Detroit Institute of the Arts

spent the afternoon with my son at the DIA

8 bucks lets you see some great antiquities, paintings,

sculptures, tapestries, murals by Diego Rivera

and a plethora of African American art

one of my favorite works by Romare Bearden

a huge mosaic 15 feet x 12 was amazing.

DIA museum

Letter of the Day: October 10

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 959

Pension Bureau, Oct. 10 1895

Doctor C.H. Alden,
Asst. Surg. General,

Dear Doctor:

This will introduce to you Doctor D. M. McPherson of this Bureau. The doctor brings to you a substance found in a lung upon post mortem. It is claimed that this substance is the remains of a bullet, + the admission of the widow’s claim turns upon this point.

We have made no examination of the substance for the reason that an examination by someone outside of the official force of the Bureau will carry much more weight. Can I ask you to request someone to test this substance for lead and write a little certificate as to results of tests. If the substance is not lead, we would be glad to learn what it is.

Very respectfully
Thos. Featherstonehaugh
Medical Referee

{Tune in October 12th for the exciting answer!}

Letter of the Day: October 9 / CP 1539

Norfolk, Va
October 9 / 67

Col and Surg: A. L. Edwards USA
Chf M. O. Bur Rgt
Washington D.C.

Col:

I have the honor to transmit herewith Photograph of “Frank Lamb” born at Weldens Orchard near Halifax North Carolina, in the year 1789.

It’s a case of “Inguinal hernia” of 69 years standing. The man was 9 years of age when hernia occurred. The hernia was reducible until he was 40 years of age, when sold to a man, named “Baine Lamb” at or near Jerusalem S. Hampton Co. Va: for the sum of $150.00. The overseer of said man compelled the poor man to work in the woods, cutting and hauling heavy timber, without giving him the support of truss, after his own was worn out. The hernia had its present size about 10 years ago, and I should judge weighs about 10 pounds.

Frank Lamb was send (sic) from Jerusalem to Hospital for Freedmen at this City on the 17th July 1867. Has up to this date, not regarding the continued irritation upon his bowels, enjoyed fair health. The Photograph is not very well taken, the artist could not do better, as the patient trembled too much, and hoping it will nevertheless prove interesting.

I am Surgeon with profound respect, your most ob: ser’t
Ferdinand Lessing
AA Surg USA
In charge Hosp: for Freedman
Norfolk City Va.

Letter of the Day: October 8 (2 of 2)

The World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans.

Medical Dep’t. U.S. Army Participation,

Officer of Medical Officer in Charge,

935 F Street, N.W., Third Floor.

 

Washington, D.C. Oct. 8, 1884

 

Doctor:

 

Please let Bearer have bust in plaster, life size, of the late Dr. Otis. I indented to have it bronzed for the Exposition.

 

Yours truly,

Henry McElderrry

Asst Surgeon, U.S.A.

 

To J. S. Billings

Major and Surgeon

U.S.A.

 

Letter of the Day: October 8 (1 of 2)

Ward’s Natural Science Establishment,

Nos. 16—26 College Avenue (opposite University),

Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 8 1885.

 

Dr. John Billings.

Army Medical Museum.

 

Dear Sir,

 

I enclose a small bill * (Skeleton of 19 years old cat $5.00.) simply to put it on record, so that it may be paid at some future day.

 

I am offered from Europe two young Gorillas – 1 ½ years old – male and female. They are in spirits, with their viscera taken out, but left in good shape to dissect every part of the muscular system and afterwards to make skeletons.

 

My price – shipped to you form here – is $275 for the pair or $150 for one.

 

As such specimens are rare, I make you an early offer.

 

Respectfully yours,

 

Henry A. Ward,

 

I have Jumbo’s heart in alcohol in a 5 Gallon keg which it nearly fills. Price $40.

 

*Bill forwarded to Disbursing Div., S.G.O. Oct 10, 1885.

Letter of the Day: October 7

Fort Brady, Mich.

Oct. 7^th 1875.

 

Dear Doctor,

 

I enclose a letter from Dr. Mallack in the Hudson Bay Co.s’ service, + now stationed at Moose Factory, 600 miles north of this place. Through the kindness of my friend Capt. Wilson, who resides in Canada opposite Brady, the skull referred to arrived here safely – it is the crania of a full-blooded Cree Indian + in excellent condition. It is to be regretted that Dr. Mallack cd. [could] not send more. I hope yet to obtain some Esquimaux bones. Capt. Wilson who has just returned from those polar regimes, informed me that the Esqimaux in that country are in a most degraded state – incest being quite common, some even marrying their own mothers, or rather having their mothers “in loco conjugis”. The weather has been very stormy during the past month or I shd. [should] have accomplished much more. I lost nine Indian crania three weeks ago by the upsetting of a boat in a squall - + the man I had employed to secure them for me, only escaped drowning by a miracle. This was a great loss, + disheartened me for a while. However, I have many places yet to explore, + trust that I may be more successful. Never having rec’d [received] any letter from you, I fear my specimens have not that value, in yr. estimation, which I attach to them.

 

Yrs. very sincerely,

J.H.T. King

 

Surge G. A. Otis, U.S.A.

Upcoming Programs at the NMHM

"Faber Hour" Weekly Drop-In Sketching Sessions
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 6^th 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

Letter of the Day: October 5

Appleton Station Va Oct 5^th 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, 46^th 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

 

 

Diagram, Diagram, Surprise! Diagram, Diagram

It’s been a while since I last posted so I thought it may be nice to give you a brief summery of what I’ve been up to here in HDAC. Since school has started again I have only been here once a week cataloging various specimens: acetate models, slide boxes and now OBGYN teaching slides. These slides vary from what I would consider normal diagrams that you see in class or text books to the slightly more unexpected (I guess it’s more of a surprise when you come across them than unexpected after you find the first few) OBGYN visuals. There is one set of slides that I just came across that are interesting for another reason. They depict a transfusion, of what I’m not sure, the second slide shows them filtering the unknown with what appears to just be cheese cloth before injecting it into the body. With all we know now about blood born pathogens, I hope that this was not the method used to “purify” blood when these slides were made. It is strange to see that the individuals depicted are very cautious about wearing masks and gloves while only filtering the solution with a cheese cloth before injecting it into someone. Anyways here are the slides I was talking about.

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

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

Pittsburgh, October 3d, 1863.

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

NY Times on the problem of cell phone tours

I thought this was an interesting article -

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

I've been on the AFIP's Institutional Review Board for about 15 years now, and usually it's just people wanting to study archived tissue - but then every once in a while you're reminded why you have to have someone looking over people's shoulders. This is an extraordinarily stupid study as well - they couldn't have gone to VD clinics in the US and set up a controlled study with some getting placebos? Of course they could have. However, note it wasn't just the US government - the Post article says the Guatemalan government was involved as well.

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

Be sure to read the reprint ...

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.

Museum transfers from AFIP

Today the Museum officially transfers from the AFIP to the Army's Medical Research and Materiel Command although we're detailed back to AFIP for the moment. The Army Institute of Pathology spun out of the Museum on June 7 1946, and the Museum was placed under it. On February 15, 1950, the triservice Armed Forces Institute of Pathology was created. AFIP was closed by BRAC in 2005 and will finally close in 2011.

Letter of the Day: October 1

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 199

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.