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Transcriber's Note:

      This is Paper 43 from the Smithsonian Institution United States
      National Museum Bulletin 240, comprising Papers 34-44, which will
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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
BULLETIN 240

[Illustration]

Smithsonian Press

Museum of History and Technology

Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology

Papers 34-44
On Science and Technology

Smithsonian Institution · Washington, D.C. 1966

Publications of the United States National Museum

The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National
Museum include two series, _Proceedings of the United States National
Museum_ and _United States National Museum Bulletin_.

In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and monographs
dealing with the collections and work of its constituent
museums--The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History
and Technology--setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of
anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. Copies of each
publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific
organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the different
subjects.

The _Proceedings_, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in
separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History.
These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date
of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume.

In the _Bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear
longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in
several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related
subjects. _Bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on
the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the
botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been
published in the _Bulletin_ series under the heading _Contributions from
the United States National Herbarium_, and since 1959, in _Bulletins_
titled "Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology," have
been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of
that Museum.

The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34-44, comprises
Bulletin 240. Each of these papers has been previously published in
separate form. The year of publication is shown on the last page of each
paper.

FRANK A. TAYLOR
_Director, United States National Museum_




Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology:
Paper 43

HISTORY OF THE DIVISION OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

by

SAMI HAMARNEH








SECTION OF MATERIA MEDICA (1881-1898) 272

DIVISION OF MEDICINE (1898-1939) 276

DIVISION OF MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH (1939-1957) 281

DIVISION OF MEDICAL SCIENCES (1957 TO PRESENT) 290

A NEW DIMENSION FOR THE HEALING ARTS 292

FOOTNOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY 297

INDEX

[Illustration: Figure 1.--EARLY VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL
MUSEUM, known for the last quarter of a century as the Arts and
Industries building. Completed in 1881, it housed the Division of
Medical Sciences from its establishment in 1881 as a Section of Materia
Medica to the time of the writing of this paper. While the medical
collection remained in the Department of Arts and Industries, by the end
of June 1912 practically all other collections belonging to the fields
of natural history and anthropology were transferred to the then new
Natural History building.]


_Sami Hamarneh_




HISTORY of the DIVISION of MEDICAL SCIENCES

_In The Museum of History and Technology_

    _This paper traces, for the first time, the history of the
    Division of Medical Sciences in the Museum of History and
    Technology from its small beginnings as a section of materia
    medica in 1881 to its present broad scope. The original
    collection of a few hundred specimens of crude drugs which had
    been exhibited at the centennial exhibition of 1876 at
    Philadelphia, has now developed into the largest collection in
    the Western Hemisphere of historical objects related to the
    healing arts._

    THE AUTHOR: _Sami Hamarneh is the curator of the Division of
    Medical Sciences in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of
    History and Technology._


By the early 1870's, leading figures from both the health professions
and the general public had begun to realize the necessity for having the
medical sciences represented in the Smithsonian Institution. The impetus
behind this new feeling resulted from the action of a distinguished
American physician, philanthropist, and author, Joseph Meredith Toner
(1825-1896), and came almost a decade before the integration of a new
section concerned with research and the historical and educational
aspects of the healing arts in the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1872, Dr. Toner established the "Toner Lectures" to encourage efforts
towards discovering new truths "for the advancement of medical science
... for the benefit of mankind." To finance these lectures, he provided
a fund worth approximately $3,000 to be administered by a board of
trustees consisting of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the
Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army
(only in some years), and the president of the Medical Society of the
District of Columbia. The interest from this fund was to compensate
physicians and scholars who were to deliver "at least two annual memoirs
or essays" based on original research on some branch of the medical
sciences and containing information which had been verified "by
experiments or observations."[1]

The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution agreed to have these
lectures published by the Institution in its Miscellaneous Collections.
The first lecture given by the Assistant Surgeon of the U.S. Army, "On
the Structure of Cancerous Tumors and the Mode in which Adjacent parts
are Invaded," deserves credit even by current standards of scientific
research.[2] Only 10 lectures were given between 1873 and 1890 (see
bibliography), despite the recommendation for at least two every
year.[3]

[Illustration: Figure 2.--DR. JOSEPH M. TONER, a leading physician in
Washington, D.C., and founder of the "Toner Lectures" for the promotion
and advancement of medical education and research. In 1873, Dr. Toner
became president of the American Medical Association and, in 1874, he
became president of the American Public Health Association. He was a
physician to St. Joseph's Male Orphan Asylum and St. Ann's Infants'
Asylum in Washington, D.C. In addition, he was instrumental in
establishing Providence Hospital in the District of Columbia. He also
provided a workable plan for the American Medical Association's library
in Washington, D.C. (1868-1871). Among his several publications are:
_Contributions to the Annals of Medical Progress and Medical Education
in the United States before and during the War of Independence_
(Washington: Government Printing Office, 1874) and _Medical Men of the
Revolution_ (1876). In 1882, he donated his large library, consisting of
44,000 books and pamphlets on topics related mainly to medicine and
history, to the Library of Congress. (_Photo courtesy of National
Library of Medicine._)]

A more direct factor, which not only contributed to the establishment of
a section on the healing arts, but also had a greater effect upon the
Smithsonian Institution than any other event since its founding, was the
1876 centennial exhibition in Philadelphia.

This magnificent international fair commemorated the hundredth
anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The
finest exhibits of 30 foreign countries and various States of the Union
participating in the fair were finally donated to the Smithsonian
Institution as the official depository of historical and archeological
objects for this country. As a result, the Institution's collections
increased to an extent far beyond the capacity of the first Smithsonian
building. This led to the erection of the National Museum, known for the
last two decades and until date of publication as the Arts and
Industries building, which was completed on March 4, 1881, and was used
that evening for the inaugural reception of incoming President James A.
Garfield.




Section of Materia Medica (1881-1898)

Throughout the 19th century, the study of _materia medica_ (dealing with
the nature and properties of drugs of various kinds and origins, their
collection and mode of administration for the treatment of diseases, and
the medicinal utilization of animal products) held an increasingly
important place among the medical sciences. In the United States, as in
other civilized countries, this topic was greatly emphasized in the
curriculum of almost every school teaching the health professions.
Today, the subject matter contained in this branch of science is taught
under the heading of several specialized fields, such as pharmacology,
pharmacognosy, and drug analysis of various types. However, when the
decision was made in 1881 to promote greater knowledge and interest in
the healing arts by creating a section devoted to such pursuits in the
U.S. National Museum, the title of Section of Materia Medica was
adopted. Added to this, was the fact that the bulk of the first
collections received in the Section was a great variety of crude drugs,
which constituted much of the material then taught in the academic
courses of _materia medica_.

The new Section was included in the Department of Arts and Industries,
then under the curatorship of Assistant Director G. Brown Goode. From
its beginning and for two decades, however, the Section of Materia
Medica was sponsored and supervised by the U.S. Navy in cooperation with
the Smithsonian Institution. For this reason, the Navy decided not to
establish a similar bureau for a health museum as did the Army in
starting the Medical Museum (of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology)
in 1862 through the efforts of Dr. William Alexander Hammond. The
Smithsonian did, however, provide a clerk to relieve the curator of much
of the routine work. The Section's early vigorous activities were the
result of the ingenuity of the first honorary curator, Dr. James Milton
Flint (1838-1919), an Assistant Surgeon of the U.S. Navy. From the
establishment of the Section, in 1881, to 1912, Dr. Flint was curator
during separate periods for a total of nearly 25 years. For three of his
tenures (1881-1884; 1887-1891; 1895-1900), he was detailed to the
Smithsonian Institution by the Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy. During
the interim periods, other naval doctors were detailed as curators.
Finally, in 1900, Dr. Flint retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear
Admiral and volunteered to continue his services to the National Museum.
The proposal was gladly accepted and he continued as a curator until his
retirement from the Smithsonian Institution in 1912.

