MEMORANDA1M 
REFERRING TO 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS, REVIEWS 
AND 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES 
OF THE 
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SURGEON GENERAL’S OFFICE. 
W A S II I N G T 0 N : 
SURGEON GENERAL’S OFFICE. 
1870. M E M O II A N O IJ M 
REFERRING TO 
Extracts from Letters, Rems, amt BiMioiraiical Notices 
OF THE . 
PUBLICATIONS OF THE SURGEON GENERAL’S OFFICE. 
Since the close of the war, the Surgeon General has printed, by 
authority of the Secretary of War, the following works: 
Circular No. 0. War Department, Surgeon General's Office, Washington, 
November 1, I860. Reports on the Extent and Nature of the Materials 
Available for the Preparation of the Medical and Surgical History of the 
Rebellion. Quarto, pp. 166. 
Catalogtie of the United States Army Medical Museum. Prepared under 
the direction of the Surgeon General, U. S. Army. Washington, 18GG. 
Quarto, pp. 960. 
Circular No. 5. War Department, Surgeon General’s Office, Washington, 
May 4, 1867. Report on Epidemic Cholera in the Army of the United 
States, during the year 1866. Quarto, pp. 65. 
Circular No. 7. War Department, Surgeon General’s Office, Washington, 
July 1, 1867. A Report on Amputations at the Hip-Joint in Military 
Surgery. Quarto, pp. 87. 
Circular No. 1. War Department, Surgeon General’s Office, Washington, 
.Iune 10, 1868. Report on Epidemic Cholera and Yellow Eevcr in the 
Army of the United States during the year 1867. Quarto, pp. 156. 
Circular No. 2. War Department, Surgeon General’s Office, Washington, 
January 2, 1869. A Report on Excisions of the Head of the Femur for 
Gunshot Injury. Quarto, pp. 141. 
Copies of these publications have been distributed to medical officers 
of the army and navy, to si large number of the volunteer surgeons who 
served during the war, and to many colleges and learned societies. They 2 
have been adjudged at home and abroad to contain real and Valuable 
additions to human knowledge on the special subjects on which they treat, 
and the demand for them has been so great that the large editions printed 
proved insufficient, and it was necessary to refuse copies to many appli- 
cants, who from their services in the medical staff during the war, wrere 
regarded as, in a measure, entitled to them. 
Extracts from a few of the many letters from eminent men and learned 
societies, at home and abroad, and from the reviews of the leading med- 
ical periodicals will indicate how even the concise preliminary reports 
have been appreciated; 
[translation.] 
Strasbourg/ March 29th, I860. 
Monsieur the Surgeon General: 
Please to accept my warmest thanks for the fine work you have done 
me the honor to send me entitled “Circular No. 6, Surgeon General’s 
Office, November 1st, 1865.” / 
American surgery has proved itself equal to cope with all the exigen- 
cies of a w ar of incomparable magnitude, undertaken for the defence of 
the laws, of liberty, and of the progress of humanity. 
Surgeons everywhere are proud of the marvels which you have accom- 
plished, in science and in self-devotedness, and your conduct wrill remain 
a model for imitation among the many other lofty examples which have 
excited our admiration and increased our sympathy for your national 
character, your patriotism, and your noble destiny. 
Accept, Monsieur the Surgeon .General, the assurance of my highest 
consideration. 
C. SElMLLOT, 
Medical Inspector of the Army, 
Director of the Imperial School for the Medical Start' of the Army. 
Surgeon General Joseph K Barnes, 1. S. A. 
Nf.tlky, England, 2cl April, 1866. 
Dear Sir : 
* * ”* I hope that before this reaches you the grant of money 
necessary for the publication of the first volume of your Medical and 
Surgical History of the llebcllion will have been made by Congress. The 
materials at your disposal, as shown by the descriptive Circular, are 
indeed immense, and of the highest interest to our profession in all parts 
of the world, and moreover, from the systematic manner in which 
they have been registered and classified, must be well under control as 
regards reference and arrangement. The plan upon which you have 
determined to publish the history appears to me well conceived, and 1 do 
not how it can be improved upon. * * * 3 
! must again thank you for sending me the Photographs and Circular, 
Begging you to believe me, most truly yours, 
TITOS. LONGMORE, 
Deputy Medical Inspector General, 
Professor of Military Surgery in the British Army 
Medical School. 
Surgeon General J. K. Barnes, U. S. A. 
[translation.] 
I’aius, April 1st, 1866. 
Monsieur the Surgeon General: 
I have received the kind letter which you have done me the honor t« 
write me with the greater interest since it directly transmitted to me two 
copies of your important Circular No. 6. I shall send to claim them from 
the Embassy where they doubtless remain. But I have already become 
familiar with this remarkable work, which is already disseminated among 
our learned societies. Of the two copies which have not yet reached jne, 
but which I shall undoubtedly receive, I reserve one for the Academy of 
Medicine and one for the Surgical Society according to your wishes. 
I am at your service also in regard to any other you desire to 
make known in France, especially such as shall relate chiefly to the Med- 
ical-Staff of the Army. The complete history of the bloody American 
War as well as all its details will possess the highest interest. 
You lead me to hope for the first volume in the course of the coming 
year. I would thank you for it in anticipation. I shall read this im- 
portant work with the greater attention because, during the war or 
towards the close of the last campaigns, I had the honor of being con- 
sulted for the Government by one of the Ambassadors of the United States, 
Mr. W. Dayton, upon sundry questions relative to military hygiene, field 
surgery, the transportation of wounded, and retiring pensions for muti- 
lated men. This last question particularly brought me in relation with 
the delegates of a special committee who visited France with reference to 
this subject. 
