Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-18
AN ARTIST OF WOUNDS AND
DISEASES.
BIZ FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.
pecial Correspondence Of The Argus).

Washington, D. c. Oct. IA case OF
chronic Ivy poisoning. II you can view it with
out prejudice which we nearly all feel toward
diseased states OF the human flesh, is really
a beautiful thing. The affected hands swell
up, and tYrn clear. pale pink. deepening here
and there to rich scarlet xain.ly notified
with yellow and starred with little silvery
drops of liquid discharge. that rest upon the
flaming flesh colors like dew drops upon rose
petal.
These reflections upon the beauty Of ivy
poisoning which will not be appreciated by
anyone who has had 1t, were provoked by
model Of this painful anliction, made OF wax
and painted in natural eolors, by Captain ]. F.
Wallis Of the army medical museum. It Is no
exaggeration to say that IL these wax hands
were shown you projecting through holes In
curtain, for instance, you would believe that
they were living flesh. DR.; Wallis, who is at
once an artist and a doctor, has attained a
new and startling realism in the representa-
ton of diseases and wounds in wax and paint
Also he has founded the first American
school in this difficult and important art
Heretofore, all of the wax models of diseased
states have been made in Europe, most OF
them by a famous maker named Baretta~
Three or four collections Of these models exist
has one of them. These European models are
pale and unreal looking compared to those OF
DR.. Wallis. They are a sort of Opaque yellow
and look dead, while DIR. Wallis captures The
very tone and cOIOr OF the living HeSn-
thefnOre, the Baretta models falling to
pieces They do not stand changes OF tenn
perature or exposure to sunlight Dr. Wallls,
by mixing talcum, starch and other substances
with his wax. has produced models that are
almost impervious to changes OF light and OF
temperature.
The value to the United States of this
achievement Of DR.. Wallis has been widely
recognized. lie Matre. the famous French sur
geon, pronounced these the finest models he
had ever seen. Surgeon General Rupert Blue
Of the public health service, has endorsed the
work of Captain Wallis, and states that the
public health service needs a collection OF
these models, but that the funds necessary for
making are not available. A movement is now
foot to have congress make an appropria-
ton for the work. Unless this is done, the
work will stop altogether, as DR.. Wallis.
prominent dermatologist, cannot afford to re-
tain much longer his position of captain in
the medical corps, now that the war Is over
During the war, too, he had a number OF pupils,
including some first rate artists who had en-
listed Most of these have now been dis
charged and the doctor has but single pupil,
although another of his pupils is now working
at Walter Reed hospital
DR.. Wallis found that finished artists were
seldom able to make good models Baker, the
famous portal. painter, who enlisted in the
army, was assigned to DR.. Wallis office, but
was wholly unable to do the work. He was
accordingly transferred to the job of painting
portraits OF cabinet officers, at which he made.
great success
Ii should be explained that this modsl-mak-
ing does not require a real artist, but rather
an extreHely skillful artisan, working under
the direction Of a physician. The wax is not
modelled. lnatsad u plaster Of paris cast is
made o: the part which Is to be reproduced.
The hair and heard are plastered down with
some viseous material. if the face is to be the
! subject and quilts are usually put in the pa
'he1f5 1Ose. n IeasL thai Was the European
Method Dr HakAL5 has found thar III the pa
tent will blow through his nOstrfIs after the
Or EOAu nj
breathing Eole This is much better than
ne NE 81 NNNNs> A. NE NNN>NIS NSNA 70 NSSAA\
NE NONAsNfS Nose, VNrNsNNg NNNN 70 sNseGe N,NA
\hloW tho s0tt VAaS,eI cast 10 pieces
| When the plaster 'ast has hardened a
impression is taken OIL in wax, and this wa
/AnUressh0H IL izaA1ked in tie exact c0LOrS nj
The wound CT disease. This requires a very
'A1IIfuI ana delicate use Of color An expert !
rced timer Jf ,,hOt graphs is often more sue
esSt,d al " than an artist trained in the use
i ellis ON CANVAS.
Tic value of these wax TTeaels in diagnos-
NY diseases Wa weN w streNeA by the case
OF ivy poisoning with NlAcN this story began
Experienced physicians vera unable 10 decide
what the cause of this painful and seem
fngly incurable eruption. 1t was being treat
ed as e6zema. DR.. Wallis being specialist
In skin diseases, recognized # as ivy poisoning.
He points out that If his model had been at
the disposal of the physicians. together with
model Of typical eczema rash, there would have
been no difficulty in making the diagnosis.
Another case which occurred in the medi-
cal corps was that of man who suffered from
lichenplanus. This is a skin disease, chronic
and generally considered incurable, which is
rare that the average practitioner would
not see it once in life time. Dr. Wallis made
a model Of this case of lichenplanus for the
museum. This model was seen by a girl who
was suffering from the disease and she her
self diagnosed her aflment and came to DR..
Wallis for treatment.
In this case the wax model enabled an un-
trained person to recognize disease which
many a trained physician would have been I'M
able TO identity from mere descriptions and
pictures.