The medical staff of the United States Army, and its scientific work / by J.J. Woodward.
- Joseph Janvier Woodward
- Date:
- 1876
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The medical staff of the United States Army, and its scientific work / by J.J. Woodward. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![ceeded five thousand dollars a year. The sum is not a liberal one, anc much more could be advantageously expended if it could be obtained. The Centennial Medical Commission, in giving the invitation to which I have responded to-night, expressed the wish that I Avould endeavor to represent to your eyes in some way the character of some portion of our collection. In compliance with their request, I have naturally se- lected my illustrations from the Medical and Microscopical sections, which are under my own immediate direction. I have made use of pho- tography for the purpose, and Mr. Edgerton, of J. W. Queen & Co., 924 Chestnut street, has kindly undertaken to exhibit the pictures on the screen. First, I exhibit a series of photographs, novel, I think, in character, representing certain pathological conditions of the intestinal canal. [The lecturer here exhibited 25 lantern slides, representing pathologi- cal alterations of the intestinal mucous membrane, and briefly commented on each.] My other illustrations are taken from the Microscopical section. This section was originally established for the purpose of preserving the specimens acquired in the study of the pathological anatomy of some of the diseases of soldiers. Sections of morbid growths, and other speci- mens sent to the Surgeon General's Office by the medical officers of the Army for an opinion as to their nature, have been added, with a certain number of other specimens, especially in the direction of normal and pathological histology. The collection now contains about 7.000 per- manently mounted microscopical slides. A single assistant, paid as a clerk of the 1st class, constitutes, under my direction, the whole person- nel available for the work. The process by which the photographs I am about to exhibit were prepared, was, as most of you are aware, brought to its present state of perfection by my own original investigations. A complete misconcep- tion exists in certain quarters as to the time I am able to devote to work of this class. It has been simply my amusement—my relaxation from the daily routine and toil of the other labors which I have outlined to you to-night. For years all the work of this kind I have been able to accomplish has been done on Sundays and holidays. A part of this work was undertaken for the sake of the Medical His- tory of the War. [Here the lecturer showed 12 photo-micrographs exhibiting perpen- dicular sections of diseased intestines, the magnifying power with which the slides were taken ranging from 50 to 200 diameters. This was mul tiplied by 50 by the lantern projection.] Another portion represents incidental histological work.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21165476_0030.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
