Page:The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology-ItsFirstCentury.djvu/333

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ARMED FORCES INSTITUTE OF PATHOLOGY


as members; and Dr. Howard T. Karsner, Chairman of the Research Council's Committee on Pathology, as a member ex officio.

Atlas of Tumor Pathology

This Subcommittee on Oncology was the moving force in the launching of a new "Atlas of Tumor Pathology" to be issued at the Institute of Pathology with the support and sponsorship of the American Cancer Society; the Anna Fuller Fund; the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research; the Veterans' Administration; the National Cancer Institute of the Public Health Service; and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

The first unit of the Atlas to be published recites, on the title page, that the publication was "prepared at" the Institute of Pathology under the auspices of the Subcommittee on Oncology. Subsequent units recite, on the title page, that they are "published by" the Institute, under the same auspices, and that they are for sale by the American Registry of Pathology of the Institute.

The Atlas, it was decided, was to give "preeminently a pictorial representation of the many structural variants which characterize the many kinds of neoplasms." Along with the illustrations, which were to be its outstanding feature, there were to be "adequate explanatory legends," as Dr. Lucké put it, in his introduction to the first of the 39 units or fascicles into which the proposed Atlas was to be divided.

Thirty-two distinguished pathologists accepted the invitation of the Sub-committee on Oncology to prepare the illustrative and text material on tumors of the various organs or anatomical regions which were to be dealt with in the several fascicles. In the preparation of these studies, the authors could draw not only from cases encountered in their own practice but also from cases on file in the American Registry of the Institute. Indeed, the great facilities and resources of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology were placed at the disposal of the Subcommittee and of the collaborators, authors of the fascicles, who served without recompense other than the satisfaction of having a part in the massive marshaling of the forces of light and understanding directed against the darkness and mystery surrounding the topic of tumors.

The spirit in which the task of publishing the Atlas was undertaken is well stated in a signed foreword printed with the first fascicle. "Only through a continuing coordinated effort of all doctors, civilian and government," the statement said, "can the available specialized knowledge be welded into an