Evening star., 1927-05-29
CAPITAL RANKS FIRST
AS CONVENTION CITY
Storehouse of Information, Recently Dis
closed to Medical Profession, Among
Attractions Offered to Visitors.


ity and mortality rates.
The Department of Labor has col
lected many medical books and period
icals bearing especially on the
hygiene of labor. including care Of
women and children employees.
The Public Health Service OF the
Treasury Department has an impor-
tant library of the books devoted to
it's special branch of medical science.
The Navy Department also has IL
braries for It's medical department
and medical and dental schools. st.
Elizabeth's, under the administration
of the Interior Department, has q.
library of important data on Its spe-
ciai branches of medicine. including
many post-mortem and clinical his
tories.
Howard University's medical and
dental schools and Frsdman's Hos
pital also have valuable works OF
reference.
School Hygiene Stressed.
The United States Bureau of Edu.
cation, looking after the hygiene OF
schools and school children, has q
small, but very we'll chosen library
on this subject.
Other important libraries of medi.
able in the United States Bureau of
Mines, the Pan-American Union. the
| National Research Council. the medi-
cal schools of Georgetown and George
| Washington Universities. the Carne-
gle Institution and the National Geo
graphic Society.
With this background of medical
| lore and practice, the work OF the
Army Medical Center, the Army Med
| ical Museum and the great medical
| library of the Surgeon General Of the
| Army merit special description.
The entire medical profession Of the
| country Is in close cooperation with
and deriving direct benefit from the
Army Medical Museum through the
American Congress of Physicians and
| Surgeons, which meets everly three
years in Washington. The only two
other medical museums in all the
world at all comparable with the
Army Medical Museum are the Musee
de Val de Grace in Paris and the Ger
man War Museum in Berlin. But the
Washington museum is the only in
stitution in the world that has the
| books Of reference and the LESSONS"
or material illustrating disease under
one roof in such large quantities for
convenient study.
Civil War Specimens.
This museum. unsurpassed any
| where in Importance of service rem
| dered to all the people, was started
in 1862 for the purpose of collecting
specimens of morbid anatomy for
study of those diseased conditions,
medical and surgical, occurring dur
ing the Civil War. The Government
had in view the education of medical
officers to better understand and cope
with diseases to which the military
are particularly liable and thereby In
crease military efficiency.
The finest collection of material rep.
resenting the injuries of war and q
great many medical conditions has
been made and these are considered
to have been the greatest single factor
in advancing our knowledge of war in.
juries and disease.
The physicians in civil life. with
whom the Army medical officers OBJ
tian their training, and who them
selves were modified for service with
our combat forces during the World
War, are concerned with the diseases
of more or less definite localities,
changing little from time to time. and
they can therefore see at post.mort-
ems the LESSONS" or INSTALLATIONS Of
the conditions they are called upon to
treat. War occurs but seldom and In
order to prepare the medical officers
of the Army to treat the injuries and
diseases most prevalent during hostil-
tiles it is necessary that there be pre-
served specimens illustrating the
morbid anatomy whenever the oppor-
tunity affords.
Diseases Illustrated.
At the present time our military
surgeons are constantly placed at sta
tions in foreign countries and distant
possessions where diseases that are
almost unknown i'm the United States
are endemic. Physical illustrations of
these diseases must, therefore, be
brought to the Army medical center
for instruction of student officers.
Under our new national defense act
the Medical Department of the Army
is actively concerned in the education
of all present or potential medical Of
ficers, including students in The medi-
cal schools of the United States, and
so Is endeavoring to obtain sufficient
specimens both of distinctively war
diseases and those prevalent elsewhere
I'm the world, but not readily accessible
to the medical schools in this country.
No other national organization is as
we'll equipped to collect and distribute
this material so that it may come
within the reach of the medical pro-
fession of our country. Army medical
officers are sent to every place where
any disease known to medical science
may be encountered.