[Illustration: Figure 3.--REAR ADMIRAL JAMES M. FLINT, U.S. Navy surgeon
and first honorary curator of the Section of Materia Medica. (_Photo
courtesy of the Library of Congress._)]

The Section commenced with a wealth of material. After the close of the
1876 centennial exhibition, its _materia medica_ collection had been
stored with the other collections in a warehouse, awaiting an
appropriation by Congress for transfer and installation. This collection
was gradually brought into the new National Museum after that building's
completion in 1881. Many other _materia medica_ specimens were
transferred from the Department of Agriculture. In addition to these
large collections of crude drugs, generous contributions came from
several prominent pharmaceutical firms such as Parke, Davis & Company of
Detroit, Michigan; Wallace Brothers of Statesville, North Carolina; and
Schieffelin and Company of New York City. These manufacturing houses are
mentioned here because they and their agents abroad were the first to
take interest and donate to the Section, complete assortments of
contemporary remedial agents then in common use throughout the United
States and Europe, besides many hundreds of "rare and curious drugs."
Thus, in spite of difficulties encountered from bringing several
collections into the building at one time, the _materia medica_
exhibition got off to a good start.

It was Dr. Flint, the first curator, who stated in 1883 that remedial
agents used by a nation or a community are as indicative of the degree
of their cultural development and standard of living as is the nature of
their food, the character of their dwellings, and their social and
religious traditions. Therefore, he felt that collections of drugs and
medical, surgical and pharmaceutical instruments and appliances should
not be thought of or designed as instructive to the specialist only, but
should also possess a general interest for the public. Because of these
objectives, Dr. Flint added, this section was conceived as a
departmental division for the collecting and exhibiting of objects
related to medicine, surgery, pharmacology, hygiene, and all material
related to the health field at large.[4]

During his first term of curatorship (1881-1884), Dr. Flint devoted much
of his time to sorting, examining, identifying, and classifying the
_materia medica_ specimens.[5] In 1881, he issued a memorandum of
instructions to be followed by collectors of drugs and urged them to
give detailed and accurate information regarding acquired specimens so
that they might be "more than mere museum curiosities." In addition, in
1883, he prepared a brief manual of classification of the _materia
medica_ collection in the Museum as well as a useful, detailed catalog
of informational labels of the individual objects on exhibition. The
unpublished catalog is still the property of the Smithsonian Institution
Archives, Division of Medical Sciences' Library.

It was Dr. Flint's ambition to obtain a comprehensive, worldwide
collection of all substances used as remedies. Then, in order to
identify drugs from foreign countries, he tried to collect illustrated
works on medical botany and printed pharmacopoeias of all nations having
them. He rightly defined an official pharmacopoeia as "a book containing
directions for the identification and preparation of medicines prepared
and issued with the sanction of a government or organized and
authorized medical and pharmaceutical societies. Its purpose is to
establish uniformity in the nomenclature of remedies and in the
character and potency of the pharmaceutical preparations. It is enacted
by legislation, and thus becomes binding on all who prepare drugs or
sell them for medication." By soliciting the help of various American
consuls and Navy officers abroad, about 16 such official pharmacopoeias
were collected, making an almost complete international representation
of all available, official, drug standards. With these sources of
information, Dr. Flint compiled and arranged an international list of
_materia medica_ specimens, indicating the authorized preparations of
each. By so doing, the first curator of this Section took the initiative
at least in proposing and, to some extent acting, on the preparation of
an international pharmacopoeia of drugs used in existing authorized
formularies giving "official synonyms, and tables showing the
constituents and comparative strength of all preparations."[6] This
undertaking is of special importance in the history of American
pharmacy, since it was probably the first attempt of its kind in the
United States.[7] In addition, colored plates and photographs of
medicinal plants were collected, forming the nucleus of the Division's
current collection of pictorial and photographic material related to the
history of the health field.

Dr. Flint also put on exhibition 630 Chinese _materia medica_ specimens
from the 1876 Philadelphia centennial. These had been collected
originally by the Chinese Imperial Customs Commission for the centennial
and were subsequently given to this country.

In 1881, the numbered objects in the Section's register amounted to
1,574 entries. In the following year, 1,590 more specimens were added,
most of them drugs in their crude state. By the end of 1883, the total
collection had reached 4,037, out of which 3,240 individual drugs in
good condition were classified and put on display. Of these, about 500
specimens with beautiful illustrations of parts of their original plants
had been mounted for exhibition. The drug exhibitions also included
materials transferred from the Department of Agriculture in 1881, which
originally had been brought from Central America and South America for
the 1876 centennial exhibition, a variety of opium specimens from
Turkey, and a number of rare drugs listed in the official formulary
which were acquired from the Museum of Karachi in what was then India.

Dr. Flint commented in the _Smithsonian Annual Report_ for 1883 that the
collection of cinchona barks was especially complete. It was comprised
of specimens of nearly all the natural cinchona barks of South America
and every known variety of the cultivated product from the British
government plantations in India. In addition, there were specimens from
Java, Ceylon, Mexico, and Jamaica. The Indian and Jamaican barks were
accompanied by herbarium specimens of the leaf and flower (and, in some
cases, the fruit) of each variety of tree from which the bark was
obtained.[8]

In an attempt to protect specimens liable to attack by insects, a small
piece of blotting paper moistened with chloroform was inserted
underneath the stopper in each bottle. Later on, bichloride of mercury
was found to be a better insecticide.

These early collections of the Section were brought into admirable
condition and received compliments for their organization and
completeness. In the _Smithsonian Annual Report_ for 1883, the
collections were praised as "superior to any other in the United States
and scarcely excelled by any in Europe."

[Illustration: Figure 4.--DR. HENRY GUSTAV BEYER, the second honorary
curator of the Section of Materia Medica (1884-1887). (_Photo courtesy
of American Physiological Society._)]

In spite of the apparent emphasis on the displaying of drugs, the first
curator of the Section had envisioned that the exhibits eventually would
embrace the entire field of the healing arts. In the _Smithsonian Annual
Report_ for 1883, Dr. Flint noted that "in the establishment of a museum
designed to illustrate man and his environment, it is proper that the
materials and methods used for the prevention and cure of disease should
have a place." However, his plans were temporarily interrupted when his
first term as honorary curator ended in 1884.

On June 4, 1884, Dr. Henry Gustav Beyer was detailed by the Department
of the Navy to become the second honorary curator of the Section of
Materia Medica. As a young man, Dr. Beyer (1850-1918) had come from
Saxony, Germany, to the United States and, in due course, became a
naturalized citizen. He was graduated from the Bellevue Hospital
Medical College of New York City in 1876.

Because of his interest in physiological experimental research, Dr.
Beyer enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University, where he was awarded a
Ph. D. degree in 1887. Unlike his predecessor, Dr. Beyer was primarily
interested in carrying on research on the physiological action of
certain drugs and in pharmacology. This was evident from the original
scientific papers mentioned in the _Smithsonian Annual Reports_ and
published by him during the period of his curatorship from 1884 to 1887.

Despite the pressure of his postgraduate studies at Johns Hopkins
University, Dr. Beyer helped in arranging and classifying the _materia
medica_ collection without trying to extend materially the scope of the
Section.

After the term of Dr. Beyer expired in 1887, Dr. Flint returned to take
charge of the Section. Surprisingly, at this time, it seems that he
showed less enthusiasm and devotion to the work of the Museum which he
had previously served so well. It could have been a disappointment
resulting from a lack of evidence of any real progress in the Section
since he had left it three years before. Whatever the reasons may have
been, the _Smithsonian Annual Reports_ show that only a few hundred
specimens were added to the _materia medica_ collections between 1887
and 1890, bringing the total to 5,915 preserved in good condition.
Further curtailment of the Section's activities began in November 1891
when Dr. Flint was again transferred to other duties for the U.S. Navy.
From November 1891 to May 24, 1895, curatorship of the Section was
charged to five physicians of the U.S. Navy: Drs. John C. Boyd (from
November 1891 to April 6, 1892); William S. Dixon (April 1892 to January
5, 1893); C. H. White (January 1893 to July 15, 1893); C. U. Gravatt
(July 1893 to January 22, 1894); R. A. Marmion (January 22, 1894 to June
15, 1894); and to Medical Inspector Daniel McMurtrie (June 1894 to May
24, 1895). During this interim of nearly three and a half years, there
were neither literary contributions nor additions made to the
collections of the Section that were of any significance. The reason is
obvious, for all of these curators averaged less than seven months of
service which is not enough time, even for a well-trained individual, to
accomplish very much in a museum. Therefore, it is easy to imagine that
when the Secretary of the Navy detailed Dr. Flint for a third time to
take charge of the Section, he was rather discouraged. Nevertheless, at
the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, from
September 18 to December 31, 1895, the _materia medica_ was represented
by two displays: one on mineral waters and amounts of solid constituents
in pure state; and another showing the quantities of minerals after
analysis of the composition of the human body.

