Letter of the Day: June 10

Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, June 10, 1870

Dear Sir;

We are in receipt of a letter from Prof Quatrefages, of Paris, announcing the transmission to us of casts of the celebrated Cro-magnon crania, that has excited so much interest in France during the last few months, and hope, ere long, to have the pleasure of adding these important archaeological specimens to the Museum under your charge. We are promised full series of similar objects and are allowed to hope even that, in time, we will be possessors of some originals. We find an excellent feeling towards the Institution on the part of the archaeologists of Paris and disposition to place us in the first rank in the distribution of collections.

The Professor asks whether we can send him crania from our American races, definitely named by tribes, and also those of the mound builders, and if you can spare any specimens of the kind I am sure it would be a gratification to Prof. Henry to have you supply them; a satisfactory return will, certainly, be made for whatever may be sent. We are just packing our boxes for Paris and if you will forward to us a few such objects for the Ethnological Cabinet of Paris it will give us pleasure to forward them at once.

We are at present, prosecuting an exploration of Mounds in Tennessee from which we have reasonable grounds for expecting a number of crania. We have given injunctions to those in charge of the exploration to spare no pains in securing specimens and in preventing their being injured by digging..

I am,
Very truly yours,
Spencer F Baird
Asst. Sect. in charge.

Dr. Geo: A. Otis,
Army Medical Museum
Washington

Letter of the Day: June 9 - Whiskey?

Headqurs: 26th R.P.V.[26th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers]. 1st Brig: 2 Div 3 Corps
Camp near Falmouth June 9th 1863

Doctor:

Today I sent through Med: Purveyor Dr. McMillan a small box containing some of the pathological specimens refered (sic) to in your letter of the 6th inst:

I regret that the specimens are in such a bad condition and so few. The barrel containing the same was broken open and contents buried, my Asst. Dr. Dewling exhumed those I sent, further search is now instituted. The impression is that the barrel was mistaken for whiskey.

I prepared several interesting specimens during my leisure expecting to be the bearer of the same to Washington, as I received orders to report to the Department of the Cumberland in April last, but retained here by Genl: Sickles. I hope soon to present the balance in person.

I have the honor to be
Your obedient servant
S.J.W. Mintzer
Surgeon in Chief 1st Brig, 2 Div, 3 Corps

J.H. Brinton
Surgeon U.S.V. + Curator
Army Medical Museum

Letter of the Day: June 8 - Vivisection?

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1523

 

609 Third St.,

Washington, D.C.,

June 8, 1896.

 

Surgeon Walter Reed, U.S.A.,

Curator Army Medical Museum,

Washington, D.C.

 

Dear Sir:

 

In reply to your letter of June 5, 1896, enclosing an extract from the Report of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia on the subject of vivisection, I would say that a very wonderfully distorted, inaccurate and false description has been given of work conducted at the Army Medical Museum some twenty years ago. Those who were practically engaged in the Microscopical Division should know better than any one else the character of the work that was performed, and that all animals experimented upon were under the influence of an anesthetic. One who was not in any manner connected with the Microscopical Division of the Museum, as was the case with Dr. L.E. Rauterberg, could draw upon his imagination very satisfactorily, and write a vivid description of what might have been done with animals, the remains of which he saw under alcohol in specimen jars. I, however, testify that at no time during my connection with the Army Medical Museum, from about 1870 to the end of the year 1895 have any experiments been performed upon animals in which an anesthetic was not used, unless some of the ordinary inoculation experiments, which are practically painless, nor were animals kept in a mutilated condition.

 

Very respectfully,

Dr. J.C. McConnell

Letter of the Day: June 7 (2 of 2) - the Navy's medical museum

 

[The US Navy had a short-lived medical museum too.]

 

Museum of Hygiene

Bureau of Medicine & Surgery

Cor. 18^th & G Streets, N.W.

Washington June 7 1884

 

Surgeon,

D.L. Huntington,

Acting Surgeon General, U.S.A.

Washington, D.C.

 

Sir:

 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of a colored drawing of a Cremation Furnace, designed by Surgeon Charles Smart, U.S.A., and by him presented to this Museum.

 

The contribution is very acceptable, and the courtesy of Surgeon Smart is gratefully recognized.

 

I am, very respectfully, +c.

J.M. Browne

Medical Director in Charge

Letter of the Day: June 7 (1 of 2) - Cuba! Yellow Fever! Sea Sickness!

