Museum exhibit case at MMRC headquarters

Beginning installation of Sickles exhibit at MMRC

Deinstalling "Trauma Bay II, Balad, Iraq" exhibit

Deinstalling "Trauma Bay II, Balad, Iraq" exhibit

Letter of the Day: May 11

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02215

May 11, 1897

Dr. Arthur A. Snyder
Corner 31st and N St. N.W.
Georgetown, D.C.

Dear Doctor:

I regret to inform you that it is impossible to make a diagnosis of the tumor of the testicle which was received April 30th at this Museum, for the reason that the structure is so completely necrotic as to fail to give any idea whatever of the original structure of the growth. The necrotic mass is surrounded by a much thickened tunica vaginalis, between which and the mass of the tumor there appears to be no connection whatever. It is one of the possibilities that this is a specimen of an old encapsulated abscess.

Sincerely yours,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator.

More Civil War soldier photographs added to Flickr

3 or so pictures continue to go up each day, including


CP 1220 Captain JW Force, 22nd US Colored Troops.


CP 1216 Confederate soldier Columbus Rush, 21st Georgia Volunteers


CP 1219 Corporal J.H. Jaxcox, 143rd New York Volunteers

PR: Visualizing Prosthetics research project at University of Maryland, Baltimore County

As requested -

UMBC anthropologist Seth Messinger recently began a new collaborative
arts-based research project exploring the everyday lived experiences of
people who wear prosthetics. An illustrated announcement is at
goo.gl/o4dRw <http://goo.gl/o4dRw> , and we invite you to post this on
the Bottled Monsters blog if you'd like, or to share it with your
colleagues

Letter of the Day: May 10

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 00649

Subject: Correction of check.

War Department,
Surgeon General's Office,
U.S. Army Medical Museum and Library,
Corner 7th and B Streets S.W.,
Washington, D.C., May 10, 1895

Lieut. Colonel Thomas Wilson,
Asst. Commissary General of Subsistence,
Army Building,
New York.

Dear Sir:

I beg to return herewith check No. 76619 payable to the order of Augustus Tracy, Hospital Corps, U.S. Army. This check has been presented at the Treasury Department, and payment refused on account of the difference in the spelling of Private Tracey's name. Will you not therefore have another check issued. The proper spelling of his name is Tracey.

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

Letter of the Day: May 9

Ft. Sanders, WY
May 9th 77

Dr. G.A. Otis, U.S.A.

Dear Dr.

I send to day this the Z.M. Department for the Museum a fine specimen of a Fish - believed to be a "salmon fontinalis". Should there be no fish in the museum please dispose of it to some of your friends at the Smithsonian.

In return for this unusually large specimen I beg to have a reply to the following queries -

(over)

in which several besides myself are interested

1. Is it a true "Salmon fontinalis"? If not please make the distinction?

2. Are there any specimens in the Smithsonian of greater size or weight.

I also invite attention to the fact that Bear Lake in Utah is a feeder of the Bear River + the latter empties into Great Salt Lake. The fish is therefore actually completely landlocked.

I will know soon whether it was caught in the river or lake - merely for sake of precision - I will notify you.

I will esteem it a favor if you will notify my brother of its arrival - his address is State Dept., Washington D.C.

With great regard
Very truly yours
B.A. Clements, U.S.A.


[Enclosed description]

Descriptive Memorandum of Specimen of Fish

The fish this day sent to the Army Museum was taken either in Bear River or Bear Lake Utah. I was shipped from Evanston U.P.R. Road in Laramie City Wyoming, where it was found on sale by me on May 7, 1877. Cleaned of its entrails + gills it weighed - before immersion in alcohol - exactly six pounds.

The color (before placed in alcohol) of the gill cores was a lake red - as if stained. Under the lower jaw a streak of a light brick red color: the spots were uniformly blank: the general color of a silvery grey, with deep red staining on the sides -

(over)

The weight of the entrails + gills is estimated at from 2 to 3 pounds.

B. A. Clements
Maj, U.S.A.

Fort Sanders WYS[?] [Wyoming]
May 9, 1877

Letter of the Day: May 8

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 04558

War Department,
Surgeon General's Office,
U.S.Army Medical Museum and Library,
Corner of 7th and B Streets S.W.
Washington, May 8, 1900.

