)RNING, JUNE 1, 1890. 
17 
V i>r. Jolin H. Brinton's Address to the 
Graduating Class of the Army Medical 
School at Washington, delivered in March, 
has been reprinted from the "Journal of the 
American Medical Association. ' ' It is full of 
interest to the profession of which Dr. Brin- 
ton is a distinguished mejnber, and it has a 
value for laymen on account of its admirable 
account of the rise and growth of the Army 
Medical Museum, the Library of the Surgeon 
General's Office and the Army Medical 
School-all marking the steady progress of 
these important branches of work of the 
medical staff of the arrny. The splendid con- 
tributions made to science by "the United 
States in the National Military Museum, the 
medical and surgical history of the war of the 
Rebellion, the Medical Index and Catalogue 
and the medical and surgical circulars and 
literature of the Surgeon General's Office, are 
now recognized the world over as of rare 
value and importance, and Dr. Brinton does 
a real service in tracing their rise and growth 
from humble beginnings in his own recollec- 
tion. 
Philadelphia contributed from its medical 
men and from its medical schools many of 
the army surgeons who helped to lessen the 
horrors of war, and even while it was wag- 
ing, to begin the collection of the materials 
and the books that now attract to Washing- 
ton students of medicine in all its branches. 
Dr. Brinton shows how much of the growth 
of medical science is due to the work done by 
t he surgeons of the United States Army, and 
he speaks with authority as a surgeon and as 
Professor in Jefferson Medical College. He 
welcomes the successful establishment of the 
Army Medical School at Washington as a 
valuable addition to the growing wealth of 
scientific means of education in the national 
capital. It is greatly to the credit of the Gov- 
ernment that it has heeded the advice of its 
medical experts and has thus secured a great 
medical library and museum and an ex- 
haustive catalogue, as in some degree at 
least a recognition of the services of the 
medical profession to the world of science at 
home and abroad. 
It is well that the public should learn from 
Dr. Brinton's address how much credit is 
due to Dr. Billings and Dr. Fletcher, the men 
who made these great additions to our edu- 
cational facilities in Washington; to Dr. 
Otis and his fellow workers on the "Surgical 
History of the Rebellion,'' and to Frederick 
Schafhirb, an assistant to Leidy at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, who, under the un- 
pretentious name of hospital steward, did so 
much for the museum and greatly helped to 
shape its collections. Tha occasion was well 
chosen by Dr. Brinton to urge on his hearers 
the importance of military medical science, 
and it is fortunate that his earnest argument 
and happy illustration should now reach a 
much larger number than that of his Wash- 
ington audience, for what he says is so well 
put and deals with subjects so little known 
' outside the medical profession, that it is no 
small boon thus to spread a better acquaint- 
ance with the substantial results of the good 
work done by our army surgeons.