Evening star., 1933-08-13
BY GEORGE S. CARLL, JR.


Museum Americas finest contribu-
ton to medicine. may become . re-
Atty Is . result Of the national in
dustrial recovery act These two
national institutions are now housed
IN the building located at Seventh and b
streets southwest, Just east Of the old National
Museum. Constructed . generation ago, the
building has been outgrown by the material
that it must contain, and moreover 1t IS only
partly freproof. In 1919 and 1922. Congress
appropriated funds for the purchase OF SUIT
able site for q new building for the library
and museum and the ground has been pur-
chased.
This site, part of the Army Medical Center,
h adjacent to the Walter Reed General Hospital
and the Army Medical Schoos. 1t was the
intention Of Congress to complete the Army
Medical Center by the addition OF the last
two institutions, so that. complete, 1t WI cor
respond to the army medical centers OF Great
Britain France and other countries. Under
the plans of Congress for the beautihcation OF
the City of Washington, particularly OF the MAIL,
the Army Medical Museum, must be removed,
and it is the earnest desire OF the eaolng
medical societies of the country that the new
building be constructed as soon as possible at
the Army Medical Center At the last annual
meeting of the American Medical Association,
held in Milwaukee in June, which organization
boasts membership Of more than one hundred
thousand members, resolutions to this effect
President and other Government officials. 1t
is estimated that the proposed new building
will cost 50 900 600, and officials are hopeiul
that it will be included in the Governments
huge public works program
THE library of the Surgeon Generals Office
! (Army Medical Library, now the largest
medical library in the world, had its origin IN
a collection of medical books made for the Of
fetal use of Surg. Gen. Lowell (appointed in
18l8) but its real growth did not begin until
1866, when Surg John S. Billings, one of the
most notable American physicians Of all time
and the first librarian Of the Army Medical
Library, was placed in charge and permitted
to use an uncxpended fund of $4,000 turned
in by Army hospitals after the Civil War.
When this fund was exhausted suitable appro-
priations were made by Congress 50 that by
judicious expenditures, exchange Of publica-
tions, gifts. ETC.. the library has reached Its
present size This Is . wonderful growth for
one institution in little more than . century.
for today the Army Medical Library With its
amazing collection Of medical books from the
earliest known manuscripts prior to the tnven-
ton Of printing down to the most recent mono
graphs on special subjects. its files OF por-
traits of medical interest, documents and the
like now embrace more than q million items
In the field of medical history there is no
richer source of material than the Army Medi-
cal Library. Its collection OF medical ncunabula
is easily the most extensive in the New World.
and is rivaled by but few in the old. The
library at the present time contains about $50
Of these rare volumes, besides scores of others
almost as rare, and it Is estimated that there
are only about 600 or TOO Of them in the whole
world. So excessively rare are the mcunabula
not already in the Mbrarys collection, that
their purchase Is now almost impossible owing
to the prohlbitive cost.
Among the other rare, old medical books.
not sufficiently ancient to be termed "incuna-
bula," there are many Of absorbing interest.
The lay visitor will always be thrilled by look
ing at the first edition Of Harvey's epoch
making work on the "Circulation of the Blood"
which appeared in 1923. Prior to Harvey's time,
though it seems difficult for one to realize 1t
now, it was not known that the blood circulates
and that the heart acts as . great pump.
Nearly two centuries later, in 1882 DR.. Edward
Jenner another Englishman, published his ac-
count of his discovery Of vaccination. Today,
when smallpox is almost banished disease and
the individual with the marks Of its ravages on
his face is becoming more and more uncom-
mOn we find it hard to realize what q boon
was Jenners discovery to the human race.
This book IS illustrated by his own drawings
and it contains pictures of the hand of the
English milk-maid who was suffering from
cowpox and from whom Jenner transferred
the material to the arm Of . boy, the first per-
son on earth to be vaccinated
All Of the great milestoneS which have
marked medical progress, are illustrated in this
library by books written by the makers OF his
tory and it is the policy Of the library to display
such rare material In its cases upon special
occasions. such as the annual convention in
Warrington last Fan Of the American Public
Health Association and other medical gather
ings that are convened here. The library also
contains many of the rare old medical books
antedating printing, which are in manuscript
form On parchment. usually the work Of
nnonAs4c scribes IN the twelfth and thirteenth