Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-22
Library Here
Holds 100 Years
0fMedica|D Data
Material From All
Over World Is Boon
To U. S. Doctors

w UAAC dAlIl0dt QC1uSC Vi + GIL
leaves-except that it lasts all
year long.
Doctors find it impossible to
read it all, even the information
concerning their own specific
field of medicine. But if they
feel they missed something, +"
they have satisfaction in know
ing somebody is saving the
material.
Luckily. unlike the fate of Fall
leaves. medical literature has a
permanent resting place. And
it's always available.
The Armed Forces Medical
Library. Seventh street and
Independence avenue S.W., has
been collecting medical literature
in various forms for over 100
years. The collection was started
when Joseph Lowell. surgeon
general of the Army, placed a
few medical books on the shelves
of his Office in 1886. It has grown
into the largest collection of
medical information in the
world. II
It is the onlyblace that cata-
logues and files away everything
from the glossy medical journals
of today to a mouldy manuscript
dated 1904.
Reports From Over World.
Operating out of its worn.
brick 1887 building. the library
reaches all over the world for
information. From Casablanca,
it will obtain a doctors descrip-
ton of cancer in the upper
esophagus; from Moscow -
paper on fungus diseases of the
scalp: from Sarajevo-wordS on
the use of antibiotics in surgery;
from Santiago-a description of
cancer of the pancreas: from
Berlin-a paper on the role Of
Vitamin D in liver function;
from Switzerland-studies on the
handwriting of schizophrenics.
Doctors. scientists, other liz
brarieS and medical schools
grab for the information. Last
year, 10000 books were loaned
out by the library. The library's
photographers filmed from one
to five pages out of periodicals
and books to fill l05.709 indi-
vidual requests from all over the
world.
To the casual observer much
of the library's material might
be called Junk" What use
could the material. like the
manuscript dated 1904, be to
fast-moving. modern medicine?
But. as the librarians point
out. who can be the judge of
what is junk and what isn't.
May Be Just the Thing.
They have found that a re-
quest might come in at any time
"for that moth-eaten. 1900 VOL
ume on blood vessels by a little
known. dead Danish doctor"
It's quite possible the old book
might contain just the lead" a
1954-scientist has overlooked in
his experiments on heart disease.
Army doctors turned up such
a lead" when they were
stumped by a disease f1ltering
through American troops in Ko-
rea. They had never seen the
often-fatal sickness before. 1t
was Unknown to Western medi-
cine. Yet a search of Russian
and japanese medical literature
at the library found the disease
had been accurately described
decades ago. Army doctors, then,
had something to go on. They
were able to control the disease
in time.
Just recently. a research prof.
ect had been launched to probe
into the mass Of ancient litera-
ture the library stores in Cleve-
land (because of lack of space
here). There, a scientist is
Tipping the time-worn jottings
with an eye-out for any men,
ton of herbs. For it was found
by scientists at the National
Cancer Institute, that certain
herbs had a remarkable inhibit-
ing quality when applied to ex-
perimental cancer tumors. And
back in 1900, doctors" were
writing down their claims that
herbs were cures for certain dis
eases. Scientists want to find
out if they had something.
A Collective Memory.
1t. Col. Frank B. Rogers. chief
librarian. explains the library's
purpose of saving what may APP
pear to be insignificant:
"A medical library serves as a
collective memory for all the re-
corded work done in the medical
sciences The science of medi-
cine is collective endeavor. pro-
crossing as a result of the ideas
and observations of many men.
On occasion, significant ideas
and observations arise from OBJ
scure quarters"
This collective endeavor" has
reached such a pace the library
must find. every year. a mile of
shelf space to carry the load.
Somehow the space is found-in
Railways. in Easements. in back
rooms. across Independence ave-
nue. in another building. and as
far away as Cleveland.
The library also publishes a
fat listing each month of every
item collected. Using the Cur
rent List Of Medical Literature"
doctor III Milwaukee. looking
into cerebral palsy, can order
from the library what a doctor
in Finland has just found on the
same subject.
The library's biggest problem
right now is space. A new. $40