A similar project was undertaken in 1897 at the Tennessee Centennial
Exposition (May 1 to October 31) in Nashville, where there were two
displays of _materia medica_. One showed several kinds of the cinchona
barks and the medicinal preparations made from them, and another
containing the commercial varieties of the alkaloids of opium.

At this time, Dr. Flint's attention turned to a new phase of medical
exhibition. He felt the need for a program of exhibits on the practice
and the historical development of the healing arts. A change of the
Section's name was deemed necessary and, thus, in 1898 the more
comprehensive title of Division of Medicine was adopted.




Division of Medicine (1898-1939)

The statement by L. Emmett Holt of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical
Research, that before 1906, the Smithsonian Institution was never a
beneficiary to medicine in any form,[9] is not entirely applicable. The
previous discussion has clearly shown that the U.S. National Museum's
cooperation with the Navy contributed materially towards encouraging and
promoting medical knowledge. Furthermore, Dr. Flint tried to bring many
of his plans for this medical division of the Museum to a practical
fulfillment. He devised a program for presenting medical history in a
way which would be of interest both to the public and to the profession.
In order to best illustrate the history of the healing art, he divided
his subject matter into five provisional classifications according to
the _Report upon the Condition and Progress of the U.S. National Museum_
during 1898:

    1. Magical medicine including exorcism, amulets, talismans,
    fetishes and incantation;

    2. Psychical medicine including faith cures, and hypnotism;

    3. Physical and external medicine including baths, exercise,
    electricity, massage, surgery, cautery, and blood-letting;

    4. Internal medicine including medications and treatment used by
    the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus, Arabians, and Chinese;
    and

    5. Preventive medicine including beverages, food, soil, clothing
    and habitation.

It is certainly to Dr. Flint's credit that from its early conception,
first as Section of Materia Medica and thereafter as Division of
Medicine, he planned for an all-embracing exhibition and reference
collection of the medical sciences. Until the end of the 19th century
and the early years of the 20th century, crude drugs as well as
primitive and magic medicine held a more prominent place than medical
instruments in the exhibits and collections. In 1905, Flint issued his
last, known, literary contribution, "Directions for Collecting
Information and Objects Illustrating the History of Medicine," in Part S
of _Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum_, no. 39. The emphasis he put
upon this shows Dr. Flint's interest in collecting medical and
pharmaceutical objects and equipment of historical value. Consequently,
he arranged new exhibits including one on American Indian medicine. A
medical historian, Fielding H. Garrison, inspected these about 1910 and,
in his "An Introduction to the History of Medicine," wrote of their
novelty and appeal. "In the interesting exhibit of folk medicine in the
National Museum at Washington," he commented, "a buckeye or horse
chestnut (_Aesculus flavus_), an Irish potato, a rabbit's foot, a
leather strap previously worn by a horse, and a carbon from an arc light
are shown as sovereign charms against rheumatism. Other amulets in the
Washington exhibit," he added, "are the patella of a sheep and a ring
made out of a coffin nail (dug out of a graveyard) for cramps and
epilepsy, a peony root to be carried in the pocket against insanity, and
rare and precious stones for all and sundry diseases." It had been Dr.
Flint's intention, besides presenting an educational display on the
history of the medical arts, to warn the public against the perils of
quackery and the faults of folk medicine, as well as to expose evils in
drug adulteration. Today, we can see actual fulfillment of these
intentions in the present exhibit at the medical gallery which has been
executed recently on the basis of scientific, historical research.

After Dr. Flint's retirement from the Smithsonian Institution in 1912,
there was no replacement for over five years. Therefore, the Division
of Medicine was placed, for administrative purposes, under the
supervision of the curator of the newly reestablished (1912) Division of
Textiles, Frederick L. Lewton. During these years, he fought against the
dispersal of the medical and _materia medica_ collections. Thus, for
lack of a curator of its own, almost all new activities in the Division
of Medicine were curtailed until 1917.

On January 31, 1917, Lewton addressed members of the American
Pharmaceutical Association inviting them to cooperate in gathering up
and preserving at the National Museum the "many unique and irreplaceable
objects" connected with the early history of pharmacy in this country
which could still be saved.[10] Then, on March 14, 1917, an examination
was announced by the Civil Service (held May 2) for an assistant curator
for the Division of Medicine, and the position was filled by Joseph
Donner on August 16, 1917. Donner was the first full-time employee paid
by the Smithsonian Institution for the curatorship of this Division. He
held the post until January 31, 1918, when he was inducted into the
Sanitary Corps of the United States Army. No significant activities in
the Division of Medicine were reported during these few months.

Mr. Donner was followed by a second, full-time, museum officer who
promoted a great amount of good will towards the Division during his
curatorship of a little over 30 years. Dr. Charles Whitebread
(1877-1963), the first pharmacist to head the Division, joined the
Smithsonian in 1918 and remained until his retirement in 1948, the
longest service, thus far, of any individual in the Division.

Dr. Whitebread received his degree of Doctor of Pharmacy from the School
of Pharmacy at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in
1911. He entered government service late in 1915, but it was not until
April 2, 1918, that he agreed to become assistant curator of the
Division of Medicine.

Curator Whitebread's first year was an active and challenging one, for
in this new position he began to develop a deep interest in the history
of the healing arts. He made a number of important acquisitions, most of
them pertaining to pharmaceutical products, synthetic chemicals and
crude drugs. He found that many specimens from the older drug
collections had deteriorated to such an extent as to be worthless, and
he began replacing them with freshly marketed drugs.

[Illustration: Figure 5.--CURATOR CHARLES WHITEBREAD inspecting, with
admiration, five drug containers from the Squibb collection (1945).
(_Photo courtesy of the American Pharmaceutical Association._)]

Plans were completed for the opening of new medical exhibits and
adopting, with some modifications and additions, earlier classifications
set by Dr. Flint. Dr. Whitebread grouped these into the following
classes: the evaluation of the healing arts; a picture display of
medical men prominent in American history;[11] a _materia medica_
display including the history of pharmacy; and an exhibition on
Sanitation and Public Hygiene[12] which was later to evolve into the
Hall of Health.

In 1920, Dr. Whitebread added a number of specimens of medical-dosage
forms and pharmaceutical preparations to the Division's collections. He
also acquired other gifts to complete existing exhibits illustrating the
basic principles of the various schools of medicine, such as homeopathy
and osteopathy--their methods, tools, and ways of thought.

In 1921, a tablet machine by the Arthur Colton Company of Detroit,
Michigan, was acquired, and an exhibit illustrating vaccine and serum
therapy was installed in the medical gallery. This was followed, in
1922, by a collection arranged to tell the story of the prevention and
cure of specific diseases by means of biological remedies.

During the following two years, two more exhibits related to hospital
supplies and sanitation were added to the rapidly developing Hall of
Health exhibition which was opened in 1924. A third exhibit in 1925
consisted of 96 mounted color transparencies illustrating services
provided by hospitals to promote public health. Plans for the further
development of the Hall of Health continued during 1926, and contacts
were made with organizations interested in the educational aspects of
the healing arts. As a result, several new exhibits were added. In 1926,
the American Optometric Association helped in the installation of an
exhibit on conservation of vision or the care of the eyes under the
slogan "Save your vision," as a phase of health work. Other exhibits in
the Hall at this time were: what parasites are; water pollution and how
to obtain pure water; waste disposal; ventilation and healthy housing,
and the importance of recreation; purification of milk and how to obtain
pure milk; transmission of diseases by insects and animals; how life
begins; prenatal and postnatal care and preschool care; duties of the
public health nurse; and social, oral and mental hygiene.

