2, 2010
NY Times on the problem of cell phone tours
From Picassos to Sarcophagi, Guided by Phone Apps
By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
October 2, 2010
Appalling human experimentation done by US in early days of antibiotics
U.S. Apologizes for Syphilis Tests in Guatemala
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
October 2, 2010
U.S. apologizes for newly revealed syphilis experiments done in Guatemala
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 2, 2010
Letter of the Day: October 2
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1737
The Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement.
W.J. Hanna, M.D., Sec’y and Treas.
#426 ½ J. St. Sacramento, Cal. October 2, 1896.
My Dear Doctor:
I enclose a reprint of a case of “Heart Injury” which came under my observation. Would you kindly let me know whether you have any similar cases reported in your Museum or any literature on this subject. With kind regards and hoping to hear from you at your earliest convenience I remain
Yours truly
W.J. Hanna
To.
J.M. Toner M.D.
U.S. Army Medical Museum
Washington, D.C.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Museum transfers from AFIP
Letter of the Day: October 1
War Department,
Surgeon General’s Office,
U.S. Army Medical Museum and Library,
Corner 7th and B Streets, S.W.,
Washington, D.C., October 1, 1894,
Dr. A. Clifford Mercer,
324 Montgomery St.,
Syracuse, N.Y.
Dear Sir:
I have just returned from Europe and find your note of September 23rd on my table, for which I am much obliged.
I know Mr. Crisp’s collection very well, and have received much valuable aid from Mr. Mayall, the gentleman who aided him largely in making that collection. I wish it were possible to obtain it for the Army Medical Museum, to which it would be a splendid addition. But it is out of the question to think of purchasing it, as your annual appropriation for all purposes is only $5000. At all events, however, it can do no harm to make some inquiries about the matter, and I will at once proceed to do this through some friends in London.
Again thanking you for your note, I remain,
Yours very sincerely,
(Sgd) John S. Billings
Lt. Colonel and Deputy Surgeon General, U.S.A.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Letter of the Day: September 30
Wash. D.C. Sept 30 80
Hon. Alexander Ramsey
Sec of War
Dear Sir
I have the honor herewith most respectfully to request that I may be transferred from my present position in the Record and Pension Division of the Surgeon General’s Office to some other employment under the War Department for the reason that I am afflicted with a very serious trouble in my eyes; which has now become so aggravated by the gas light under which I have to work as to threaten blindness.
Dr. Loring the occulist who has for some time been treating my eyes assures me that this work by gas light will eventually cause the loss of sight.
I forward with this his statement of the matter, and therefore request that you will have the kindness to cause my transfer to someplace where I will not have the difficulty of the gas light, or if possible to some position as messenger or the like. I was appointed upon the recommendation of the Maryland delegation + also f Mr. Pachico of Cal. Being gazette I believe to that state.
Very Respectfully,
Your Obt. Servant
Alfred de Ronceray
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Letter of the Day: September 29
[There were so many bird collectors in the Army that there’s a book about them – Ornithologists of the United States Army Medical Corps by Hume]
Madisonville, Hamilton Co. Ohio
Sept. 29th 1879
Dear Sir
I send you today, per Express (M+C. care of Adams) as directed, a box containing the following species of birds in the flesh, for the Army Medical Museum; (for skeletons).
Viz.-
Deudioeca castanea
Deudoieca blackburniae
Turdus swainsoni
Pyranga aestiva
Passerella iliaca
Aegialitis vociferous
Hoping that they may reach you in good order, I have the honor to be
Very respectfully yours
Frank W. Langdon
C.H. Crane
Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.
--
Received at A.M.M. Oct. 2, 1879, + turned over to Dr. Woodward, in charge of the Sec. of Comparative Anatomy. Copy of this letter furnished Dr. Schafhirt Oct. 7 1879, by order of Mr. Myers.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
SGO Circular 2 (1867)
The Army Medical Museum begins collecting animal specimens, Indian culture and remains, and poisonous insects and reptiles, two years after the Civil War ends, and five years after the Museum’s founding.
Letter of the Day: September 28
Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 193
Schering & Glatz,
Importers of
Drugs & Chemicals
No. 55 Maiden Lane.
New York, September 28, 1894
Dr. Walter Reed,
Major & Surgeon U.S. Army
Curator U.S. Army Medical Museum,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Doctor:-
We beg to own receipt of your valued favor of the 26th. Inst., contents of which are noted with thanks.-
We now enclose invoice for 2 x 5 Gramme Vials DIPTHERIA ANTITOXINE SOLUTION for Immunization, which we forwarded by mail today and trust the same will reach you in good condition. We regret to say that we will probably not be able to furnish the Concentrated Solution until next November, while our stock of the Immunization Fluid is almost exhausted and we will likely be out of stock for a month or two.
We presume your article “The Germicidal Value of Trikresol” has not yet been published in the fourth volume of the Transactions of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, as we have not yet received the separate copy which you were kind enough to promise us in your letter of July 23d.
Very truly yours,
Schering & Glatz
Enclosure: Invoice.
Monday, September 27, 2010
"Save the Date: Museum Program on Wounded Warrior Care at the MATC, 9/30, noon!"
SAVE THE DATE---Wounded Warrior Care at Walter Reed LUNCHTIME PROGRAM AT THE MEDICAL MUSEUM | |
What: Join physical therapists from Walter Reed’s Military Advanced Training Center for a panel discussion about their experiences with Wounded Warrior care and amputee rehabilitation. This program is being held in conjunction with “Wounded in Action: An Art Exhibition of Orthopaedic Advancements,” presented by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. When: Thursday, September 30, 2010, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. (Bring your lunch!) Where: Russell Auditorium, NMHM in Bldg. 54, WRAMC Questions? Call (202) 782-2673 |