gained from the School the Library also overflowed just in time to save it from being choked in its own material * * *."
As a temporary solution, or rather palliative, of the space problem, Colonel McCaw suggested the removal from the building of certain offices of the Adjutant General's Department so that the entire building would be given over to the Medical Department — a proposition reminiscent of similar proposals of a quarter of a century earlier, when the "old red brick building" was new.
In spite of the difficulties imposed by the lack of space, and the lessened emphasis on anatomy and pathology by reason of the overshadowing achievements in bacteriology, the Museum had continued to excite interest among the professionals as well as the lay public. Calling "the attention of the profession in a general way to the advisability of more frequently resorting to this store- house of pathology," one Washington doctor declared that instead of the specimens being looked upon "as so much 'embalmed beef,' they should be regarded as treasures of great value," to be consulted by the "earnest student of disease." Much remained to be done to fill the gaps, however, since "many phases of many diseases are still unrepresented in this magnificent collection." 5[1]
As seen by a visitor from Germany, Staff Surgeon Dr. Paul Ehrlich, of Giessen, the collections were described as including "many rare pathological preparations of man and the lower animals," with "serial sections of organs displayed comprehensively between plates of glass, to give the spectator an idea of their growth and structure." 6[2]
Dr. Ehrlich's "lively interest" was awakened by the preparations of tropical diseases, but he found diem "unfortunately bleached out by being kept in alcohol, and have lost their natural color. I called the attention of the pathologist to the methods employed in Germany (e.g., Dr. Karl Kaiserling's method) of preserving specimens in saline solutions, which, it seems, are not generally known of in America."
As to knowledge in America of the Kaiserling process, the German visitor was in error. Dr. Kaiserling announced his method, which included the use
- ↑ 5 Smith, Thomas C: The . . . Treasures of the Army Medical Museum (Presidential address delivered before the Washington Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, 6 October 1899). In American Journal of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children 41: 57-63, January 1900. Although Dr. Smith's address dealt with obstetric specimens, he declared that the "richness of the Museum" in this field applied with equal force to other branches of medical and surgical pathology.
- ↑ 6 Ehrlich, Dr. Paul: A German View of the American Army Medical School, Library and Museum. Translated by Dr. F. H. Garrison, Assistant Librarian, Army Medical Library from the Deutsche militararztliche Zeitschrift, July 1904, p. 396, et seq.
