History of the Division of Medical Sciences Part 2

In 1954, several antibiotics were donated to the Division including a mold of _Penicillium notatum_ prepared and presented to the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution 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 bypa.s.s of one side of the human heart during a surgical operation,[17] was presented to the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution.

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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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 ill.u.s.trated articles in the _Journal of the American Pharmaceutical a.s.sociation, Practical Pharmacy Edition_, which were later reprinted by the a.s.sociation in a booklet ent.i.tled, _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 t.i.tle was changed to the Division of Medical Sciences--the t.i.tle 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 encompa.s.s 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 inst.i.tutions 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 curators.h.i.+p to join the staff of the American Pharmaceutical a.s.sociation in Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 a.s.sociate 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 inst.i.tutions 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 pract.i.tioners.

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

In the last decade, the interest in the national endeavor for promoting research and scholars.h.i.+p in the history of medicine has increased greatly. It was most appropriate, therefore, for the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution to play host on May 2 for two sessions of the 37th annual meeting of the American a.s.sociation for the History of Medicine held in the Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociated with health professions. They also present the expanding objectives and plans of the Division's growth as an integral part of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution. 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 eyegla.s.ses.

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 ill.u.s.trating 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 a.s.sociates 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]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 doc.u.ments 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 a.s.sistance 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 ill.u.s.trating 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 Inst.i.tution for the Year 1882_ [hereinafter referred to as the _Smithsonian Annual Report_], pp. 101-103; and introductory "advertis.e.m.e.nt" to the lectures published by the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution 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 pract.i.tioners 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 cla.s.sifying 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. pract.i.tioners 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 a.n.a.lysis 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 Inst.i.tute 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 a.s.sociation_ (1918), vol.

7, pp. 376-377, 466.