With the acquiring of more medical appliances and the widening of the
scope of the exhibits, more and more space was needed, and attention was
turned to the area of the medical gallery which had been occupied by the
_materia medica_ collection for almost four decades. To gain more
exhibit space, it was decided that the greater part of the crude drugs
should be removed from the exhibits and be kept as a reference
collection and for research.[13]

[Illustration: Figure 6.--EXHIBIT ON EGYPTIAN AND HEBREW MEDICINE,
installed about 1924, which was illustrated by graphs and drugs
mentioned in extant records of this ancient period. (Smithsonian photo
30796-C.)]

[Illustration: Figure 7.--EXHIBIT ON MEDICAL HISTORY during the
Greco-Roman period. (Smithsonian photo 30796-D.)]

[Illustration: Figure 8.--EXHIBIT ON REMEDIES DERIVED FROM DRUGS of
vegetable origin, displayed about mid-1930's. (Smithsonian photo
30439.)]

In 1926, original patent models including those related to pharmacy,
medicine, and dentistry, were transferred from the U.S. Patent Office to
the National Museum. These patent models, together with other apothecary
tools and the machines used in drug production took up most of the
available space. This unfortunate situation led Dr. Whitebread to turn
down significant medical and pharmaceutical collections offered the
Museum between 1927 and 1930. Since the patent models were devised for
inventions designed to simplify the practice of the health professions,
three cases of these models were displayed in the medical gallery in the
early 1930's. Other exhibits shown during this decade included the
deception of folk medicine with warnings against superstitions, and an
exhibition on osteopathy,[14] as well as dioramas on the manufacture of
medicines and their use in scientific medical treatment.

In the meantime, Dr. Whitebread was an active contributor to the
literature of the health field in various periodicals, as well as in
pamphlets issued by the Museum and other governmental agencies (see
bibliography). His literary contributions, guided by the exhibits he
designed and the collections he acquired, were focused on the Division's
collections, such as primitive and psychic medicine and warnings against
reliance on magic and superstitions in treatment, medical oddities, and
the utilization of drugs of animal origin, both past and present.




Division of Medicine and Public Health (1939-1957)

After taking charge of the Division of Medicine in 1918, Dr. Whitebread
gave special attention to public health displays. His activities in this
area were accelerated after 1924 when the health exhibit at the
Smithsonian Institution was inaugurated. As the exhibits in this field
increased, the Division, in 1939, took the more comprehensive title of
Division of Medicine and Public Health. Also, in 1939, Dr. Whitebread
was promoted to the rank of associate curator.

[Illustration: Figure 9.--EXHIBIT ON METHODS OF TREATMENT of diseases
through mental impressions and psychic conditions as displayed about
1925. (Smithsonian photo 30796-B.)]

[Illustration: Figure 10.--AN EXHIBIT ON SUPERSTITIONS, EMPIRICISM,
magic, and faith healing in the light of scientific medicine, completed
in 1962, is in sharp contrast with that shown in figure 9.]

He continued his efforts to collect more specimens of interest to
medical history and to contribute to the literature. Among exhibited
specimens in 1941 were a powder paper-crimping machine, a portable drug
crusher, an odd device for spreading plaster on cloth, a pill-coating
apparatus, various suppository molds, a lozenge cutter, and an ingenious
Seidlitz powder machine. The derivation of medicinal drugs from animal,
vegetable, and mineral sources was also depicted, as were synthetic
materials and their intermediates. Basic prescription materials were
displayed, and rows of glass-enclosed cases held samples of crude
botanical drugs from almost every part of the globe with explanatory
cards giving brief, concise descriptions. The exhibition provided
medical and pharmaceutical students about to take state-board
examinations, the opportunity to study the subject in detail, especially
the enormous collection of _materia medica_ samples.[15] Also in 1941,
Eli Lilly and Company donated an exhibit on the medical treatment of
various types of anemia. In the same year, a diorama including a
hypochlorinator for purification of water on a farm was installed in the
gallery. In 1942, the first Emerson iron lung (developed in 1931 by John
Haven Emerson) for artificial respiration was acquired by the Division.
The Division acquired, in 1944, the first portable x-ray machine known
to have been operated successfully on the battlefield, as well as other
x-ray equipment and early medicine chests.

[Illustration: Figure 11.--OLD PUBLIC HEALTH EXHIBITION installed in the
gallery about 1924. (Smithsonian photo 19952.)]

[Illustration: Figure 12.--THE HALL OF HEALTH, reestablished and opened
in November 1957. (Smithsonian photo 44931.)]

[Illustration: Figure 13.--EARLY EXHIBIT ON HOMEOPATHY showing its
history, methods and remedies which was installed about 1929.
(Smithsonian photo 27049.)]

Without a doubt, the most outstanding accession in the field of
pharmaceutical history during Dr. Whitebread's years of service was the
acquisition of the E. R. Squibb and Sons old apothecary shop. Most of
the baroque fixtures, including the stained-glass windows with
Hessian-Nassau coats of arms and wrought-iron frames, were part of the
mid-18th-century cathedral pharmacy "Münster Apotheke" in Freiburg im
Breisgau, Germany. It was offered for sale in September 1930 by Dr. Jo
Mayer of Wiesbaden, Germany, who was an enthusiastic collector of
antiques, especially those related to the health professions. Earlier
that year, a historian of pharmacy and chemistry, Fritz Ferchl of
Mittenwald, Germany, had published a series of scholarly and informative
articles on the Meyer collection in which the outstanding specimens were
beautifully portrayed and thoroughly described (see bibliography).

As a result of Dr. Mayer's efforts to sell his collection, the impact of
Ferchl's illustrated articles, and the uniqueness of the collection, E.
R. Squibb and Sons purchased it in 1932 and brought it to the United
States "with the thought that it would provide for American pharmacy,
its teachers and students, a museum illuminating the history, growth,
and development of pharmacy, its interesting background and struggle
through the ages." It was displayed at the Century of Progress
exposition held in Chicago during 1933 and 1934; subsequently, it was
assembled in the Squibb Building in New York City as a private museum
where, for about 10 years, it was visited by many interested in
pharmacy, ceramics, and art. Charles H. LaWall, who was originally
engaged to prepare a descriptive catalog on the exhibit, gave it the
title "The Squibb Ancient Pharmacy."

Late in 1943, E. R. Squibb and Sons offered the collection as a gift to
the American Pharmaceutical Association if the latter would provide
museum space for it. The offer was accepted, but the Association
finally found it difficult to spare the needed space for the collection
and decided to take up the matter with the U.S. National Museum.

[Illustration: Figure 14.--THIS EARLY EXHIBIT ON OSTEOPATHY was
renovated several times prior to the early 1940's. (Smithsonian photo
19250.)]

At this point, it should be stated that since 1883 the members of the
American Pharmaceutical Association have been keenly interested in
having the National Museum serve as the custodian for all collected
objects and records of historical interest to pharmacy. In 1944, the
Association officially offered to deposit on permanent loan, the
Squibb's pharmacy collection in the Smithsonian Institution with the
understanding that a suitable place would be provided for prompt and
permanent display. The offer was accepted, and during April and May of
1945, the entire collection was transferred to the Smithsonian
Institution, and construction to recreate the original two rooms for the
old, 18th-century, European "Apotheke" was underway.

By August 1946, the exhibit was completed. In the large room where the
pharmacist met his customers, the shelves were filled with 15th-to
19th-century, European pharmaceutical antiques. These included
Renaissance mortars; 16th-and 17th-century nested weights; beautiful
Italian, French, Swiss, and German majolica and faience drug jars; Dutch
and English delft; drug containers made of flint or opal glass with
fused-enamel labels with alchemical symbols; rare, 16th-century, wooden
drug containers, each with the coat of arms of the city in which each
was made; and two glass-topped, display tables contained franchises
issued and signed by Popes or state rulers, medical edicts,
dispensatories, herbals, pharmacopoeias, and pharmaceutical utensils.