The
Hon. William B. Allison,
U.S. Senate,
Chaiman of the Committee on Appropriations.

Sir:

I have the honor to request at your pleasure an audience before the Committee on Appropriations, a sub committee; or a member thereof having charge of the Civil Sundry Bill, with the view of explaining the extreme need of additional shelving for the Medical Library, known as the Surgeon General's.

The Surgeon General of the Army approves this request.

I am, Senator,
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Alfred A. Woodhull

Letter of the Day: May 7

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02235

War Department,
Surgeon General's Office,
Washington, May 7, 1897

Lieut. Colonel D.L. Huntington,
Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army,
Army Medical Museum.

My dear Colonel:

It is understood that there is at the Museum a Greenleaf's travois with harness complete. If such is the case, the Surgeon General desires that you ship it by express addressed to Lieut. Colonel W. E. Waters, Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army, Columbus Barracks, Columbus, Ohio. It is needed for the use of the approaching Military Surgeon's Association, and will be returned to the Museum after the meeting. Expressage both ways to be paid by the Association at Columbus.

If there is none on hand, please telephone me.
Very truly yours,
C.H. Alden
A.S.U.

[handwritten notation]
May 8, 1897, travois with harness and stretcher shipped by Adams Express.

Letter of the Day: May 6 (1 of 2)

[Note: a "gumma" is non-cancerous growth with a necrotic center, resulting from syphilis in the tertiary stage.]

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 03113

May 6, 1898

Surgeon in Charge of Freedmen's Hospital
Washington, DC

Dear Sir:

I beg to inform you that the tumor of mediastinum in the case of J. Chase, colored, contributed by you Dr D.S. Lamb [name noted in pencil] to this Museum on March 28, has been examined under the microscope and proves to be a gumma.

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

[Handwritten notation]
Specimen No. 11453 Path. Sect
credit Dr. Lamb

National Library of Medicine Announces Release of “Embryo” App

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, Louisiana State University and National Museum of Health & Medicine Collaborate

 April 28 2011

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/apps_embryo.html

The US National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health, has released "Embryo" (http://itunes.apple.com/app/embryo/id422337604), a new app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad.

Embryo is a collaborative project between the NLM, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD), the Virtual Human Embryo Project (Louisiana State University/ http://virtualhumanembryo.lsuhsc.edu/) and the National Museum of Health & Medicine's Human Developmental Anatomy Center (http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/hdac/).

The National Museum of Health & Medicine's Human Developmental Anatomy Center (HDAC) acquires and maintains collections pertaining to general developmental anatomy and neuroanatomy. Scientists and educators have used the National Museum of Health and Medicine's Carnegie Embryo Collection (http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/hdac/Carnegie_collection.htm) to define normal human embryo development for decades.  This archival collection was developed between approximately 1887 to 1956 and focuses on normal development in the first eight weeks. The Virtual Human Embryo database was created to provide digital serial sections of human embryos from the collection.

The Embryo app provides this collection of digital serial sections of early stage human embryos for mobile devices. Features include human fertilization videos, photo micrographs of early-stage embryo development, 2D and 3D digital images using visual stack dissections, and a pregnancy calculator.

 

 

Letter of the Day: May 6 (2 of 2)

Leipzig, May 6, 1885

 

Dear Sir [John Shaw Billings],

 

I am much obliged to you for the sending of the photographics (sic) of crania. The methods of photographing several heads upon the same plate with scale of measure added appears indeed to be of great interest. I have shown these plates to Dr. Emile Schmidt (formerly in Essen), whose collection, embracing 1300 nos. is to be placed in our institution.

 

I have myself, I am sorry to say, little time for craniological studies, as all my free time is devoted to embryology, but whenever I can help to promote craniology, I do so with pleasure. With regard to the specimens Prof. Braun (spelling?) has already written to you, I presume, that he had made for you a series of sections, ready to be forwarded, simply waiting for your directions. The sudden death of our dear president Panum has undoubtedly grieved you. He was in the position which he filled with so much conscientiousness, as if made for it and would have assisted you in the organization of the Congress in 1887, with his advice.