I would say, finally, Sir, that my venerable friend, Dr. Valentine Mott, 
sent me at different times, quite to the close of his long career, Surgeons 
who had been his pupils, that I might put them in possession of such 
documents as were at my disposal, which is an additional motive that 
leads me to take an interest in the labors of the Medical Start' of the 
American Army. 
With assurances of my fraternal regard. 
BARON 11. LARREY. 
Surgeon General J. K. Barnes, U. S. A. 4 
[translation.] 
Paris, February 23d. IBo'd. 
Sir : 
I have the honor to advise you of the reception of the volume entitled, 
“Circular No. 6, Surgeon General’s Office, Washington, November 1. 
1865.” 
Governments as well as science may greatly' profit by your important 
labors, inspired as they are by the largest experience of war which has 
ever been acquired. 
Please to accept, Sir, the tribute of my thanks and of my high esteem, 
MICHEL LEVY, 
Senior Medical Inspector of the French Army, 
• Director of the Imperial School of Val-de-Grace. 
.1. K. Barnes, Surgeon General. 
Paris, April 9th, 186t>. 
Monsieur et trks honore confrere : 
I have received through the American Legation at Paris, the Circular 
from your Bureau which you have done me the honor to send me. 
I have read with the liveliest interest the surgical and scientific portion 
of this document, which furnishes material on many points at issue among 
professional men, and it is with a feeling of surprise and admiration that 
[ have read all that which relates to the organization and working of the 
Medical Staff in the Field. 
Without experience in the organization and construction of military 
hospitals, you have taken common sense and logic for your guide, and 
from the outset, the practical spirit of your nation has appreciated the 
pressing demands of different situations, has realized them, and has 
deduced from them results which, as you say with just pride, have never 
been attained by any people at any period. 
Several weeks ago Medical Inspector General Levy and myself were 
directed by our Government to make a report upon your Circular No. 6. 
/I need not tell you that we bestowed on it the eulogies it deserves. 
I should be happy my dear and honored confrere, if you would send 
me the Circulars that may have preceded or which shall follow Circular 
No. 6, it being my intention to review this magnificent work in one of our 
Parisian medical journals. 
Please to accept, Monsieur my honored confrere, the tribute of my 
high consideration. 
L. LEGOUEST, 
Staff Surgeon of the 1st Class, and Professor of Clinical Surgery 
at the Imperial School of Military Medicine aud 
Surgery of Val-de-Grace, at Paris. 
J. K. Barnes, Surgeon General at Washington. 
[TRANSLATION.] 5 
[translation. - 
Paris, February loth, 1866. 
Rue de Lille, 91. 
Monsieur the Surgeon General: 
The parcel which you have done me the honor to transmit to me con- 
taining the publication entitled, Circular No. 6, War Department, has for 
me the highest interest as regarding the working of the Medical Staff in 
the Field. 
I should have the most earnest desire to see other publications of the 
same character or oilier numbers of the circular if I did not fear to tres- 
pass on your indulgence in asking you to send them. 
Please to accept, Monsieur my honored confrere, tribute of my high 
consideration. 
£ BARON HIPPOLYTE LARREY, 
Medical Inspector of the French Army. 
P. S. If you desire to send copies of the Circular to the Academy' of 
Medicine and the Surgical Society you are at liberty to command my 
services with those learned bodies, over which I have had the honor to 
preside. 
Surgeon General J. K. Barnes, U. S, A. 
Hamburg, 8th September, 1866. 
Sir : 
Being absent from Berlin for some time, I beg to send you from here 
my warmest thanks for the pleasure which you have afforded me by the 
remittance of the splendid and instructive work (Circular No. 6). It 
enriches medical science, particularly in the direction of surgery and 
military medicine. The vast experience and the important results re- 
corded will no doubt be for Europe a source of information and essential 
improvements. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
M. H. ROMBERG, M. D., 
Professor of Medicine in the University of Berlin. 
Surgeon General J. K. Barnes. 
Marseilles, France, April 29th, 1866. 
Sir : 
I am extremely flattered by your kindness in causing a copy of the 
Circular from your Office to be addressed to me, and I have to-day the 
honor to advise you of its receptiou, and to beg you to accept my sincere 
expressions of thanks. 
I have reason to hope that Baron Larrey will review this interesting 
treatise in our Official Journal of Military Medicine and Surgery; but I 
propose myself to prepare a bibliographical notice <?f it for insertion in 6 
M. Bozier’s “Army Surgeon’s Review,” in order to draw the attention, 
of all the members of the Medical Staff to the documents inducted in 
this work, which have such an important bearing upon the progress of 
our Art and upon the improvement of our organization. 
I have the honor to remain, Monsieur the Surgeon General, with pro- 
found respect, your devoted servant and colleague, 
A. DIDIOT, 
Surgeon of the 1st Class, 
in charge of the Military Hospital- 
Surgeon General,- U. S-. A. 
Imperial Surgical Society of Paris’, 
Paris, April 20th, 1866. 
Monsieur et tr4s honork confrerer 
I hasten to thank yon in the name of my colleagues of the Surgical 
Society for the magnificent work which has been delivered to us, in your 
behalf, by Dr. Larrey. Our excellent colleague explained what inter- 
esting documents were included in this memoir, and concisely enumerated 
the most important points contained in its two sections, and his analysis 
was listened to with the greatest attention. 