On the walls in the small laboratory room, which also had been used as a
workshop and a study, were a stuffed crocodile, shark's head, tortoise,
fish, and salamander, parts of which were utilized as remedial agents.
Their presence provided tangible evidence that the pharmacy dispensed
genuine drugs and not substitutes.

The pharmaceutical profession in this country hailed the outstanding
exhibition, and the November 1946 issue of the _Journal of the American
Pharmaceutical Association, Practical Pharmacy Edition_, devoted its
front cover to depicting one corner of the study and laboratory room of
the shop.[16] Also, in a letter dated January 2, 1947, addressed to Dr.
Alexander Wetmore, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr.
Robert P. Fischelis, the secretary of the American Pharmaceutical
Association, considered the completion of the deposited exhibition a
triumph and "as one of the highlights of the accomplishments of the
Association in 1946."

[Illustration: Figure 15.--LATE 16TH-CENTURY, wooden drug container with
coat-of-arms, in the Squibb collection. The inscription _Ungula Alcis_
(the hoof of the elk) suggests a superstitious attitude in medical
practice and the wide use of animal organs in medical treatment.
(_Courtesy of the American Pharmaceutical Association._)]

From 1946 to 1948, the Division's collection was further enriched with
a number of historical specimens, among which was a "grosse Flamme"
x-ray machine with induction-coil tube and stand developed by Albert B.
Koett. It is one of the earliest American-made machines of its kind,
producing a 12-inch spark, the largest usable at that time with
180,000-volt capacity, and a forerunner of later autotransformers. Other
accessions included two 19th-century drug mills, an electric belt used
in quackery, two medicine chests, three sets of Hessian crucibles used
in a pioneer drugstore in Colorado, a drunkometer, mineral ores, and
purely produced chemical elements.

[Illustration: Figure 16.--A RARE, ANTWERP, 16th-century drug jar in the
Squibb collection deposited by the American Pharmaceutical Association.]

In the spring of 1948, Associate Curator Whitebread retired after 30
years of service with the U.S. National Museum. He was a pioneer in the
field of health museums and during his curatorship had developed a
moribund section into a Division of field-wide importance. Dr.
Whitebread was succeeded by George S. Thomas, also a pharmacist, who
served as associate curator from August 1948 until early 1952.

[Illustration: Figure 17.--THE APOTHECARY SHOP as seen in the Arts and
Industries building (1946-1964). (_Courtesy of the American
Pharmaceutical Association._)]

[Illustration: Figure 18.--VIEW OF THE LABORATORY AND STUDY ROOM of the
apothecary shop. On the left, the German-Swiss bronze mortar and pestle
(1686) sign and above it an 18th-century German painting on canvas of
Christ, "the apothecary of the soul." The drug containers represent "the
fruits of the spirit," faith, patience, charity, etc., and the scales
represent justice. Underneath is the verse from Matthew, 11:28, "Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest." (_Courtesy of the American Pharmaceutical Association._)]

During his almost-three and a half years of service, Thomas acquired
hearing-aid appliances from which he designed an exhibit on the
development of these aids, surgical sutures, early samples of
Aureomycin, and a static-electricity machine made by Henkel about 1840.
He also published three short articles under the title, "Now and Then,"
in the _National Capital Pharmacist_ (1950), no. 1, pp. 8-9; no. 2, pp.
18-19, 29; and no. 3, pp. 15-16. In early 1952, Dr. Arthur O. Morton
presented to the Division, a Swiss-made keratometer which he had
purchased in 1907, and it is believed to be one of the first used in the
United States to measure the curves of the cornea.

The achievements of the Division reached their highest point, thus far,
in significantly increasing the national collection, as well as in
contributing to the scientific, historical, and professional literature,
under the curatorships of George B. Griffenhagen (December 8, 1952, to
June 27, 1959) and John B. Blake (July 1, 1957, to September 2, 1961).
Their reorganization of exhibits and collections, their competence and
industry, fulfilled the hopes, plans, and purposes laid down by earlier
curators for the Division.

Immediately after assuming the responsibilities of the Division and
throughout 1953, Mr. Griffenhagen (M.S. in pharmaceutical chemistry from
the University of Southern California) undertook to develop the
collections still further. He increased the emphasis not only on
historical pharmacy, but also on medicine, surgery, and dentistry. He
also renovated the exhibits in the medical gallery.

In 1954, several antibiotics were donated to the Division including a
mold of _Penicillium notatum_ prepared and presented to the Smithsonian
Institution by Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), the discoverer of
penicillium (1929), and a few Petri dishes used by botanist Benjamin M.
Daggar who, while working for Lederle Laboratories, developed Aureomycin
(chlortetracycline) in 1948. The Forest D. Dodrill--G.M.R. mechanical
heart (1952), the first machine reported to be used successfully for the
complete bypass of one side of the human heart during a surgical
operation,[17] was presented to the Smithsonian Institution.

The following year, 1955, the Division acquired one of the earliest
Einthoven string galvanometers (named after the Dutch physiologist Willem
Einthoven, 1860-1927) made in the United States in 1914 by Charles F.
Hindle for an electrocardiograph. Also added to the Division's
collections was the electrocardiograph used by Dr. Frank E. Wilson of
the United States, a pioneer educator in this field. Two temporary
exhibits on allergy and surgical dressings were installed in the
gallery. In the same year, Curator Griffenhagen published _Early
American Pharmacies_, a catalog on 28 pharmacy restorations in this
country.

In 1956, among many publications of interest in the fields of medical
and pharmaceutical history, was Curator Griffenhagen's _Pharmacy
Museum_, with a foreword by Laurence V. Coleman, who termed it a useful
catalog and "a good reflection of the history of the museum movement at
large." A third x-ray tube of Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen (1845-1922) was
added to the collection in 1957 as well as a complete set of
hospital-ward fixtures of about 1900 from the Massachusetts General
Hospital, rare patent medicines, 18th-century microscopes, and a
13th-century mortar and pestle made in Persia.

In 1957, Mr. Griffenhagen published a series of illustrated articles in
the _Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, Practical
Pharmacy Edition_, which were later reprinted by the Association in a
booklet entitled, _Tools of the Apothecary_. In it, he described several
pharmaceutical specimens in the collection and their place in history.




Division of Medical Sciences (1957 to Present)

The U.S. National Museum was reorganized on July 1, 1957, into two
units, the Natural History Museum and the Museum of History and
Technology. At the same time, and in view of the widening scope of the
Division, its more scientifically based planning, and the constantly
increasing collection with equal emphasis on all branches of the healing
arts, the Division's title was changed to the Division of Medical
Sciences--the title it still bears in 1964. With the reorganization, the
Department of Engineering and Industries, under which the Division fell
administratively, was renamed the Department of Science and Technology
of the Museum of History and Technology. It was also the first time
since its establishment in 1881 that the Division had two curators, for
on July 1, 1957, Dr. John B. Blake joined the staff.

[Illustration: Figure 19.--CURATORS JOHN B. BLAKE AND GEORGE
GRIFFENHAGEN examine the newly acquired (1957) electromagnetic,
Morton-Wimshurst-Holz Influence Machine. It was manufactured by the
Bowen Company of Providence, Rhode Island (1889). With the discovery of
x-ray, it was used for making x-ray photographs until early in the 20th
century.]

As a result of these changes, the Division was subdivided into a Section
of Pharmaceutical History and Health and a Section of Medical and Dental
History. The former was planned to encompass the collections of _materia
medica_, pharmaceutical equipment, and all material related to the
history of pharmacy, toxicology, pharmacology, and biochemistry, as well
as the Hall of Health which was opened November 2, 1957, and which
emphasizes man's progressing knowledge of his body and the functions of
its major organs.[18] The latter Section was planned to include all that
belongs to the development of surgery, medicine, dentistry, and nursing,
especially in relation to hospitals.

