Scalpel
name: label: patient
content: Garfield, James A.
notes: label: Description
content: James Abram Garfield (1831-1881)—lawyer, Civil War General, member of the House of Representatives, and 20th president of the United States—was shot on July 2, 1881 by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker. Two and a half months later, on September 19, Garfield died from infections caused by unsterilized fingers and instruments to locate the bullet lodged in his abdomen. This scalpel was one of those instruments. An inscription on the bottom of the display case reads “Presented to Geo. F. Shrady, M.D. / by D. W. Bliss, M.D., Dec. . . .” Doctor Willard Bliss (1825-1889) was an American physician and pseudo-expert in ballistic trauma, who treated Garfield after his shooting until his death. George Frederick Shrady (1830-1907) was a physician who took part in the autopsy of Guiteau, and who wrote several articles about P Garfield’s trauma and death.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mrs. Sarah Helen Abrahamson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1977.0265.01
label: accession number
content: 1977.0265
label: catalog number
content: 1977.0265.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Scalpel
label: Object Name
content: scalpel
label: Object Name
content: commemorative item
label: Other Terms
content: Scalpel; Medicine
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in x 2 3/4 in; 6.35 cm x 24.13 cm x 6.985 cm