Surgeon General of the United States

“ Much of the early exposure of these individuals dealt with the concept of mass casualties and thermonuclear warfare. In 1970, Dr. Louis M. Rousselot, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health and Environment, an outstanding surgeon himself, realizing that, during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, new surgical information had been learned or relearned and that this new information required broad exposure, tasked the Army Surgeon General to update the Emergency War Surgery Handbook. ”

“ If he's moved to another hospital his record and register go with him, so that the new hospital knows immediately he was invalided for a piece of shell in his leg, and no flurried or overworked surgeon tries to operate on him for inflammation of the intestines.
From beginning to end, the best specialists in the whole of the Union are at the disposal of any one who's unfortunate enough to get hurt. If it's eyes, ears, throat, abdomen, shell shock, mental derangement, or no matter what, one of the biggest men from home is on the job. ”

“ Following the Civil War he served for 20 years in the South and West and in 1887 was transferred to Washington as assistant to the Surgeon General. He was the originator of the personal identification system long used in the Army, and was conspicuous for his close identity with the general advancement of the Medical Department. ”

“ In the hurry and confusion of a war, and amidst the pressure of hundreds of new cases in a day, what can the surgeons of the hospital be expected to do for science, or even for the improvement of medical and surgical practice?—The answer is seen in the new arrangements in England, where a statistical branch has been established in the Army Medical Department. Of course, no one but the practising surgeon or physician can furnish the pathological facts in each individual case; but this is what every active and earnest practitioner does always and everywhere, when he sees reason for it. ”

“ In 1868 and in 1870 he visited Europe, doing post-graduate work in Berlin, London and Vienna. In 1879 he was made instructor in surgery; in 1882 he became assistant professor of surgery; in 1887 professor of clinical surgery. His connection with the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital began as surgeon to out-patients in 1866. He was appointed, in 1875, surgeon, and served in this capacity until 1903 when he was retired under the age limit, going on the consulting board. ”

“ No portion of the military service has been more misrepresented than the medical department. An opinion seems to prevail quite extensively that the army surgeon is generally a young graduate, vain of his official position, who cares little for the health of the soldier, and glories in the opportunities afforded by a battle for reckless operations. ”

“ Figure 4.—This group of U.S. Army medical officers includes several who were to be prominent in the history of the Army Medical Museum and the Library of The Surgeon General. Standing (left to right) : Lt. Col. William G. Spencer, Assistant Surgeon Alfred A. Woodhull, Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes, Assistant Surgeon Edward Curtis. Seated (left to right) : Assistant Surgeons George A. Otis, Charles H. Crane, John S. Billings, and Joseph J. Woodward. ”

“ On 24 September 1863, four young Army medical officers then on duty in Washington, some of them being connected with the Museum and "wishing to make that institution at once practically useful," asked Acting Surgeon General Barnes for "permission to deliver a course of lectures on military medicine and surgery in the hall of the Museum." Such a course would be particularly advantageous, they suggested, because of the large number of medical cadets and junior medical officers on duty in the hospitals in the Washington area. ”

“ The surgeons connected with our hospitals, public and private, are doing a great work in relieving the ills of humanity, others in private practice are doing great work. Here and there one is found who operates only for the money, but persons who employ such a doctor are usually entitled to the results they receive. Your family physician, even if he is not a surgeon, is the best person to consult when an operation may be necessary. ”

“ Working in close association with the medical committee of the Council of National Defense and the Red Cross and in constant and helpful contact with the medical activities of the British, French, and other belligerents, the Surgeon General has built up the personnel of his department and taken over from the Red Cross completely organized base-hospital units and ambulance units, supplemented them by fresh organizations, procured great quantities of medical supplies and prepared on a generous scale to meet any demands of our Army in action. ”

“ In 1776 he was appointed surgeon-extraordinary to the king; in 1783 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris; in 1786 he became deputy surgeon-general of the army; and in 1790 he was appointed surgeon-general and inspector-general of hospitals. All these positions he filled with credit, and he was actively engaged in his tireless pursuit of knowledge and in discharging his many duties when in October, 1793, he was stricken while addressing some colleagues, and fell dead in the arms of a fellow-physician. ”

“ Later he was appointed a surgeon of the United States Volunteers, Ninth Vermont Infantry, but learning from Senator Foote that there was a vacancy in the Brigade Corps of Surgeons, U.S.V., he resigned, hastened to Washington, and in June, 1862, took the examination for the Brigade Corps of Surgeons and passed the best examination, with one exception, during the war. ”

“ In response to this call, some who were whole and needed not a physician, as well as those who were sick, reported at the surgeon’s tent for prescriptions. Much used to be said by the soldiers in regard to the competency or incompetency of army surgeons. It was well understood in war time that, even though an examination of fitness was required of surgeons to secure an appointment in the army,—at least in some States,—many charlatans, by some means, received commissions. ”

“ The organisation of the hospital proceeded rapidly, and the amount of heavy surgery and acute sepsis which came in taxed the energy and resources of the surgical staff. Dr. Garrett Anderson acted as chief surgeon and Dr. Gazdar took charge of the officers’ ward. Other workers fell into their places and a sort of routine was gradually evolved. The duties of administrator, or Médecin-en-Chef, fell to Dr. Flora Murray, and when she was not issuing stores or counting linen, she would be receiving the countless visitors who came to see the wards. ”