 

Very respectfully

W. His

 

Letter of the Day: May 5

Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, D.C., May 5, 1880.

 

Dear Doctor Otis,

 

Charles Ruby, Private Co. D, 4^th Infantry, Fort Laramie, says that while out between Hat Creek + Red Cloud Agency he passed the spot where the Cheyenne Indians two years ago made their last stand + nearly all were killed. He remarks that their skulls + bones lie scattered in all directions + will soon be lost. The thought occurred to him whether it would not be of interest to have some of these skulls collected.

 

Having called your attention to this subject, I remain,

 

Sincerely yours,

SF Baird

 

Dr Geo. A. Otis

Army Medical Museum.

Washington

 

Memorandum (written on reverse)

 

See letter of Dr. Carlos Carvallo, U.S.A., dated May 14, 1880, who states that as soon as possible he will go with a  small detail in search of the skulls etc., alluded to within.

news article: Fort Detrick to oversee Walter Reed closure

Fort Detrick to oversee Walter Reed closure
Originally published May 04, 2011
By Megan Eckstein
News-Post Staff
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=12069
8

Letter of the Day: May 4

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02230

May 4, 1897

Dr. W.C Gorgas, Asst. Surg., U.S. Army,
Fort Barrancas,
Florida.

Dear Doctor:

Referring to your letter of May 1st, '97, I have to report that the specimen of sputum therein referred to has been examined with the following result: No tubercle bacilli present, but many diplococci are seen which have the shape and staining re-action of the diplococcus lanceolatus, the organism for croupous pneumonia. I do not mean to say that your patient has pneumonia, because this organism is so often met with in the normal saliva of human beings.

Sincerely yours,
Walter Reed
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator.

Letter of the Day: May 3

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 02222

May 3, 1897

Dr. Joe T.D. Howard,
U.S. Indian Service, Green Bay Agency,
Keshena, Wisconsin.

Dear Doctor:

Your letter of April 26th, together with the specimen of discharge from the intestinal canal of a patient, have been referred to me by Surgeon General Sternberg for answer.

A careful microscopic examination of the contents of the bottle has been made for tubercle bacilli but none have been found. It will not be possible to isolate the typhoid bacillus, even if it were present, from this specimen of intestinal discharge. If, however, you will place a small drop of the patient's blood drawn from the lobe of the ear upon a small piece of glass and allow the same to dry, I can, by testing the dry blood decide whether the case is one of typhoid fever or not. If you will, therefore, send me such a specimen I will be glad to have the test made. I may add that the specimen sent by you contains a considerable quantity of a heavy oil, which appears to be the oil of sassafras.

I do not know whether you have added this to the bottle or whether your patient have been taking the oil medicinally.

Sincerely yours,
Walter Reed
Surgeon U.S. Army
Curator

Letter of the Day: May 2

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 03856

Established 1844

Sharp & Smith
Makers and Importers of
Surgical Instruments
Deformity Apparatus, Artificial Limbs,
Artificial Eyes & c.
92 Wabash Ave.
Chicago, May 2, 1899

D. Bache
Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir:

In a recent letter to us you asked us to send you some information regarding Artificial Limbs, either literature or samples of something of old device. We are sorry to report however, that we have thus far been unsuccessful in getting any literature, and have no old styles on hand that we think would be of any service. Should anything come to hand however, that we think would interest you, we will be pleased to notify you of it.

Yours truly,
Sharp & Smith

G.
H.L.P.

Letter of the Day: May 1

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 03853

Subject: Emergency purchases

War Department,
Surgeon General's Office,
U.S. Army Medical Museum and Library,
Corner of 7th and B Streets S.W.

Washington, May 1, 1899.

To the Surgeon General,
U.S. Army.

General:

I have the honor to request authority to purchase for use at the Army Medical Museum laboratory:

Vegetables....$12.00
Meat......1.20
Milk......28
Salt......15
Oats......85
Bran......60
Corn......35
Blood.....75

to be paid for from the Museum Appropriation as emergency purchases.

Very respectfully,
Dallas Bache
Col. & Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.
In charge of Museum & Library Division