I. am happy, ,Sir, my much esteemed confrere, to be the interpreter of 
the sentiments of the Surgical Society towards you. 
Accept, I beg you, the assurance of my distinguished consideration. 
The General Secretary, 
MARJOLIN. 
Dr. J. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General of the Army of the United States. 
Berlin, March 3d, 1806. 
My sincerest thanks arc due to the Surgeon General, U. S. A., for the 
transmission of the Reports on the Medical and Surgical History of the 
Rebellion, which are of Ihe highest scientific value, and the results of 
which I will not fail to make knourn in German surgical literature. 
Dr. E. GUllLT, 
Professor of Surgery in the University of Berlin, 
Editor of Von Langenbeck’s Archiv fur Klinische Chirurgie. 
Surgeon General Barnes, U. S. A. 
Smithsonian Institute, 
Washington, January 10, 1800. 
Dear Sin: 
I have examined with much interest and instruction the copy of the 
Report relative to the materials available for the preparation of a Medical 
and Surgical History of the Rebellion. This Report of itself is a valuable 7 
Addition to science, and I doubt not will call forth, from every part of the 
civilized world, an expression of ardent desire to see published a full 
discussion of all the materials which have been so industriously and sys- 
tematically collected. Indeed our government owes it to the cause of 
humanity to give to the world whatever knowledge may have been gained 
during the sanguinary conflict, in which as a nation we have been engaged. 
Thousands of brave and patriotic men have periled their lives for the good 
of their country, and it would be an injustice to them as well as to the 
human race, if any results which have been derived from their sufferings 
should not be rendered available for the benefit of their posterity. 
1 have the honor to remain, with much respect, 
Your obedient servant, 
JOSEPH HENRY. 
To General J. K. Barnes, 
Surgeon General of the U. S. Army. 
Philadelphia, January 15, 1866. 
Sir : 
I beg leave to return you my very sincere thanks for your favor which 
I received this morning. 
I had read in General Meade’s copy, the War Department No 6 Cir- 
cular, of the Surgeon General’s Office; so that, before I had the honor to 
receive that which you sent to me, I had already been gratified with the 
perusal of a document so interesting as part of our national history and 
so honoring to the medical profession, in which I beg to act your most 
obliged and respectful colleague, 
To Dr. Barnes, Surgeon General. 
C. D. MEIGS, M. D., 
Emeritus Professor in Jefferson College. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
It would bo tedious to recapitulate all of the commendatory notices of the 
preliminary reports in Circular No. 6. Mr. Paget, professor of surgery 
of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, expressed his “admiration 
of the design and execution of the work.” Professor Pirrie, of the Uni- 
versity of Aberdeen, wrote: “To me as a professor of surgery it is inval- 
uable.” M. Jci.es Roux, professor of military surgery at the naval school 
at Toulon, returned thanks for this “production to which the medical 
world will certainly ascribe very great importance.” The New York 
Medical Journal Association, at its meeting in June, 1866, on motion of 
Dr. Detmold, seconded by Dr. Delafield, adopted unanimously the fol- 
lowing resolutions: 
“Resolved, That the thanks of this Association are due to Surgeon 
General J. K. Barnf.s for the copies of the interesting and valuable report 
(Circular No. 6), which have been forwarded to this Association. 8 
“ Rftolred, That collectively and individually, this Association will use 
its influence for the purpose of urging the publication by Congress of the 
Medical History of the War, both as due from an enlightened and pro- 
gressive Government to the self-sacrificing efforts of the Medical Staff 
during the late war, and as an invaluable addition to medical and scien- 
tific literature.” 
II arrisruro, Pennsylvania, October 14. 18(15. 
Mr Dear Sir: 
Permit me to add to the acknowledgment enclosed, that I have perused 
with the greatest satisfaction your admirable illustration of materials for 
a History (Medical and Surgical) of the late war. 1 trust that you may 
in due time bring out the complete work, fraught with such vital interest 
to your profession, and to the cause of humanity throughout the world. 
No more important contribution could be made to the history of civiliza- 
tion and the progress of knowledge and humanity than this. It would, 
too, constitute the proudest monument that could be erected to ih&rea! 
heroes in our struggle for nationality, whose sacrifices and suffering* 
should be held in undying remembrance by a grateful people. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
SAMUEL P. BATES, 
State Historian. 
To Surgeon General Barnes. IT. S. A. 
Extract. 
From the London Medical Mirror, Juno, 1800. Page 857. 
* * ' * “This so-called Circular, but in reality goodly volume, 
is the American War Department Report on the medical and surgical expe- 
rience gained in the colossal armies of the American Republic. * * * 
The ‘Blue Books’ of our British Army Medical Department are tardy in 
their appearance; and when at last they are forthcoming, we are not at 
all sure, that the most able documents have always been collected for the 
printer. A confused mass of figures and details of the drvest description, 
render our Medical Department Blue Books unpractical in the extreme. 
We would strongly recommend our army authorities to peruse the ‘Grey' 
books of the United States War Department and learn how facts may be 
put together for the benefit of the practical and busy surgeons of the day. 
who have no time to pour over clustering figures, and ingenious but object- 
less statistics. Tables are not wanting in the ‘Grey’ book of the Ameri- 
can Medical Department ; but while tables are well attended to, other 
points of more vital importance have not been forgotten. In the Ameri- 
can Circular, there are numerous beautiful engravings in connection with 
the summary on gunshot injuries to the various portions of the body. 
