From the HDAC reprint collection

Yes, the Alexander Graham Bell. Apparently he was into eugenics after realizing that children of deaf couples were more likely to be deaf too.
1914

Letter of the Day: January 27 UPDATED

 

Six months after the establishment of the Museum, Civil War hospital doctors were saving material for it.

 

U.S.A. General Hospital No. 1,

Frederick, MD., Jany 27 1863

 

Doctor.

 

I will endeavor to  pl[ea]s[e] also [illegible] to take Davis place & at any rate the specimens “shall be preserved”. Enclosed please find corrected bill.

 

Respectfully,

 

R.F. Weir

Asst Surgeon, USA

 

Dr. J.H. Brinton, USA

Surg. Gen’l Office

Washington, DC

 

Curiosity over this letter leads me to transcribe the earlier one:

 

U.S.A. General Hospital No. 1,

Frederick, MD., January 25 1863

 

Doctor.

 

Enclosed find your vouchers for expenditures for whiskey to preserve pathological specimens. Will you please have them settled as the money had been advanced by Dr. Davis who has recently left for England & me, heir to bones & [illegible – whiskey?] collections. When may we expect to see the new Catalogue[?]

 

Respectfully,

 

R.F. Weir

Asst Surgeon, USA

 

Dr. J.H. Brinton, USA

Surg. Gen’l Office

Washington, DC

 

Letter of the day: January 26th

The Museum’s eventual transformation into a pathology institute is foreshadowed…

 

Numbered Correspondence 1956

 

January 26, 1897

 

Captain John L. Phillips,

Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army,

Fort Walla Walla, Wash.

 

Dear Doctor:

 

The specimen of testicle referred to in your letter of January 9^th has been embedded and examined microscopically, with the following result: Marked fibroid thickening of the normal covering of the testicle together with such extensive interstitial change in the structure of the testicle proper as to render it extremely difficult to even make out any of the remains of the spermatic tubules, which are here and there seen as narrow crevices lined by low epithelium. The diagnosis, therefore, would be chronic interstitial orchitis, which may have had a syphilititic origin. There is no appearance, whatever, of any malignant disease.

 

A slide will be forwarded by to-day’s mail.

 

Very sincerely yours,

 

Walter Reed

 

Surgeon, U.S. Army,

Curator

...and what are we doing?

Anyone have any idea why our Flickr account got 26,000 hits last Friday?

Stats for: Your account
← Friday, Jan 22 2010 →

Your most viewed photos and videos
Visits %
Photos and Videos 20,917 78%
Photostream 2,244 8%
Sets 3,448 12%
Collections 0 0%

Why we do this

Today we got an email in the archives from a man in California who found pictures of his mother, a World War 2 nurse, on our Flickr page. His mother's 87th birthday is coming soon and he wants to print one of the photos for her. He said he's not sure she knows these photos exist.

So many of our images have no or very little information, but in this case his mother's name was spelled out in the caption to all four!!! photos of her. I have often said to myself, as I am posting this kind of detail, that someone is going to be trolling the internet, looking for their mom or dad, and may very well find one of the things we've tossed up there.

It's exactly this reason that we do what we do, with the hope that we're the connection between today and yesterday. Have I said I love my job?

Letter of the day: January 25

This letter followed immediately after one thanking a Colonel C. Sutherland for his donation of two Indian arrowheads.

 

January 25, 1869

 

General:

 

It appears to me right that the contributors to the section of Indian Curiosities etc., should be notified of the transfer of their donations to the Smithsonian Institution, and I would therefore respectfully submit the enclosed “Memorandum,”  and suggest that it be printed, or some modification of it, and distributed in the form, if you approve, of the Memorandum of Sept. 1868.

 

Very respectfully,

Your obd’t servant,

[George A. Otis]

Ass’t Surgeon, U.S.A.

Curator, A.M.M.