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 4638

War Department,
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library,
Washington,
June 7, 1900

 

Lt. Col. Francis B. Jones,

Quartermaster’s Department, U.S.A.

Army Building, 39 Whitehall St.

New York, N.Y.

 

Sir:

 

Per Special Orders No. 122, Par. 33, A.G.O. May 24, 1900, Actg. Asst. Surgeon James Carroll and I are ordered to proceed from New York City to Havana, Cuba. I have this day been informed by Col. Bird, of your Department, that the transports Crook and Sedgwick will probably sail from New York for Havana about June 20^th, and I, therefore, request that you will kindly reserve accommodations for Dr. Carroll and myself on one of these vessels. As both of us suffer very much from sea-sickness we would be glad to give state rooms amidships, if possible, and on the transport that is considered the steadiest sea-going boat.

 

Very respectfully,

Walter Reed

Major & Surgeon,

U.S. Army

Letter of the day, June 6 (2/2)

Surgeon General's Office
Washington City, June 6th, 1868

Dear Doctor,
I have met with very few "Flatheads" in my excursions through Oregon, and those few seemed to be as intelligent as any other Indians.
I know nothing about their qualifications for membership in a "smelling committee", but hope for their own sake, that they may be deficient in this "special sense", as they live in an atmosphere of "stinks", to which the far famed "City of Cologne", cannot "hold a candle".

Yours very truly,
C.H. Crane

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

P.S.
The Surgeon General knows no more about them than myself.

Letter of the day, June 6

Controlling health care costs is not a new idea or concern, nor is the idea of universal health care. Also, I wonder if this is the beginning of the movement to have decisions about a patient's care made by hospital administrators?

John R. Mannix, the recipient of this letter, authored another article in the journal Hospitals (April 1944) where he states, "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 way to provide for medical care for everyone who needs it."

From OHA 287, Registry of Noteworthy Research in Pathology

June 6, 1944

Mr. John R. Mannix,
Michigan Hospital Service,
Washington Blvd. Bldg.,
Detroit 26, Mich.

Dear Mr. Mannix:

Thank you for sending me the reprint of your article in the J.A.M.A. and also for having sent copies to Mrs. Bolton. I have read with considerable care your article on the Blue Cross. I particularly like the material under the heading Emergency is Here. I also favor the idea that such services should be interchangeable in the different parts of the country. I warmly approve your emphasis on the voluntary aspects of the proposal. There is one thought about your proposal which seems to me to deserve further consideration. You indicate that the provision of laboratory services and drugs, as well as the subscriber's stay in the hospital, should be left to the discretion and control of the physician. You know our experience here from your personal acquaintance with it. The selection of drugs should be made with care as to their exact purposes and relative costs. The exploitation of free laboratory services by the attending physician has been a real danger. The physician may also prolong the stay of a patient in the hospital for a variety of reasons not directly connected with medical care. Just how to control these possible disadvantages is a troublesome matter but that some sort of control should be exercised is certain. As you know, the vast majority of physicians are wholly considerate of their responsibilities to the organizations whith which they are connected but a few who allow other motives to influence their decisions may do harm. The greatest harm is not merely in their excessive requirements but rather in the influence brought to bear upon patients in their relations to other physicians. To delegate authority in this connection to administrative officers of the hospitals is not entirely without objection. There should, however, be some responsible group in the professional staff organization with authority to exercise control whenever necessary.

With best wishes, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Howard T. Karsner

Letter of the day, June 5 (2 of 2)

Department of State
Washington, 5 June 1877.

To Dr. George A. Otis,
Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A.

Dear Sir:
Many thanks for your attentive note of this date, with respect of the "Salmo Fontinalis", sent to you by my excellent brother. Having been much of an angler, and lover of the gentle art, it would certainly afford me great pleasure to take a look at him but, I must beg you not to to defer the opening of the box, as you have very kindly proposed, for my coming, as it will be impracticable for me to leave here this morning. With many thanks, repeated, for your attentions.

I am, very respectfully yours,
Your obedient servant[?],
A.H. Clements

Letter of the Day: June 5 (1 of 2)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1515

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

June 5, 1896.

Major Walter Reed,
Surgeon U.S. Army,
Washington D.C.

My dear Doctor:-

Your kind favor is very much appreciated and I am glad I awaited the result of your examination before I entered into a controversy with the officials as to the presence of Anthrax.