These add force to the lucidly detailed cases that accompany them. The 9 
huge armies of the States and their great battles, cause the returns of 
our English and French Crimean War Hospitals, to dwindle into compara- 
tive insignificance. When it is stated that in comparing the number of 
cases of some important injury, as for example, gunshot fractures of the 
femur, it is found that in the French Crimean army, there was -159 such 
injuries, and in the English army 194, while over 5,000 such cases were 
reported to American headquarters, the magnitude and importance of the 
returns can be estimated. And again, the serious operation of excision of 
the head of the humerus, according to Crimean returns, was performed six- 
teen times in the British Army and thirty-eight times in the French Army, 
but the Kegisters of the United States Army Medical Department, record the 
enormous number of 575 such cases. In the frequent battles in the course 
of the civil war, and the great strain on the time and energies of the 
army medical officers, it was found difficult to secure in the official reg- 
ister of cases, the happy medium between an exacting prolixity, and a 
conciseness consistent with utility. By the judicious talent of a Board of 
army medical officers, this weighty point was carefully adjusted. * * * 
The more serious cases were set apart from the lessen, and not only were 
the newer description of returns ransacked in the search after accuracy, 
and in the interests of science and of students, but the older and more 
elaborate returns were waded through, and the preseut lucid, concise, and 
readable book, crowns the laborious investigation of the numerous experi- 
enced men to whom the herculean task was entrusted of sifting the bulky 
records of the great civil war. In a single page of Circular No. 0, a 
simple and effective classification, places befhre the student the astounding 
number of 87,822 wounds and injuries, and of 17,125 surgical operations. 
Everything of transcendent interest both in surgery and medicine has 
been touched upon in the handsome volume before us; but efficient and 
excellent as if is, it is but a key to the gigantic amount of information 
that is lying in the office of the Surgeon General of the United States 
Army; the materials for an exhaustive Medical and Surgical History of 
the great American War. A point not, the least surprising in Circular 
No. i) is the fact that this lucid abstract of the war came out in the year 
of its conclusion. Those who are accustomed to wait for years for our 
Blue Book in no extraordinary time, must be struck with the alertness, 
activity and business talent that is showed by our American Brethren of 
the service, and a feeling of shame for our own shortcomings must pre- 
vail. * * * And we recommend most heartily to the Directors of our 
medical services, the interesting Circular No. 6 with its beautiful plates, 
and its lucid facts, deductions and records of experience as a useful guide 
in the preparation of the English returns.” * * * 
The reports in this Circular were translated into the German, French 
and Italian language, and .many extended extracts were made from them 
in foreign systematic works on medicine and surgery. 
# 10 
in 1866, the Catalogue of the Army Medical Museum was printed. The 
edition was so limited that it was only possible to supply copies to the 
medical officers of the army, the principal libraries and medical museums 
of this and other countries, and to such contributors to the Museum as had 
donated at least six specimens. It contains descriptions of 4,719 surgical, 
817 medical, and 2,120 microscopical specimens. Its pages are constantly 
referred to by students of pathology, and the specimens described ar>' 
often appealed to as the most reliable evidence in cases of medico-legal 
inquiry. 
The work was pronounced by the Professor of Anatomy in Harvard 
College, Dr. Outer Wendell Holmes, “a monument of intelligent in- 
dustry.” Dr.‘Grimm, the Prussian Surgeon General, wrote that he “had 
studied it with the greatest interest.” Attorney General Stanbery writes 
that an “examination of this splendid work satisfies me that it is a most 
valuable contribution to science.” Dr. Gurdox Duck, of New York, than 
whom there is no more competent judge, expresses his “ extreme satis- 
faction with the execution of the work.” The famous English statistician, 
Dr. Farr, pronounced it “a contribution to science in the highest degree 
creditable to the War Department.” Dr. Maddox, of England, believed 
it “ unrivalled in general and artistic excellence.” The council of St. 
George’s Hospital, London, state that the work is “studied with very 
great interest by those who visit our library.” The Secretary of the 
Institute of France, M. Elie de Beaumont, conveys an assurance of the 
“great importance” attached to the work by that first of learned bodies. 
The Gazette Medicate de Paris endeavors to give its readers “an idea of 
the great treasures of this Museum, the collections of which reflect the 
highest honor on its directors.” The Director General of the British 
Army Medical Department, Sir Thomas J. Loqan, offers his thanks “for 
the personal gift of a work so replete in interest of the highest profes- 
sional value.” Similar marks of the appreciation of this volume were 
shown by numerous learned societies and by the representatives of foreign 
governments. 
Iu the following year, two circulars were issued: Circular 5, on Epi- 
demic Cholera in the Army. wa.s published in May, and Circular 7, on 
Amputations at the Hip, in July, 1807. Circular No. 5 gives an account 
of ihe epidemic of cholera which prevailed in the army in 1806, and includes 
extracts from the reports of the medical officers at the posts to which the 
epidemic extended, statistical tables, and a summary of the deductions 
made from these facts. Nearly three thousand cases were reported, and 
over twelve hundred of these were fatal. From numerous notices and 
reviews of this Circular, the following are selected: 
° * 11 
Prussian Legation, 
Washington, December 14, 1867. 