 

Bvt. Brig Gen’l C.H. Crane,

Ass’t Surg. General, US Army

NY Times expose on medical radiation injuries

In the past, we've posted pictures of radiation burns from the early years of the 20th century here and on our Flickr site. The NY Times reports that a century later, this is still an ongoing problem:

 

The Radiation Boom

Radiation Offers New Cures, and Ways to Do Harm

By WALT BOGDANICH

Published: January 24, 2010

While new technology saves the lives of countless cancer patients, errors can lead to unspeakable pain and death.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/health/24radiation.html

Brunswig Mausoleum, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans

Brunswig Mausoleum, Metairie Cemetery
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

Lucien Napoleon Brunswig (1854-1943) donated the School of Pharmacy at USC. He moved to Los Angeles in 1903 and became a partner in a local drug company. In 1907 he bought out his partner and created the Brunswig Drug Company with branches in Phoenix, Tucson, and San Diego. Among the company's earliest buildings are three that are still standing on the west side of Main Street, across from the Pico House at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (Los Angeles). He also owned the Brunswig Building on 2nd Street, which was demolished in 1968. Lucien Napoleon Brunswig became the city's largest wholesale drug supplier. He sold commercial medications and patent medicines that he invented himself and supplied to many city pharmacies.

I have no idea why he's buried in New Orleans and not Los Angeles.

Follow the picture to close-ups of the two statues flanking the door.

Some things never change

From our military working dog expert, Mike Lemish:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/world/story/1199588.html

 

The same issue about getting dog food distributed properly was a big problem in Vietnam - now 40 years later they (the military) still have the same problem in Afghanistan. Go figure - some things never change.

 

ARF!

Mike

Letter of the day: January 24

Received wisdom has the Medical Museum collecting American Indian remains, and later transferring them to the Smithsonian, but this form letter shows that material went both ways.


Smithsonian Institution
U.S. National Museum
Washington City, Jan. 24, 1878

Sir:

In accordance with the arrangement between the Smithsonian Institution and the Army Medical Museum, I have the honor to transmit the collections mentioned below,t he receipt of which please acknowledge.

Very respectfully, yours,

Spencer F. Baird
Asst. Secretary S.I.

Collection human bones from Indian graves in Santa Barbara Col, Col., gathered in 1875 by the expedition of Lt. Geo. M. Wheeler.

Covetousness, a deadly sin

Medical ephemera
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

These would fit so nice and neatly in our GMPI (General Medical Products Information) collection. I had a serious case of envy. From the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

Goddess of Evils

Goddess of Evils
Originally uploaded by tiz_herself

Lest you think we're fixated on STDs... We also think highly of alternative and complementary medicine. From the voodoo section at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

Theater of War

Because I forgot to turn off my alarm yesterday, I was treated to an early-morning segment on NPR called Metro Connection. It was about a DOD program called Theater of War, in which plays of the ancient Greeks are used to make connections with today's soldiers. One of the venues is Walter Reed. You can listen to the segment at metroconnection.org.

Letter of the day: January 23

Sternberg is known as one of the fathers of bacteriology and became the Surgeon General himself. Steve Hill of our staff also notes, "10th Cavalry was one of the two all-black cavalry regiments (Buffalo Soldiers) created shortly after Civil War."


Fort Riley, Kansas
Jan: 23rd, 1868

General

I have the honor to send herewith for microscopic examination (if desired) the kidneys of Pvt: James Garrode Co “G” 10th U.S. Cavalry, who died at this hospital of Brights disease on the 19th inst:

I have a full record of this case, which I will transmit with my next monthly report of Sick and Wounded.

I also transmit a fibrous polypus, removed from the pharynx of Pvt David Young Co “K” 10 US Cavalry.

Very respectfully
Your obt: servt

G.M. Sternberg

Asst. Surg: & Bvt. Maj
US Army

Bvt. Maj. Genl. J.K. Barnes
Surgeon Genl: US Army
Washington, DC

[an accompanying note written on the reverse says “Receipt acknowledged 1-30-68, and statement that kidneys were too much decomposed and were thrown away. Request for history of polypus.]

That Old-Time Gonorrhea Treatment

Those of you who follow our Flickr account know we have a special place in our hearts for STDs. Prophylactics, propaganda, you name it; if it has to do with a social disease, we do our best to publish it.

I went to a dusty, off-the-beaten-track museum in New Orleans last weekend - the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum. I have a lot of very neat stuff from there, but have to lead off with A Safe and Speedy Remedy for the Cure of Gonorrhea and Gleet. I have never heard of Gleet.

