tinuance, was transferred to Dr. Otis by authority of the Honorable Secretary of War, to be expended for the use of 'the Army Medical Museum.' As this fund resulted from the sale of refuse subsistence supplies, it is believed to be embraced in the exceptions to the Act of 1849, which are stated in the Act of 1850." Under the circumstances, The Surgeon General asked, were not the "slush funds" exempt from the requirements of the Act of 1849 that "all moneys received from the customs, and all other sources, are to be paid into the Treasury
without abatement or reduction" ? 1[1]
Expenditures from the Museum fund, whether augmented by the "slush funds" or not, were extremely modest. As reported by Curator Otis to The Surgeon General on 1 July 1865, "* * * about two-fifths of the annual appropriation" of $5,000 had been paid for new cabinets to contain the specimens and $1,200 had been spent for "apparatus of a high order of excellence" for the "commodious photograph gallery erected in the yard of the Museum by the Quartermaster's department, and supplied with water, baths, screens, shelving, etc."
Increasing Activities of the Museum
Over 50 of the more interesting specimens in the Museum had been photographed, and 40 complete sets of this series of pictures, each accompanied by a history, had been prepared for issue to medical directors of armies and departments. This project had involved the making of more than 1,000 photographic prints, this being before the day of the halftone process of reproduction. In addition, 150 photographs were made to guide the wood engravers in making a like number of woodcuts for use in illustrating catalogs or other publications relating to the surgery of the war.
Additional apparatus for Surgeon Joseph J. Woodwards microscopical work had been purchased, and "for several months" Assistant Surgeon Edward Curtis had been engaged in experiments in photomicrography, with results already attained that had been favorably received. In the surgical department, 997 additional specimens had been mounted and cataloged since 3 October 1864, while the medical side of the Museum had "very complete" illustrative materials on the principal camp diseases, with many valuable additions on parasitic diseases and morbid processes in general.
- ↑ 1 (1) Lamb, Dr. D. S.: A History of the Army Medical Museum, 1862-1917, compiled from the Official Records. Mimeographed copy in historical records of AFIP, pp. 34, 37. (2) On file, National Archives, Accession Number 421 , Letter Book Number 42, SGO, p. 347.