Sin: 
I take great pleasure in informing you that the Royal government has 
directed me to express to you the gratitude of his Majesty, my gracious 
King, in behalf of your most interesting report on the cause of the 
cholera epidemic last year among the United States troops. I am also 
particularly instructed to state that the said report met with the highest 
appreciation in the military circles of Prussia. 
I am, Sir, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 
The Prussian Minister, 
BARON YON GEROLT,. 
To the Assistant Surgeon General, U. S. A. 
The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal of August 15, 1867, speaks as 
follows: “This document is a valuable contribution to the current history 
of the recent epidemic, and adds much weight to the constantly accumu- 
lating evidence in favor of the theories of the portability and communi- 
cability of the disease and the great efficacy of hygienic measures and 
disinfecting agents in checking its indefinite extension.” The Pacific 
Medical and Surgical Journal for August, 1867, remarks: “This report 
contains a great amount of information regarding the cholera in the army, 
at the many stations in which it appeared during the year. It is a valu- 
able document, for permanent reference.” In the American Journal of the 
Medical Sciences for January, 1868, we find: “This circular, like all the 
others which have been issued from the Surgeon General’s Office, contains 
a great amount of important and instructive information carefully col- 
lected and skilfully arranged.” The New York Medical Record for August 
15. 1867, has the following: “A very able document, made up from official 
reports, with statistical tables exhibiting the monthly number of cases 
and deaths from cholera and the allied bowel affections, for each post 
where the disease prevailed; and although the total number of cases is 
not very great, yet they bear a large proportion to the number of troops 
exposed to the disease; and the circumstances attending the transmission 
of the epidemic from post to post are so interesting, and so clearly demon- 
strative of the infectious nature of the disease, that it may be regarded 
as one of the most important documents on the subject yet published in 
our country.” The London Lancet for January, 1867, in speaking of this 
circular, states that: “It is not possible to do more than indicate here 
the principal lines and manner of dissemination of the epidemic in the 
United States, so far as the troops were concerned, and to direct the 
attention of the epidemiologist to this instructive and suggestive report.” 12 
Circular No. 7 presented a report on Amputations at the Hip, contain- 
ing abstracts of a larger number of cases of this operation than had 
heretofore been recorded in military surgery, and practical deductions, 
derived from the analysis of this large number of cases, of the conditions 
under which the formidable surgical resource is justifiable or requisite. 
Dr. Stephen Smith, of New York, the author of an authoritative statis- 
tical paper on this subject, remarks of this report, that: ‘tit must long, 
and perhaps forever remain the greatest storehouse of facts relating to 
amputations at the hip-joint, on record. Professor Henry Smith, of the 
University of Pennsylvania, says “ it must prove of the deepest interest 
to the profession, both in the United States and Europe, and add to the 
wide spread reputation of the department.” Dr. E. M. Hunt, President 
of the New Jersey State Medical Society, regarded the report as “ a 
model of the method in which every important operation of surgery, and, 
in fact, every disease, should be studied up and canvassed.” The report 
was favorably1 noticed in most of the medical periodicals. U was presented 
by Baron Larrey. to the French Institute, to the Academy of Medicine, 
and to the Imperial Surgical Society, in eulogistic terms, and with ex- 
tended remarks, in which the principal contents of the report were 
analyzed. Tt was acknowledged with expressions of the highest approba- 
tion by Surgeon General Heiberg, of Norway : Director General Grimm, 
of Prussia ; Inspector General Merchie, of Belgium ; Surgeon General 
Lehman, of Switzerland ; Baron IIaurowitz, chief surgeon of the llussian 
Marine; Professor Giierini, of Milan; Surgeon Neudorfer, of Austria, 
and Director General Logan, of Great Britain. Large extracts from it 
were transcribed into various European languages, the costliness of the 
plates forbidding its complete reproduction. The London Lancet, (Jan. 
1868) approved “the continuation of-the series of admirable surgical and 
medical reports issued by the United States Government,” and regarded 
this Circular as “a very creditable production, and worthy of the Gov- 
ernment, and the surgical staff of its War Department.” 
[n 1868, Circular 'So. 1 was issued, giving an account of the cholera and 
yellow fever epidemics of the previous year, on the same general plan as 
pursued in Circular No. 5. Owing, it is believed, in a large measure, to 
the precautions taken in consequence of the experience of the preceding 
year, recorded in Circular No 5, the total number of deaths from cholera 
was but two-hundred and thirty. Of yellow fever there were over sixteen 
hundred cases and four hundred and fifty deaths among the troops. This 
report was received with great favor, especially by epidemiological 
societies, and public officials having to deal with subjects connected with 
quarantine and public hygiene. 
The London Lancet for November, 1868, says : “ The data upon which 
the inferences and statements of the report are founded do not admit of 
being given with brevity. They must be consulted in detail in order to 13 
form a just appreciation of the importance of the report now before us, 
and that of 1866 (Circular No. 5) as contributions to our knowledge of 
the etiology of cholera and yellow fever.” From the Gazette Ilebdoma- 
dairr dt Me derive el de Chirurgie, of Paris, for November, 1868, we trans- 
late the following: “It contains the chief reports of the American 
Military Surgeons on the history of the two epidemics of 1867 ; the 
figures are arranged in convenient tables; in fact it is a resume of actual 
observations and just conclusions. The medical organization of the 
American Army permits and facilitates all inquiries which have for their 
object the progress of science, and each epidemic manifestation has been 
studied and related with the most minute care.” * * 
Royal Victoria Hospital, 
Netley, England, November, 14, 1868. 
