Figure 6.—Surgeon John H. Brinton (front row, center), with a group of Union Army officers in the field.
after the interests of the Museum." On the afternoon of 15 December, Dr. Brinton "encountered Dr. Moss, my assistant, bringing with him an immense number of surgical specimens for the Museum, some of these in boxes, which we sneaked over in the wagons; the remainder were carried in great bags on the backs of one or two very black negroes." Upon his return from the field, the Curator sent his assistant back "down to the army for more" specimens. "By this time," he said, "the surgeons generally were becoming interested in the Museum project, and were taking pains to get and preserve what they could for the collection."[1]
To spare the field surgeons as much as possible in the preparatory work, the Museum issued "Suggestions to the Medical Officers of the Army as to the Preparation and Forwarding of Specimens to the Army Medical Museum, Surgeon General's Office, Washington, D.C." After a listing of the types of "specimens illustrative of surgical injuries and affections" and the "specimens of diseases" which were desired, the Suggestions continued: "It is not intended to impose on medical officers the labor of dissecting and preparing the specimens
- ↑ Ibid., pp. 186, 187-188, 214 220, 222.
