Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-03

A n oak leaf and an acorn together
~ form the symbol of the United
"A States naval medical service.
4 ~ The device is a singularly apt
one.
The familiar line, Great oaks from lit
tie acorns grow" finds in no avenue of
human development more consistent IL
lustration than the progress, from It's in
ception to the present day, Of this in
dispensabIe factor of our navy's efficiency.
Even before the thirteen colonies be
came linked with each other for better or
worse. through the Declaration of indie
pendence, the acorn had found Judgment.
ment
In October, 1875, Congress ordered our
first naval force and allotted surgeons
and surgeons mates to each vessel, at a
pay, to surgeons, of from s2l to SO a
month.
The first surgeon of the navy was
Joseph Harrison, serving on the Alfred,
commissioned in 1775, and the first ship OF
war flying the American flag which was
hoisted by John Paul Jones, her first
lieutenant.
From that beginning the medical serv-
ice OF the United States Navy has trav-
ersed a career noble in achievement in its
own field, and in vital. II not a popular
sense. sharing the historic glory of the
navy.
Up 10 within a hundred years ago. and
even later. writer's have referred to a
snip as the most unnatural habitation
of man." in the merchant and naval
service alike. Cramped quarters. insani-
tary In every way, in conjunction with
conditions external to these. produced the
inevitable result of virulent diseases
Typhus, aeua. yellow fever, dysentery
smallpox and other disorders RACED, and
the mortality from these causes was APP
railing Scurvy alone was a protean
destroyer whose ravages left MANY a shin
helpless. The merchant marine, espe-
clally, was al the mercy Of devastating
pests.
On ships of war, in addition to the dis
eases OF the maritime service generally.
were the terrible conditions attending
naval engagements. when ships became
shambles Of shattered timbers and
manGled men. the latter cared for. how
ever devotedly by the surgeons OF the
time, in foul smelling. fll-ventilated. damn
and moldy dens. lighted only by the talloU-
dip and filled with the groans o, the
wounded
But marvellous metamorphosls has
taken place since then. The question. "Of
what use the sinew-s of war if the sinews
of men be wantIng?" demanded a prac-
teal solution.
The medical naval service of our own
country, which at the beginning was rep-
nv civ
only with his own skill, a few crude in
struments and restricted drug chest
has now at It's command the most ad-
Vanced modern facilities and a highly
qualified numerous personnel composed OF
the various grades Of the service which
includes assistant surgeons, passed as
sistant surgeons. surgeons, medical in
spectors and medical directors.
A few sentences from a lecture recently
delivered by Medical Director John c
WISE. United States Navy. before the
Medical Society of the District of Co,
l"nbia, epitomizes the story of the change
ON the old conditions to those of today
lie said:
Where the tallow dip sputtered on the
ark deck, gasping for sufficient oxygen
20 support its feeble combustion, today
the searchlight of electricity is turned into
every angle and corner, or wherever
rnicrobic life can find a indus. On the
ships OF steel which have replaced those
of wood black putrescent bilge water is
unknown. Water full OF organic waste Is
no longer gathered here and there. but Is