Sir : 
l have to apologize for not having sooner acknowledged the courtesy of 
the Surgeon General in sending to me the very interesting and instructive 
reports (No. (i of I860; No. 7, of 1867 ; and No. 1, of 1868). I have 
read them with care and great interest, especially the Circular on Cholera, 
and that part of No. 6, of 1865, containing the microscopical series of 
your museum. 1 hope the Surgeon General will allow me to congratulate 
him on the publication of these splendid reports, which reflect the greatest 
credit on him and on the Department. 
1 have the honor to be. Sir, 
Your most obedient servant, 
E. F. PARKES, M. D., F. R. S. 
Professor of Military Hygiene at the Army Medical School. 
To the Assistant Surgeon General, U. S. A. 
Deputy Inspector General’s Office, 
Gibraltar, August 20, 1868. 
Sir: 
May I beg of you to convey my very best thanks, and those of the 
British Medical Officers serving in this fortress, to the Surgeon General. 
United States Army, for “one copy of Circular No I, of 1868, and No. 6, 
of 1867,” received this morning; publications which, like their prede- 
cessors, reflect so much credit upon the professional character and intelli- 
gence of the medical officers of the United States Army. 
With my many thanks for your kind attention, allow me to subscribe 
myself. 
Yonr very obedient servant, 
W. RUTHERFORD, M. I)., 
Deputy Inspector General. 
To the Assistant Surgeon General, U. S. Vrmy. 14 
The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal of August 27, 1868, has the 
following: “ Circular No. 1, containing a report on epidemic cholera and. 
yellow fever, offers much that is instructive as to the mode of propagation 
of the former of these diseases,” and the New York Medical Record of 
August 1, 1868, says that: “These are very valuble documents, as they 
abound in well substantiated, carefully observed facts.” 
In 18(59, Circular No. 2, was published, on Excisions at»the Hip. This 
is a monograph on the treatment of gunshot fractures of the upper part of 
the thigh bone. The facts adduced, are a little more than six times as 
numerous as those previously recorded. In conformity with the deduc- 
tions made in this report, three excisions at the hip for gunshot injury of 
the head of the femur have been practiced in the United States Army 
since the close of the war, and in two of the three cases, the patients 
have not only recovered, but have preserved comparatively useful limbs, 
from injuries which a score of years ago were believed to be uniformly 
fatal. In the Prussian army also, at least one successful operation of this 
sort has been performed, and a photograph of the patient sent to Surgeon 
General Baenes, by Director General Grimm, indicates that a useful limb 
was left. This report was analyzed, with expressions of approbation by the 
leading American and European journals, and its conclusions were adopted 
by such eminent military surgeons as Professor Loiimkteb, Dr. Esmabch, 
Professor Guei.t, Dr. Yon Langbnbeck, and Professor Von Pitha. 
Sir William Fekoitsson, Serjeant Surgeon to the Queen of Great Britain, 
in the fifth edition of bis standard work on surgerj', published in 1870, 
remarks, that: “Modern surgery certainly owes much to our American 
brethren, and in few respects more than in regard to this grand topic [of 
excision of joints] I have the greatest satisfaction in referring to. ‘A 
Report on Excisions of the Head of the Femur for Gunshot Injury, 1869.’ 
Here the most comprehensive history of the whole subject yet published 
has been put together. It redounds to the credit of surgery, yet for the 
sake of humanity, it may be hoped that such a mass of experience within 
a brief period, may never again fall to the lot of a single generation. I 
perceive that in this Report the name of my former friend, Sir George 
Ballingall, is used among others as a worthy authority; but I little 
thought, some forty years ago. as I demonstrated to that gentleman the 
easy practicability of excising the head of the femur on the dead subject, 
that I should be the modern pioneer (in this country) of resuscitation of 
the proceeding in civil practice, and so, as L hope, have given encourage- 
ment to that ‘Conservatism’ which has been so signally displayed in the 
practice of American surgeons in the United States Army, and also among 
their gallant contemporaries in the Confederate service.” Dr. R. M. 15 
Hodges, himself a distinguished writer on excisions, observes, in a review 
published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, that “of the circu- 
lars published by the Surgeon General’s Office, this conveys to the reader 
more than any of its predecessors, a vivid idea of the valuable statistical 
material accumulated in the surgical archives of the government,” and adds 
that “nothing hitherto published approaches in value, or equals in interest, 
this contribution to the literature of excisions.” A reviewer in the 
American Medical Record declared that “it would be difficult to overesti- 
mate the amount of labor and painstaking research required to compile 
this report. The Surgeon General’s Department,” he continues, “deserves 
well of the country and of the profession. It is the duty of every man 
in the profession to give it his hearty support, and to make the extent and 
value of its labors known to those who exert influence and exercise 
power. There should be no lack of means to bring these works to com- 
plete perfection. In this way, the Republic can show it is not ungrateful 
to the people who sacrificed homes, property, limbs and life, and the prq- 
fession which stood faithfully by her in the hour of trial. Such works 
are an encouragement to the profession of medicine, a rebuke to igno- 
rance, quackery, and sham, in all their varied and pretentious forms. 
They are solid stones in the arch which supports government, humanity, 
science, and civil society; an everlasting monument of national greatness, 
and legacies to posterity, more instructive, valuable, eloquent, and per- 
manent than bronze or marble, obelisk, pyramid or mausoleum.” Dr. 