Letter of the day: January 22nd

Here’s a letter showing both how the Museum expanded its interests and influences after the Civil War, and how the photographic collection grew. By the way, this was a very rare operation even through the Civil War. When a surgeon performed one, the case was named after him.

 

Surgeon General’s Office

Washington City, DC

January 22^nd, 1868

 

Doctor:

 

I am instructed by the Surgeon General to acknowledge the reception of your interesting letter of the 20^th inst. A photograph of the patient on whom you operated eighteen years ago, and who has so long survived so dreadful a mutilation, would be a very interesting addition to our collection. In a few days, I will send you a picture we have secured of Dr. Morton’s patient taken nearly a year after the photograph from which the plate in Circular No. 7 S.G.O., 1867, was copied.

 

I should be glad to secure a picture of your patient of about the same size. The expence (sic) will be defrayed from the Army Medical Museum Fund.

 

Please instruct the photographer to print four or five copies and to send them with the negative to me at the Army Medical Museum, No. 454, Tenth Street, Washington, together with the bill.

 

The Surgeon General is much gratified that you and other surgeons of practical experience, in the operation of amputation at the hip-joint, commend the report he has published on the subject.

 

I am, Doctor,

Very respectfully,

Your obt. servant,

By order of the Surgeon General:

 

[George A. Otis]

Ass’t Surgeon, U.S.A.

Curator Army Medical Museum

 

Dr. Washington T. Duffee

N.E. corner of 18^th & Wallace Sts.

Philadelphia, Penna

 

 

Web 2.0? Laughing through my tears

This article appeared in the NY Times today:

Aid Urged for Groups Fighting Internet Censors
By BRAD STONE
Published: January 21, 2010
Five United States senators want the government to move ahead with plans to provide $45 million to help people in other countries evade Web restrictions.

This paragraph could easily have "Walter Reed medical center" substituted in for "China and Iran":

But in the online age the nature of censorship has changed, and regimes like those in China and Iran often deny their populations access to Web news outlets and sites like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

...although we can get to Google. Not Youtube, or blogs though.

Orthopedic surgery book mentioned in Post based on Museum photographs

In a good article about the difference between military and other types of emergency surgery, Surgeon seeks to prevent 'unnecessary amputations' in Haiti's earthquake zone, 

by David Brown, Washington Post January 21, 2010, cites Orthopaedic Injuries of the Civil War. This book was written by Julian Kuz, an orthopedic surgeon, and is illustrated with photographs of wounded soldiers from the Museum's collection.

 

 

 

 

Letter of the day: Jan 21st

Embryology was a new science in 1905 – and the museum was apparently back in the business of taking ‘bottled monsters. Liz Lockett of our embryology collection notes that embryology dates from the 17th century, but the large systematic collections were done at the turn of the twentieth century.’

 

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 8084

 

January 21, 1905

 

Dr. J. J. Repetti,

404 Seward Square, S.E.

Washington, D. C.

 

Dear Sir:

 

I am directed by the Surgeon General to express his thanks for the specimen of monstrous foetus received from you on this day. It will be added to the collections with a properly inscribed card.

 

Will you have the further kindness to furnish the Museum with a history of the case?

 

Very respectfully,

 

C.L. Heinzmann

Col. Asst. Surgeon General, U.S.A.

In charge of Museum & Library Division

Letter of the day: Jan 20th

The Museum has an extensive numismatics collection – this letter shows how it was built up.

January 20, 1897

Dr. H. R. Storer,

Newport, R. I.

Dear Doctor:

Your letter of the 17^th inst. Has been received. I shall be glad to purchase the medals you offer at the prices quoted, viz:

Rokitansky, 6.10
Howard, Am. Jour. Num., 687, .35
“ “ “ 689, .35
“ “ “ “ 726, .50
------
$7.30

You may send them by Adams Express, freight to be paid here. We have Howard, Am. Jour. Num., #688.

The famine, Germany (Danket dem Herrn) seems to be identical with Pfeiffer u. Ruland #157, but ours has “Ps. 116,” and I can notice no defacement.

Very sincerely,

D. L. Huntington

Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army

In charge of Museum and Library Division