medical and surgical specimens, contributed by 60 physicians and surgeons, with only three specimens identified as having been purchased.
In a foreword to the pamphlet, Dr. Billings described the purposes and collections of the Museum. Its primary object was, he said, to illustrate wounds and diseases of armies as a "step in the study of the best means of diminishing disease and mortality among soldiers," but it had soon been found necessary to extend the scope of the collection to include all forms of injuries and diseases, and also to form collections of means of transportation of the sick and wounded, of surgical instruments, and of instruments for diagnosis and research, including microscopes.
The Museum had, in 1892, a total of 29,486 specimens, including 3,439 of normal anatomy, 1,717 of comparative anatomy, 10,746 in the pathological section, 12,270 in the microscopical section, and 1,584 instruments and pieces of apparatus.
"Large as these numbers may appear," he said, "there yet remain many gaps in each series * * *." And since Congressional appropriations left little margin for the acquisition of additional specimens, The Surgeon General appealed to all medical men to "aid, by contribution of specimens, an institution which is already of great value and interest, having an enviable reputation both in Europe and in this country, and which, it is believed, is destined to be of great importance in the advancement of medical science." Increasingly, he added, contributions were being received from practitioners in civil life, as the "facilities afforded by the Museum for the permanent preservation of pathological specimens, and of the records connected with them, are more and more appreciated" — a trend which Billings sought to strengthen by his earnest appeals for cooperation from all medical men, civilian as well as military.
The appeal for civilian cooperation was not a one-sided seeking of help without corresponding mutual benefits, for it had long been the settled policy and practice to open the facilities and collections of the Museum to qualified investigators and students — a policy which was made explicit by the passage of a joint resolution of the Congress, approved 12 April 1892, declaring it to be the policy of the Government to make available to students the facilities of the Army Medical Museum and other scientific and literary institutions in the Nation's Capital, as a measure for the promotion of research and the diffusion of knowledge. 13[1] While this action was in the nature of a ratification of existing policies and practices, it constituted congressional recognition of the scientific character of the Museum.
- ↑ 13 27 U.S. Statutes 395.