“ As an enactment that will surely prove beneficial to health, we decree that no surgeon will be allowed to practice, in case he has not a written testimonial, which he must present to the teachers in the medical faculty, that he has for at least a year applied himself to that department of medicine which is concerned with the teaching and practice of surgery, and that he has, above all, learned the anatomy of the human body in this manner, and that he is fully competent in this department {64} of medicine, without which neither surgery can be undertaken with success nor sufferers cured. ”

“ The newly graduated surgeon is not as dangerous as the man who left medical school years ago, before the students received one-third of the surgical training that they do now. Many of these men have not taken a post-graduate course, have never been associated with a hospital, nor have they had even an opportunity for moderate surgical observation; and yet they are attempting to do the work that only a skilled specialist should undertake. I am not speaking of emergency surgery for which any man should try to prepare himself, and be brave enough to undertake when human life is at stake. ”

“ The treatment of wounds, injuries and deformities, with operative interference in general, is the special department of surgical practice (the corresponding parts of pathology, including inflammation, repair, and removable tumours, are sometimes grouped together as surgical pathology) ; and where the work of the profession is highly subdivided, surgery becomes the exclusive province of the surgeon, while internal medicine remains to the physician. A third great department of practice is formed by obstetric medicine or midwifery (see Obstetrics) ”

“ After the war he was stationed at different army posts east and west, and from 1875 to 1880 was surgeon in charge of the Soldiers' Home at Washington, from 1880 to 1887, working in the surgeon-general's office. ”

“ It is a striking commentary on the immediate results of anæsthesia to learn that, in five years before the introduction of ether, only one hundred and eighty-four persons were willing to submit themselves to such a dreadful ordeal in the Massachusetts General Hospital—an average of thirty-seven operations per annum, or three per month.... During the last year, in the same hospital—a Mecca for every surgeon the world over—over thirty-seven hundred operations were performed. ”

“ The organization is complete and excellent. There is a supervising Surgeon-General, who has great powers and great responsibilities, a medical purveyor, surgeons, passed-assistant surgeons, and assistant surgeons. These treat an immense number of cases, and not a few have lost their lives in combating epidemics. These officers are selected by examination and entirely removed from any politics, and are bound to go wherever they are ordered, and obey regulations. ”

“ There is no question also but that indifference to everything but surgery is responsible for many of the failures before the State Examining Boards. We must have surgeons, and they must begin their training in medical schools, and it is not my purpose to discourage earnest work and honest effort to this end. I wish, however, to say that every ethical specialist needs a thorough grounding in the general branches of medicine, and he should not in his student days neglect the other essentials to a well-rounded man. ”

“ They evince more of humanity, more of real interest and care in their patients, and more consideration for their comfort and welfare; while, in all that pertains to fertility of invention, to originality of performance, and accuracy of work, they, as a rule, excel. Divested of glamour, American surgery, both general and special, is ahead of most of that which one can see abroad, and the therapeutics of the American profession certainly surpass those of any other nationality. ”

“ In 1861 he obtained his M.D. degree from the Yale medical school, and entered the army as assistant surgeon of the 9th Connecticut volunteers. His first important service was at the St. James hospital at New Orleans. La., where he was chief surgeon appointed by General Butler. Subsequently he held a similar place in the Marine hospital, and in 1864 became surgeon of the New Orleans volunteers. ”

“ As a teacher of both anatomy and surgery he was preeminent, in the opinion of his pupils. He was at one time president of the Missouri state board of health and was president of the state medical society. For fifty years he was surgeon in chief to the Sisters and Mullanphy hospitals, there controlling a large amount of surgical material. His personality endeared him to all. A manly man, he knew and maintained his rights while at the same time regardful of the rights of others. ”

“ Any case that becomes infected through fault of the surgeon or attendants is no longer looked upon as a thoroughly successful operation, even though the patient recovers.
As in other branches of medicine, there are now many specialists in surgery. In the major operations it is best to employ a specialist, but in the minor cases the "family doctor" should be competent. If he does not care to perform the operation himself he can advise and direct you in selecting a competent surgeon. ”

“ He was promoted to the position of brigade surgeon in 1862 and medical inspector of the United States Army in 1863. His army medical experience was very large, as he attended the wounded on almost every extensive battlefield during the war and during a campaign in which he was the chief surgeon under Gen. ”

“ In America, historians agree, the differences based on specialization of practice between surgeons and physicians soon tended to disappear, a superior education often being the only attribute or function of a physician not shared by the surgeon. ”

“ From 1833 to 1839 he was lecturer on anatomy and physiology in the medical school of St. Thomas's Hospital. He was appointed assistant-surgeon to St. Thomas's Hospital in 1841; twelve years later he became full surgeon, and was appointed lecturer on surgery. He was called upon to resign the office of surgeon in 1865, under a new rule which required the medical officers to retire at the age of sixty. He pleaded that the rule was not retrospective, and was reappointed till he should have completed his term of twenty years as full surgeon. ”

“ Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War. New York: Henry Schuman. Inc.. 1052, pp. 28-31. ↑ Drayton, Evelyn S.: William Alexander Hammond, 1828-1900; Founder of Army Medical Museum. The Military Surgeon 109: 559-565, October 1951. ↑ Circular No. 2, Surgeon General's Office, Washington City, May 21, 1862. On file, National Archives, Accession No. 421, Circulars/SGO/1862-1865. ↑ (I) Special Orders Number 98, War Department, Adjutant General's Office, 1862. (2) Circular No. 5, Surgeon General's Office, Washington, D.C., June 9, 1862. ”