In October 1957, the Division acquired a collection of rare, ceramic,
drug jars which included two, 13th-century, North Syrian and Persian,
albarello-shaped, majolica jars; a 15th-century, Hispano-Moresque drug
container; and a 16th-century, Italian faience, dragon-spout ewer.
During the following two years, Curator Griffenhagen periodically toured
museums and medical and pharmaceutical institutions in this country,
South America, and Europe gathering specimens and information for the
Division and for publication, respectively. However, on June 27, 1959,
he resigned his curatorship to join the staff of the American
Pharmaceutical Association in Washington, D.C. Dr. Blake became the
curator in charge of the Division and Mr. Griffenhagen was succeeded on
September 24, 1959, by the author of this paper as associate curator in
charge of the Section of Pharmaceutical History and Health.

Dr. Blake, as curator of the Section of Medical and Dental History,
acquired a large number of valuable and varied specimens for the
Division's collections. They included optometric refracting instruments,
an early 1920's General Electric, portable, x-ray machine, the Charles
A. Lindbergh and Alexis Carrel pump (designed in 1935 to perfuse
life-sustaining fluids to the organs of the body), the Sewell heart pump
(1950) to control delivery of air pressure and suction to the pumping
mechanism, and a large and valuable collection of dental equipment
formerly at the universities of Pennsylvania and Illinois. Dr. Blake
wrote the explanatory material and supervised the design and production
of the majority of exhibits in the renovated hall of medical and dental
history. He also contributed several scholarly articles and a book (see
bibliography) on the history of the healing arts and public health in
particular. He resigned on September 2, 1961, to join the staff of the
National Library of Medicine as chief of the History of Medicine
Division, and was succeeded by the author as curator of the Division.
From the summer of 1962 to April 1964, the Division benefited from the
expert advice of Dr. Alfred R. Henderson as consultant in the
preparation and designing of the surgical and medical exhibits of the
Museum of History and Technology.

During the period from 1961 to May 1964, the Division's collections
expanded greatly through its medical, dental, and pharmaceutical
acquisitions. Specimens of antiques acquired from 1961 through 1963
numbered up to 1,539 and included gifts from leading institutions and
individual philanthropists. The scope of these gifts and acquisitions
ranges from electronic resuscitators, microscopes, x-ray equipment, and
spectacles, to patent medicines, amulets, apothecary tools, dental
instruments, and office material of practitioners.

[Illustration: Figure 20.--EXHIBIT ON SPECTACLES, LORGNETTES,
OPTOMETERS, and refraction, completed in 1960. It features a cross
section of the Division's large collection of eyeglasses. (Smithsonian
photo 47943-D.)]

In the last decade, the interest in the national endeavor for promoting
research and scholarship in the history of medicine has increased
greatly. It was most appropriate, therefore, for the Smithsonian
Institution to play host on May 2 for two sessions of the 37th annual
meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine held in
the Washington, D.C., area from April 30 through May 2, 1964. In
welcoming the members to the morning session in the auditorium of the
new Museum of History and Technology, Frank A. Taylor, director of the
United States National Museum, expressed the feeling that the meeting of
the Association was, in a sense, a dedication of the new auditorium and
an opportunity for the Smithsonian to reaffirm its deep interest and
commitment in fostering research and furthering the appreciation of
scholarly endeavor in the history of the healing arts.




A New Dimension For the Healing Arts

"One day the United States will have a National Museum of science,
engineering, and industry, as most large nations have." This was the
prediction made in 1946 by the director of the U.S. National Museum, Mr.
Frank A. Taylor, then curator of the Division of Engineering.[19] It was
in 1963, that the new $36,000,000 building of the Museum of History
and Technology was completed, and opened to the public in 1964. The
offices of the Division of Medical Sciences as well as the reference and
study collections were moved to the fifth floor of the new building. The
exhibits, however, will be displayed in the gallery at the southwest
corner of the first floor. These exhibits, it is hoped, will show a new
dimension and an unprecedented approach in displaying the development of
the healing arts throughout the ages and the instruments and equipment
associated with health professions. They also present the expanding
objectives and plans of the Division's growth as an integral part of the
Smithsonian Institution. Conveniently, the exhibits form four, closely
connected halls in one large gallery which will be open to the public in
the summers of 1965 to 1966.

[Illustration: Figure 21.--EXHIBIT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF BLOOD-PRESSURE
INSTRUMENTS and the early 20th-century sphygmomanometers which was
completed in 1960. (Smithsonian photo 47943-M.)]

1. THE HALL OF HEALTH displays models and graphic and historical exhibit
materials to demonstrate the function of the various healthy organs of
the human body. The main topics emphasized are: embryology and
childbirth; tooth structure; the heart and blood circulation;
respiration; the endocrine glands; kidneys and the urinary-excretory
system; the brain and the nervous system; the ear; and vision and the
use of eyeglasses.

The most appreciated exhibit of all in this Hall is the "transparent
woman" figure which rotates, automatically, every 15 minutes with a
recorded message describing the function of each major organ of the body
at the same time that the organ is electronically lighted, so that the
viewer can see its place in the body.

[Illustration: Figure 22.--HEARING-AID EXHIBIT designed in 1962. It
includes otologist Julius Lempert's personal memorabilia and original
surgical instruments used in the fenestration operation for restoring
hearing. (Smithsonian photo 49345-C.)]

2. THE HALL OF MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY will depict the history of these
two sciences with exhibits of the equipment used through the centuries.
In the medical field, early trephining and other surgical instruments
will be displayed along with a diorama of an 1805 surgical operation
performed by Dr. Philip Syng Physick in the amphitheater of the
Pennsylvania Hospital. Diagnostic instruments such as stethoscopes,
endoscopes, speculums, and blood-pressure measuring devices will be
exhibited with a series of microscopes illustrating the development of
these instruments. Exhibits of original galvanometers and other
apparatus will trace the development of cardiography. The early use of
anesthesia will be shown by apparatus of William Morton and Crawford W.
Long, American pioneers in this field. The development of the devices of
modern medicine and surgery will be shown by exhibits of the iron lung
and x-ray tubes, including a tube used by W. K. Roentgen. Medicine
chests and surgical kits of different periods will graphically summarize
the state of medical science in the period each represents.

Exhibits on the development of dentistry and dental surgery will display
examples of tooth-filling and extracting tools, drilling apparatus from
the early hand and foot engines to the first ultrasonic cutting
instrument (1954), and the original contra-angle, hydraulic and
air-turbine handpiece model[20] which revolutionized the field of
instrumentation for dental surgery (with speeds of 200,000 to 400,000
rpm). This hydraulic turbine of Dr. Robert J. Nelson and associates of
the National Bureau of Standards set the design pattern for the
remarkable and successful high-speed, air-turbine handpiece developed by
Paul H. Tanner and Oscar P. Nagel of the U.S. Naval Dental School in
1956. Also underway is the reconstruction of the offices of famous
dentists such as G. V. Black and the father of American orthodontia,
Edward H. Angle, using their original equipment and instruments. In
addition, an exhibit is planned to include x-ray tubes and the electric
dental engine, the first to be operated in a human mouth by the pioneer
dentist on dental skiagraphy, Charles E. Kells (1856-1928).[21]

[Illustration: Figure 23.--EXHIBIT ON NURSING BOTTLES and measures to
promote child health to counteract the once-common diseases of
childhood. This display was completed in 1962. (Smithsonian photo
49345-G.)]

3. THE HALL OF PHARMACEUTICAL HISTORY will feature exhibits on the
reconstruction of two pharmacy shops: an 18th-century apothecary shop,
originally from Germany, with a very elegant collection of drug jars,
decorated medicinal bottles, balances, mortars and pestles, and other
tools and documents pertaining to the apothecary art, and a late
19th-century American drugstore with shelves filled with patent
medicines and drug containers of various sizes and shapes. The window
will also feature symbols of pharmacy and beautiful show globes.
Displays will show the development of antibiotics and the early tools
used in the manufacture of the so-called "miracle drugs," including a
mold from Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. In
addition, a platform will be reconstructed to display a variety of
pharmaceutical apparatus used in the preparation and manufacture of
drugs, such as tablet and capsule machines and drug mills and
percolators. Recently, with the assistance of Professor Glenn
Sonnedecker, the Division acquired a fine collection of pharmaceutical
equipment and devices from the School of Pharmacy of the University of
Wisconsin.