The dried specimen of blood was sent me and I had no chance to take precaution against accidental contamination and it remained for me to determine whether among other organisms the anthrax was there. I am curious to know what the rod shaped organism was, which was spore bearing and which not only liquefied gelatin, but showed the feathery growth in slab culture and which was non-motile.

A stained specimen showed segmental chains not unlike anthrax.

I shall abide your decision of course and keep quiet as to positive diagnosis.

I am,
Very respectfully,
J. Hamilton Stone,
1st Lieutenant and Asst. Surgeon U.S. Army

Letter of the Day: June 4 (3 of 3)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 702

Boeckmann’s Sterilizer, etc.

June 4, 1895

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

General:

Referring to your letter of June 3, 1895, I beg to state that the Boeckmann’s Steam Sterilizer and metal box for sterilizing catgut was received by me on June 8, 1894. I would further state that, as far as the records of this office show or as my recollection bears me out, no report was requested concerning the merits of this sterilizer. Since the date of its receipt, however, it has been in constant use in the Laboratory of the Army Medical School, and has given complete satisfaction. The inventor’s effort to supply an inexpensive sterilizer for saturated steaming, low over-steam, appears to have been perfectly realized in this apparatus. I first saw it in St. Paul, in the spring of 1893, and was at that time favorably impressed with its superiority as a steam sterilizer. I have not tried the sterilization of catgut since its receipt at the Laboratory, but will do so at once if this is desired.

I very much regret that I should have been under the impression that no report was required concerning the merits of this apparatus.

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

Letter of the Day: June 4 (2 of 3)

Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C., June 4, 1887

Dr. Billings,

Dear Sir:

The bearer, Mr. J. Z. Rogers, who I have known for some time as the keeper of an eating house near the Government Printing Office, desires the privilege of serving lunch in the Medical Museum.

He has had years of experience in the Lunch business, and I have no doubt he would give satisfaction should you grant him the privilege he desires.

Very respectfully,
E.W. Oyster,
Foreman, Specification Room, G.P.O.

Letter of the Day: June 4 (1 of 3)

Lincoln Gen’l Hospital
Washington, D.C.
June 4, 1864

Colonel:-

I herewith send you for the Army Medical Museum, a minie ball, which came from the thigh of Captain A. F. Schwartz of Co. F. 1st Maryland (Rebel) Cavalry. The Capt. Was wounded on the 9th of May in the battle of Beaver Dam. The ball, he thinks, struck a fence before hitting him. It entered about the centre of the right nates and did not pass out. The track of the ball is in the direction of the hip-joint. Probing shows that the bone was not touched.

A few hours after the admission of the patient to the Hospital, on the 21st of May, the ball dropped from the wound upon the bed-clothes, no search having been made for it since his entrance. The patient is doing well.

I have the honor to be,
Very Respectfully,
Yr. Obt. Serv’t
J.W. Merriam
Asst. Surgeon U.S. Vols.

Col. J.K. Barnes
Act’g Surg. Gen. U.S.A.
Washington, D.C.

Letter of the day, June 3

[Numbered Correspondence 1872]

June 3, 1897.

THE KNY-SCHEERER CO.
17 Park Place,
New York, N.Y.

Gentlemen:

The glass globe for the monkey skull has been received in good order, for which please accept my thanks. On account of closing our accounts for the present fiscal year, ending June 30, there may be some delay in paying your bill of $80.00 (2 skulls), possibly until after June 30, but I will have the vouchers prepared and sent to you as soon as the appropriation of 1897-1897 becomes available, which will be no later than July 1st.

Very respectfully,
D.L. Huntington
Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army,
In charge of Museum and Library Division.

Letter of the Day: June 2

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1515

June 2, 1896

Lieut. J. Hamilton Stone,

Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army,

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

My dear Doctor:

I sent you a telegram this morning concerning the culture received late last evening. Carroll plated at once, and it requires only a glance at the colonies to state positively that this is not anthrax.

I will to-morrow inoculate a guinea pig with a 48-hour old culture in bouillon.

Don’t you think it a little risky to draw conclusions from a culture made with dried sheep’s blood which had been sent to you unless this blood had been taken with every known precaution to avoid contamination? One should exercise great care in a matter of this kind before giving a positive opinion. If I can ascertain what the organism is, or if it has pathogenic effects, I will let you know to-morrow. Very sincerely yours,

Walter Reed

Surgeon, U.S. Army

The latest forensic report on an artist

 

Beethoven May Not Have Died of Lead Poisoning, After All

By JAMES BARRON, New York Times May 29, 2010

Letter of the day, June 1

Howe Laboratory of Ophthalmology
Harvard University Medical School
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

Address: 243 Charles Street
Boston, Massachusetts

June 1, 1934

Major V.H. Cornell
Army Medical Museum
7th and B Streets, S.W.
Washington, D.C.