Hewit, the senior surgeon of the volunteer staff, pronounced, in a review 
in the Catholic World, this report to be “a model of patient labor, exact 
knowledge, just discrimination, and acutely intelligent appreciation. * * 
Such works* belong to the class of benefits whose value cannot be expressed 
by human standards. They reflect honor upon the age and country which 
produce them, and are an invaluable legacy to the future,” and closes 
with “expressing the hope that Congress, influenced by the universal 
sentiment of the country, will give all the material aid requiryl to the 
Surgeon General’s Department in prosecuting its great and most faithful 
labors.” Dr. T. Longmoue, the professor of military surgery at the 
British Army Medical School at Netlcy, in a review of this report in the 
British Medical Journal, says: “I,ike the preceding one, on hip-joint 
amputations, it is quite a pattern of typography, and the wood-cuts with 
which it is illustrated are admirably executed. The contrast between the 
‘Circulars’ and our •Iilue-books’ is sadly against the latter. It is pleas- 
ing to find that the liberality of the government has been turned to so 
good an account by the Surgeon General, and by the reporter under his 
direction, on whom has devolved the task of collecting, arranging and 
estimating the intrinsic value of the immense mass of surgical materials 
which the prolonged war in the United States unhappily furnished. No 
more painstaking or accurate reporter could have been found for the task.” 
A reviewer in the Nation pronounced this report “a marvel of research,” 16 
and adds that “when the history of the medical service in the war of the 
rebellion is finished, it will establish one fact that deserves to be better 
known than it now is-j-that the business of life-saving was then done mort 
thoroughly and successfully than ever before in a great war.” 
The utility of the collections of the Army Medical Museum to the causes 
of science and humanity, has been so forcibly impressed upon the heads of 
the Government, by Professor Henry, Professor Agassi/., and other of the 
foremost scientists of the country, that it is superfluous to qu<fte many 
notices of the appreciation in which it is held. The English, Russian, 
Prussian, Austrian, Belgian, Bavarian and Norwegian Governments have 
sent medical commissioners expressly to examine the collections, and 
many foreign physicians have made long journeys to study them, and 
letters are frequently received from European savans expressing their 
intention to visit the Museum. The following is one of the last of many such 
communications to the Surgeon General. It is from Dr. Esmarch, a 
leading military-surgeon of North Germany: “I am impressed with the 
perseverance and energy which has called to life an institution so valuable 
to the whole surgical profession, and hope to have an opportunity to take 
a personal view of the same.” Baron Von Haurowitz, chief surgeon of 
the Russian marine, in a report published at Leipzig in 1807, after an 
official tour of inspection of the medical institutions of this country, 
speaks of the Army Medical Museum as “the most valuable collection of 
the sort in existence.” 
It is only necessary to refer to the means that have been taken to dis- 
seminate a knowledge of the collections of the Museum by- photographs, 
and to a limited extent by plaster casts and models. Models of ambulances, 
hospitals, of improvements in surgical apparatus and artificial limbs were 
exhibited at the Paris exposition, and in some instances • were furnished 
to foreign governments. Plaster casts have been sent to a number of the 
civil hftuitals. and to surgeons engaged in investigating special subjects, 
particularly those connected with medico-legal inquiries. But photography 
has principally- been relied upon to diffuse a knowledge of the more 
important specimens in the Museum. The application of photography to 
surgical illustrations has been styled abroad “an happy inspiration of 
American military surgeons;” but this phrase must be disclaimed, as 
photographs of surgical injuries and diseases were made long before the 
late war. It is true, however, that the collection of such photographs 
made during the war are invaluable to the student of military surgery. 
Such was the opinion expressed by Baron Larrky in presenting to the 
Imperial Academy of Medicine of France, the four volumes issued by the 
Surgeon General’s Office, each containing fifty photographs, illustrating 
the principal varieties of wounds incurred in battle, or specimens of the 
repair of such injuries, and such has been the verdict of the professors 
of the leading medical schools to whom these volumes have been dis- 17 
tributed. The remarks of Baron Larrey will be found in the Bulletin dr 
l’ Acctdemie Imperiale de Medecine; Tome XXXV. pp. 274. Mars 29, 1870; 
M. Legouest, of the French Army Medical School at Val-de-Grace, Pro- 
fessor Longmore, of the British Army Medical School at Netley, the 
Itoyal College of Surgeons of Ireland, and the surgical professors of many 
other institutions abroad and at home, have also expressed their appre- 
ciation of the value of these illustrations. Inspector General Merchie, 
of Brussels, writes that he considers “this application of photography to 
surgery appears to be a very happy innovation, likely to be imitated with 
great advantage in the future,—a progressive step -which does the greatest 
honor to the medical staff of the United States Army.” In L’Avenir 
Nationale, Professor Pouchet remarks that “photography played a great, 
part in the beginning of the war. The Army Medical Museum possesses 
over four thousand prints representing wounds, mutilations, and partic- 
ularly the important results obtained by conservative surgery. The latter 
especially were largely copied, and prints with descriptive notices in letter 
press were immediately sent to the field surgeons of the army. The 
happy results of triumphs of thus made the common property as 
it were, each one knowing them, being inspired to attempt to repeat them. 
How many unfortunates are indebted to this wise measure for the preser- 
vation of limbs that would otherwise have fallen pitilessly under the knife.” 