[Illustration: Figure 24.--THE ORIGINS OF DRUGS from the three natural
kingdoms, drug synthesis, and the increase in the manufacture of
vitamins. This display was completed in 1962 and is now on display at
the Museum of History and Technology. (Smithsonian photo P6316.)]

Since the Division houses the largest collection of _materia medica_ in
the country, a representative cross section of crude drugs will be
displayed in alphabetical order as well as a display illustrating the
role of cinchona and antimalarial drugs in the fight against disease. An
exhibit will portray the "origin of drugs" from the three natural
kingdoms, animal, vegetable, and mineral, together with synthetic drugs
including the manufacture of vitamins.

Plans are being made for an elaborate exhibit of weights and balances
used in many countries throughout the centuries, their impact on
accuracy of dosage and weighing of drugs, and their use in the
apothecary art.

The Division will also display pictorial and printed materials, as well
as artifacts from all periods and all countries. These collections are
intended to help in presenting a more complete picture of the story of
the medical sciences for educational purposes and research, and to
increase man's knowledge in fighting disease and promoting health.

Thus, from a few hundred specimens of crude drugs in the Section of
Materia Medica of 83 years ago, there has developed a Museum Division
today which embraces the evolution of the health professions through the
ages. This Division now has the largest collection in the Western
Hemisphere of historical objects which are related to the healing arts.
The reference collections are available to the researcher and scholar,
and the exhibits are intended for pleasure and educational purposes in
these fields. The plans for expansion have no limitation as we keep pace
with man's progress in the medical sciences and continue to collect
materials that contributed to the historical development in the fight
against diseases and the attempts to secure better health for everyone.




Footnotes:

[1] _Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian
Institution for the Year 1882_ [hereinafter referred to as the
_Smithsonian Annual Report_], pp. 101-103; and introductory
"advertisement" to the lectures published by the Smithsonian Institution
in its Miscellaneous Collections (see bibliography).

[2] Dr. J. J. Woodward's lecture explained the progress of medical
knowledge of morbid growth and cancerous tumors from 1865 to 1872. It
cautioned that uncertain methods of diagnosis at that time allowed
charlatans and uneducated practitioners to report cures of cancer in
instances where nonmalignant growths were "removed by their caustic
pastes and plasters."

[3] The two longest intervals were in preparing the last two lectures:
the ninth in 1884, and the tenth, 1889. Both came after the
establishment in 1881 of the Section of Materia Medica in the U.S.
National Museum, to display the development and progress of the health
professions.

[4] _Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1883_, pp.
190, 614-615.

[5] For classifying chemical compounds, Dr. Flint relied on the work of
H. E. Roscoe and C. Schorlemmez, _A Treatise on Chemistry_, 2 vols. (New
York: D. Appleton, 1878-1800.)

[6] _Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1882_, vol.
2, part 2, pp. 100, 228, 656-657. Dr. Flint in his article "Report on
Pharmacopoeias of All Nations," ibid., pp. 655-680, remarks that there
were then 19 official pharmacopoeias in the world, besides three
semiofficial formularies in certain localities in Italy. The
pharmacopoeias collected represent Austria, Belgium, France, Germany,
Great Britain, Greece, Holland, India, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland (two), and the United States.

[7] The _Universal Formulary_, by R. Eglesfeld Griffith, first edited in
March 1850 (3rd ed. rev. and enlarged by John M. Maisch, Philadelphia:
Lea, 1874) should not be considered an international drug standard. It
was mainly concerned with compiling a great number of formulas and
recipes, methods of preparing and administering official and other
medicines, and tables on weights and measures for utilization by the
U.S. practitioners of the time.

[8] Other elaborate arrangements were also made to improve and expand
the Section's activities and services, though some have never
materialized. For example, a herbarium was suggested from which
specimens could be obtained for display of the actual drug with painted
pictures of its plant next to it. Consideration was given to displaying
enlarged drawings to show the minute structure of the specimen for
better identification. In addition, an exhibition of several 10-liter
vessels of the most popular mineral waters was planned. The amount of
saline substances which analysis had shown to be present in each vessel
was to be listed in a table to be attached to that vessel, or the same
amount of minerals was to be put in a small bottle beside it. This plan
was carried out to the best advantage at the Cotton States and
International Exposition held in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia.

[9] HOLT, "A Sketch of the Development of the Rockefeller Institute for
Medical Research," p. 1. A similar comment was voiced by GALDSTON,
"Research in the United States," p. 366.

[10] _Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association_ (1918), vol.
7, pp. 376-377, 466.

[11] Two decades later, Dr. Whitebread designed a panel showing
photographs of famous medical pioneers of all nationalities. See his
article, "The Odd Origin of Medical Discoveries," p. 321.

[12] GEBHARD, "From Medicine Show to Health Museum," p. 579. The
original plan for this Hall of Health was to feature exhibits on public
health for popular educational purposes, including an illustrated
exhibit on hospital care. See FOLEY, "Smithsonian Institution Devotes
Much Space to Hospital Exhibit," pp. 43-44.

[13] Lack of space notwithstanding, valuable accessions were added about
1930, including a collection of early x-ray tubes and personal
memorabilia of Drs. William T. G. Morton (1819-1868), Crawford W. Long
(1815-1878), and William Gorgas (1854-1920).

[14] D. RILEY MOORE published a series of short reports under the title
"Committee on Osteopathic Exhibits in the U.S. National Museum," in the
_Journal of the American Osteopathic Association_ (1933-1946), vols.
33-46, regarding the exhibit on osteopathy.

[15] [KLEIN], "He Directs Pharmacy Exhibits at the Smithsonian
Institution," pp. 20-21.

[16] Several other journals reported the exhibition with illustrations:
_Drug Topics_ (July 8, 1946), vol. 90, no. 2, pp. 2, 79; _National
Capital Pharmacist_ (September 1945), vol. 7, p. 11, and (September
1946), vol. 8, pp. 11-13; and _The Scientific Monthly_ (November 1952),
vol. 75, p. 268.

[17] DODRILL, and others, "Temporary Mechanical Substitution for the
Left Ventricle in Man," pp. 642-644, and "Pulmonary Volvuloplasty under
Direct Vision using the Mechanical Heart for a Complete Bypass of the
Right Heart in a Patient with Congenital Pulmonary Stenosis," pp.
584-595.

[18] For the design, expert arrangement of the exhibits, and the legends
that accompany each exhibit in the Hall of Health, we are indebted to
Drs. Bruno Gebhard, Richards H. Shryock, Thomas G. Hull, James Laster,
Walle J. H. Nauta, Leslie W. Knott, Theodore Wiprud, and other
physicians, dentists, and scholars who have offered their advice,
assistance, and expert skills.

[19] TAYLOR, "A National Museum of Science, Engineering and Industry,"
p. 359.

[20] NELSON, PELANDER, and KUMPULA, "Hydraulic Turbine, Contra-angle
Handpiece," pp. 324-329.

[21] MONELL, "Dental Skiagraphy," pp. 313-336.




BIBLIOGRAPHY


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DAUKES, S. H. _The medical museum: modern developments, organization and
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DODRILL, FOREST D., and others. Pulmonary volvuloplasty under direct
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---- Temporary mechanical substitution for the left ventricle in man.
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FOLEY, MATTHEW O. Smithsonian Institution devotes much space to hospital
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GEBHARD, BRUNO. From medicine show to health museum. _Ciba Symposia_
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1897.

GRIFFENHAGEN, GEORGE. _Pharmacy museums._ Madison, Wis.: American
Institute of the History of Pharmacy, 1956.

---- and HUGHES, CALVIN H. The history of the mechanical heart. _Annual
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HAMARNEH, SAMI. At the Smithsonian ... exhibits on pharmaceutical dosage
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----For the collector, facts and artifacts. _Pharmacy in History_
(1961), vol. 6, p. 48.