Dear Major Cornell:

I am sending you the ophthalmoscope that Dr. Harrower presented to the Howe Library Museum, but it certainly is not an original Helmholtz ophthalmoscope, because it has a silvered mirror, and the first Helmholtz ophthalmoscope did not have a silvered mirror. If, after you have examined it, you do not find it of sufficient interest to keep, or if you already have one like it, please return it to us.

Sincerely yours,
[signed] F.H. Verhoeff, M.D.

FHV/T

Letter of the Day: May 22 - Civil War in Northern Virginia

Here's a nice letter for Memorial Day, even though it's from a week earlier. As I've noted elsewhere, writing during a memorializing age when much of Washington was being filled with statues of war heroes, Surgeon General Barnes hoped, "In carrying out the intentions of Congress, it has been my earnest endeavor to make this Medical and Surgical History of the War, not only a contribution to science, but an enduring monument to the self-sacrificing zeal and professional ability of the Volunteer and Regular Medical Staff; and the unparalleled liberality of our Government, which provided so amply for the care of its sick and wounded soldiers."

Centreville Camp Hays 22nd May 1863

J. H. Brinton, M.D.
Surgeon U.S.V.
Curator of the Army Medical Museum.

In obedience to Yours from May 16th I proceded (sic) to Gen’l Abercrombie’s Headquarters in submitting your letter. I was informed that official orders from Gen’l Heinzelmann were received to let nobody pass outside the lines. The battlefield of Bull Run is 3 miles outside the lines. If I could get a permission from Gen’l Heinzelmann and an escort of Cavalry from Gen’l Stahl in Fairfax, I am sure to be recompensed by a rich booty of pathological objects. Please and furnish permission and an escort and I will immediately proceed to the Battlefield and take with me such men well acquainted with the locality and relative places.

After the engagement at Strasburg and the battle of Kross Keys (sic - Cross Keys) I had a little collection, but afterwards meanwhile my captivity in June & July last year they were lost. The cranium Dr. Baron mentioned is lost, but I hope that this loss will be repaired by another one I will send to you.

Very Respectfully Your Obdt. Servant,
Frederick Wolf
Surgeon of the 39th Regt. N.Y.V.

P.S. Allow me to write you next time a letter, concerning views in composing the materials of a military museum which I would hazard to submit to you.

Letter of the day, May 31

We wish we had a benefactor, too.


May 31, 1912.

Mr. Leo Hamburger
Scheffelstrasse 24
Frankfurt, a/M

Sir;

In reply to your of 21st inst. Enclosing copy of letter of 29th Feby., 1912, relative to the purchase of collection of medals, “Pestilentia in nummis” of the late Mr. Pfeiffer for $10,000, you are informed that there is no money available for this expenditure, and that your suggestion to find some prominent man who would be willing to purchase the collection and present it to the Museum is entirely impracticable.

Very respectfully,
Walter D. McCaw
Lt. Col. Medical Corps, U.S.A.
In charge of Museum & Library Division

some of our exhibits

Letter of the Day: May 30

U.S. Marine-hospital Service,
District of the Gulf,
Part of New Orleans La, Surgeon’s Office,
May 30th, 1885

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

Sir:

On a recent visit to the exhibit of the U.S. Army Medical Department at the Exposition now in this city, I was more than gratified to find displayed therein, photogrpahs of skeletons of Sioux indians donated by me when a hospital stweard of the army on duty at Camp (now Fort) Robinson, Nebraska. If it can be conveniently done, I should be glad to procure copies of the photograps above mentioned and I shall greatly appreciate the favor.

At the time I made the last donation to the Museum Asst. Surgeon Otis (then Curator) promsed me that I should have a full and complete assortment of publications of the Surgeon General’s office, more particularly those relating to the Army Medical Museum. His subsequent illness and death prevented any action on his part and I imagine no record of his promises being made, the whole matter was forgotten.

Very respectfully,
Your obedent servant,
Samuel W. Richardson
Hospital Steward
U.S. Marine Hosp’l Service
(Formerly U.S. Army)
Care of Custom House

Five unmounted photographs of skeletons sent by mail June 8, 1885