In the work, published in 1867, by Dr. J. Mason Warren, an eminent 
Surgeon of Boston, entitled Surgical Observations, the chapter on gunshot 
wounds, commences as follows: “Since the late war, gunshot wounds, and 
other wounds produced by warlike weapons, have received an increased 
interest, and are now being extensively illustrated by the elaborate works 
published by Surgeon General Barnes, under the direction of the Amer- 
ican Government. Some’ of the beautiful photographic illustrations of 
important surgical cases and operations, * * * which surpass in the 
art any thing of the kind which has thus far been accomplished, have 
already appeared. Circular No. 6,—being the preliminary surgical 
report * * * —is of especial value. The same may be said of the 
medical report * * * . The battle-field lists of wounded, for the 
years 1864-5, include over 114,000 names.” Professor Henry H. Smith, 
of the University of Pennsylvania, writes, that he presented the volumes 
containing these photographs, on the day following their reception, to the 
surgical class of the University “with permission to them individually to 
examine them at their leisure in the surgical museum, calling their atten- 
tion to the valuable sources of information as highly creditable, artistically, 
to the Government.” The Jefferson Medical College, the Universities of 
New York, Michigan, Maryland, and many others, expressed in similar 
terms their appreciation of the value of these photographs for purposes 
of class demonstration. 
The work done in the Microscopic Section of the Museum in the direc- 
tion of l’hoto-micrography, as made known by the publications of the 18 
Office, and by the exchange of photo-micrographs with working micro- 
ecopists, has* met with much appreciation, as may be seen by reference to 
the recent text books on the subject. For example: Dr. Lionet, S. Beale. 
of London, in the fourth edition of his How to Work with the Microscope, 
published in 1868, speaks of this work as constituting “the most remark- 
able advance” in the art which has been made since the publication of 
the third edition of his work in 1864, and gives in extenso the methods 
pursued at the museum, as derived from the various publications of the 
Surgeon General’s Office (see pp. 229 to 241, and 341 to 346 of his book). 
On page 231, after making an extended extract, he remarks “Such an 
extract is enough to show the activity and usefulness of the department 
by which it is issued, and is in the highest degree creditable to those who 
performed the work, and to the Government which sanctions and encour- 
aged its prosecution.” Jules GiRAno, in hi* monograph, La Chambre 
Noire et le Microscope, Paris, 1869, in giving the history of photo-micro- 
scopy, states, page 8, “That it is at the Army Medical Museum that the 
art has been carried to the highest point attained in the New World, and 
that every opportunity has been afforded by the institution to favor the 
success of the ‘remarkable experiments’ of the officer charged with that 
work.” On pages 16 and 34, the methods employed at the Museum for 
obtaining photographs of microscopic objects are quoted in terms of 
approbation, and on page 84, et seq., the photographs of Nobert’s plate 
and of P. Angulatum made at the Museum, are mentioned as among “the 
most remarkable resolutions of test objects which have been attained 
by Complimentary allusions are also made by Dr. 
Berthold Beneke, of Konigsberg, Prussia, in his work, Die Photographic 
ale Hilfsmittel Mikroskopische Forschung, Braunschweig, 1868, who gives 
the method employed at the Museum, in detail, on page 187, and other 
parts of his work. From V Avenir Nationale, Paris, May 14, 1867, the 
following notice by Georges Pouchet is extracted: “Even microscopical 
anatomy, so much neglected in America, flourishes there now under the 
auspices of the War Department; several thousand microscopic prepara- 
tions have been made, and. which is of more consequence, many of them 
have been photographed. It has been necessary to invent everything, 
even the instruments, yet already in this entirely new art America has 
again excelled us.” 
During the present year the officer in charge of the Microscopic Sec- 
tion of the Museum has made several special reports to the Surgeon 
General on microscopical subjects, viz: 
1. Report to the Surgeon General of the United States Army on the Magne- 
sium and Electric Lights, as applied to Photo-micrography. January 5, 1870. 
2. Report to the Surgeon General of the, United States Army on the Oxy- 
Calcium Light, as applied to Photo-micrography. June 4, 1870. 
3. Report to the Surgeon General of the United States Army on certain 
points connected with the Histology of minute bloodvessels. July 6, 1870. 19 
Of these reports but a few hundred copies were printed, the edition 
being limited by the cost of the photo-micrographs, by which they were 
illustrated; they have, however, been made accessible by republication 
in several widely-circulated journals. The first two of the foregoing 
reports, referring to the use of artificial lights in photo-micrography, 
have been reprinted in extenso by the London Monthly Microscopical Jour- 
nal, the British Journal of Photography, the London Photographic Mews, 
the American Journal of Arts and Sciences, and the Journal of the Franklin 
Institute. The report on the bloodvessels has been reprinted in extenso 
by the London Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, the London 
Monthly Microscopical Journal, the Mew York Medical Record, and the 
Motional Medical Journal. Of one of the reports Dr. Lionel .S. Beals 
remarks “I believe it would be most difficult, if not actually impossible, 
for our Government at this time to issue a report of the character of that 
from which the extract is taken, supposing that the actual work had been 
done by private persons and placed at the disposal of the State. The paper 
of our own ‘Blue Book' is too coarse, and the printing too rough for 
scientific memoirs. Let the reader, for instance, compare thg" plates 
accompanying my report on the Cattle Plague, which were printed by 
Government, with those in the present work. The contrast between the 
text of Government and private works is still more striking."