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---- New dental exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution. _Journal of the
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HOLT, L. EMMETT. A sketch of the development of the Rockefeller
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1938.

[KLEIN, ALLEN.] He directs pharmacy exhibits at the Smithsonian
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LAWALL, CHARLES H. Ancient pharmacy on display. _Pacific Drug Review_
(1933), vol. 45, p. 18.

---- _The curious lore of drugs and medicines._ Garden City, N.Y.:
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---- The opportunity for developing historical pharmacy collections at
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NELSON, ROBERT J.; PELANDER, CARL E.; and KUMPULA, JOHN W. Hydraulic
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SILVER, EDWIN H. Description of the exhibit on conservation of vision
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39-40.

[SONNEDECKER, GLENN.] Apothecary shop nears completion. _Journal of the
American Pharmaceutical Association, Practical Pharmacy Edition_ (1946),
vol. 7, pp. 157.

---- Dr. Charles Whitebread, pharmacist and museum curator. _Journal of
the American Pharmaceutical Association, Practical Pharmacy Edition_
(1946), vol. 7, p. 203.

---- Old apothecary shop. _Journal of the American Pharmaceutical
Association, Practical Pharmacy Edition_ (1945), vol. 6, pp. 184-187.

---- Old apothecary shop opened. _Journal of the American Pharmaceutical
Association, Practical Pharmacy Edition_ (1946), vol. 7, p. 427.

TAYLOR, FRANK A. A national museum of science, engineering and industry.
_The Scientific Monthly_ (1946), vol. 63, pp. 359.

---- The background of the Smithsonian's Museum of Engineering and
Industries. _Science_ (1946), vol. 104, no. 2693, pp. 130-132.

Toner Lectures:

   1. J. J. WOODWARD. On the structure of cancerous tumors and the
   mode in which adjacent parts are invaded. No. 266 in _Smithsonian
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   given on March 28, 1873.]

   2. C. E. BROWN-SÉQUARD. Dual character of the brain. No. 291 in
   _Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections_, vol. 15; Washington,
   1878. [Lecture given on April 22, 1874.]

   3. J. M. DA COSTA. On strain and over-action of the heart. No.
   279 in _Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections_, vol. 15;
   Washington, 1878. [Lecture given on May 14, 1874.]

   4. H. C. WOOD. A study of the nature and mechanism of fever. No.
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   Washington, 1878. [Lecture given on January 20, 1875.]

   5. WILLIAM W. KEEN. On the surgical complications and sequels of
   the continued fevers. No. 300 in _Smithsonian Miscellaneous
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   February 17, 1876.]

   6. WILLIAM ADAMS. Subcutaneous surgery: Its principles, and its
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   given on September 13, 1876.]

   7. EDWARD O. SHAKESPEARE. The nature of reparatory inflammation
   in arteries after ligatures, acupressure, and torsion. No. 321 in
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   1880. [Lecture given on June 27, 1878.]

   8. GEORGE E. WARING. Suggestions for the sanitary drainage of
   Washington City. No. 349 in _Smithsonian Miscellaneous
   Collections_, vol. 26; Washington, 1883. [Lecture given on May
   26, 1880.]

   9. CHARLES K. MILLS. Mental over-work and premature disease among
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   10. HARRISON ALLEN. A clinical study of the skull. No. 708 in
   _Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections_, vol. 34; Washington,
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TRUE, WEBSTER P. _The Smithsonian Institution._ (Vol. 1 of the
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URDANG, GEORGE, and NITARDY, F. W. _The Squibb ancient pharmacy._ New
York, 1940. [Out of print, but remaining catalogs were given to the
Division of Medicine to "be reserved for pharmaceutical educators,
foreign dignitaries, pharmacists of national and international
reputation, and pharmaceutical historians," according to a letter from
Mr. Nitardy in 1945.]

WHITEBREAD, CHARLES. Animal pharmaceuticals of the past and present.
_Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association_ (1933), vol. 22,
pp. 431-437.

---- An old apothecary shop of 1750. _National Capital Pharmacist_
(September 1946), vol. 8, pp. 11-13, 35.

---- Early American pharmaceutical inventions. _Journal of the American
Pharmaceutical Association_ (1937), vol. 26, pp. 918-928.

---- _Handbook of the health exhibits of the United
States National Museum._ Baltimore: Lord Baltimore Press [1924].

---- Health superstitions. _Journal of the American Pharmaceutical
Association, Practical Pharmacy Edition_ (1942), vol. 3, pp. 268-274.

---- Medicine making as depicted by museum dioramas. _Journal of the
American Pharmaceutical Association_ (January 1936), vol. 25, pp. 40-46.

---- Superstition, credulity and skepticism. _Journal of the American
Pharmaceutical Association_ (1933), vol. 22, pp. 1140-1145.

---- The Indian medical exhibit of the Division of Medicine in the
United States National Museum. Article 10 in vol. 67 of _Proceedings of
the U.S. National Museum_; Washington, 1926.

---- The magic, psychic, ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman medical
collections of the Division of Medicine in the United States National
Museum. Article 15 in vol. 65 of _Proceedings of the U.S. National
Museum_; Washington, 1925.

---- The odd origin of medical discoveries. _Journal of the American
Pharmaceutical Association, Practical Pharmacy Edition_ (1943), vol. 4,
p. 321.

---- The United States National Museum pharmaceutical collection, its
aims, problems, and accomplishments. _Journal of the American
Pharmaceutical Association_ (1930), vol. 19, pp. 1125-1126.

WINTERS, S. R. Magic medicine. _Hygeia_ (July 1937), vol. 15, pp.
630-633.


U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1964

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office Washington, D.C., 20402. Price 30 cents.




_Index_


Angle, Edward H., 295


Beyer, Dr. Henry Gustav, 275, 276

Black, G. V., 295

Blake, John B., 290, 291

Boyd, John C., 276


Carrel, Alexis, 291

Coleman, Laurence V., 290

Colton, Arthur, and Company, 278


Dagger, Benjamin M., 290

Dixon, William S., 276

Dodrill, Forest D., 290

Donner, Joseph, 277


Einthoven, Willem, 290

Emerson, John Haven, 285


Ferchl, Fritz, 285

Fischelis, Robert P., 287

Fleming, Sir Alexander, 290, 295

Flint, James Milton, 273


Garfield, James A., 272

Garrison, Fielding H., 277

Goode, G. Brown, 273

Gravatt, C. U., 276

Griffenhagen, George B., 290, 291


Hammond, William Alexander, 273

Henderson, Alfred R., 291

Henkel, Silon, 290

Hindle, Charles F., 290

Holt, L. Emmett, 276


Kells, Charles E., 295

Koett, Albert B., 287


LaWall, Charles H., 285

Lederle Laboratories, 290

Lewton, Frederick L., 277

Lilly, Eli, and Company, 283

Lindbergh, Charles A., 291

Long, Crawford W., 294


Marmion, R. A., 276

Mayer, Jo, 285

McMurtrie, Daniel, 276

Morton, Arthur O., 290

Morton, William, 294


Nagel, Oscar P., 295

Nelson, Robert J., 295


Parke, Davis & Company, 273

Physick, Philip Syng, 294


Roentgen, Wilhelm Konrad, 290, 294


Schieffelin and Company, 273

Sonnedecker, Glenn, 296

Squibb, E. R., and Sons, 285, 286


Tanner, Paul H., 295

Taylor, Frank A., 292

Thomas, George S., 287

Toner, Joseph Meredith, 271


Wallace Brothers, 273

Wetmore, Dr. Alexander, 287

White, C. H., 276

Whitebread, Charles, 277, 278, 281, 283, 285, 287

Wilson, Frank E., 290




      *      *      *      *      *      *




Transcriber's Note:

   The following typographical erros have been corrected:

   P. 277 'the basis of scientific, historical'--was 'the bases of
           scientific, historical'

   P. 287 'purely produced chemical elements'--was 'purely produced,
           chemical elements'

   P. 290 'string galvanometers (named'--was 'string galvanometer-
          (named.'