The Army Medical Museum : a history / by D.S. Lamb.

  • Daniel Smith Lamb
Date:
[1916?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Army Medical Museum : a history / by D.S. Lamb. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    was sent to Frederick, Md., to collect specimens; Dr. W. W. Keen of Philadelphia was then on duty at the hospital at Fred¬ erick, and aided in the collection. In December, also, after the battle of Fredericksburg, Brinton, accompanied by Dr. Wm. Moss, Asst. Surg., U. S. Vols., and As¬ sistant Curator of the Museum, went to Fredericksburg and •collected many specimens. By the first of January, 1863, in the few months that the col¬ lection had been made, it had reached a total of 1,349 specimens, and consisted of 985 surgical, 106 medical, 133 missiles and 125 miscellaneous. A catalogue had been compiled by Dr. Moss and was published. This publication, in which credit was given by name to the contributors, is said to have increased the inter¬ est in the Museum and stimulated contributions. The first preparator was a man named Fred Schafhirt, who was born in Germany and was said to have served as preparator to the eminent surgeon, Langenbeck, and, according to Dr. Otis, also served Blumenbach, the distinguished German physiologist. Schafhirt came to the United States and became assistant to Pro¬ fessor Joseph Leidy, the eminent anatomist, for a long time Pro¬ fessor of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Otis also says that Schafhirt assisted Prof. George Morton, the author of the “ Crania Americana.’’ Schafhirt was assisted at the Museum by his two sons, Ernest and Adolph. Schafhirt was not a graduate in medicine but was generally called Doctor. His strong points consisted in the fact that he had had a long training in preparing specimens and had acquired much information about human and comparative anatomy. The fact that Brinton and Woodward and Hammond also were all from Philadelphia explains in part the selection of Schafhirt as preparator. He was a steady worker and, as testified by Woodward, his work was satisfactory. The specimens as received at the Museum were but roughly prepared and needed further attention, which was given by the Schafhirts, and after being properly mounted, were labelled and the proper records made by the clerks detailed for the purpose. These clerks were at that time enlisted men, Hospital Stewards in the U. S. Army. The work of preparation was so great, due to the large number of specimens received in relatively a short time, that it could not possibly be thorough, and for a long time the bone specimens were troubled by insects, that fed on the remnant of the softer organic matter in the bones. The Museum shelves became untidy from accumulations of debris. The trouble was met by the generous use of camphor, which, as it volatilized in the cases, killed the insects. Still later the Persian insect powder was used. When the “rush” was over, and there was time to do the work more thoroughly, the trouble ceased. The wet specimens were then and for a long time afterwards preserved in alcohol. This alcohol was distilled at the museum 2
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