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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
also be available as a complete e-book.
The front material, introduction and relevant index entries from
the Bulletin are included in each single-paper e-book.
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.