actionary attitudes responsible for sending the 

 Army into the war with outdated arms and no ade- 

 quate ordnance testing facilities. 



Reacting positively to criticism, the Ordnance 

 Department concentrated on the testing of ord- 

 nance and invented testing devices and methods. 

 At the same time it reluctantly moved toward the 

 use of steel. In 1873, progress was sufficient so 

 that Congress began appropriating money for test- 

 ing machinery, which led to the creation of a 

 metallurgical research establishment at the Water- 

 town Arsenal in Massachusetts.-" 



Medical Department. Another branch of the 

 Army, the Army Medical Department, became an 

 effective research organization during the Civil 

 War under Surgeon General Hammond (although 

 it had to be supplemented at first by a Sanitary 

 Commission). The vast numbers of Civil War 

 casualties due to wounds and disease presented a 

 great challenge, but the Department kept detailed 

 records and collected specimens for a medical 

 museum, which became the foundation of the 

 present Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. 

 After the war it established what became the 

 famous Army Medical Library. -i 



Army — Post-Civil War 



After the Civil War ended, the Army Medical 

 Department suffered from postwar demobilization 

 to the point of severe shortages of personnel and 

 drastic loss of funds. However, with the aid of 

 the Museum and the Library and due to the per- 

 sonal drive of a few dedicated men like John 

 Shaw Billings, J. J. Woodward, George M. Stern- 

 berg, and Walter Reed, Department researchers 

 made significant advances, particularly in disease 

 control.-- They responded vigorously but without 

 immediate success to the yellow fever epidemic 

 of 1878.-"* Billings, an old sanitarian, was particu- 

 larly influential, and Sternberg was one of those 

 sent to Cuba to try to learn the cause of the dis- 

 ease. As the germ theory of disease became con- 

 firmed, Sternberg became known as the "Father 

 of American Bacteriology," and Walter Reed also 

 distinguished himself in this new field.-'* In 1893, 

 Sternberg became Surgeon General and estab- 

 lished the Army Medical School, where Walter 

 Reed became professor of bacteriology. When the 

 United States lost more men from typhoid than 



-"Reingold. p. 76. 



-'Dupree, p. 129. 



22lbid., pp. 256-2.57. 



2Mbid., pp. 263-264. 



-''F.ngleman, R. D. :md R. J. R. Joy, Two Hundred Years ofMil- 

 iuiry Medicine(G\H): Washington, D.C.. 1975), p II, Dupree, p. 

 264; Reingold.pp 64-65. 



326 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 



from battle injuries during the Spanish American 

 War, the Army Medical Corps led the way in 

 bringing this disease under control.--'^ Then the 

 Corps confirmed that the Aedes aegypti mosquito 

 was the vector of yellow fever and brought this 

 disease under control in Cuba. The control of yel- 

 low fever and a successful campaign against malar- 

 ia made it possible to build the Panama Canal. -^ 



In the meantime. First Lieutenant B.K. Ash- 

 ford, M.C., discovered the relationship between 

 hookworm and anemia and developed a practical 

 treatment. The attacks on yellow fever and hook- 

 worm were continued by the Rockefeller Founda- 

 tion and both diseases were virtually eliminated 

 from the United States. 27 In 1910, Major C. R. 

 Darnell, M.C., developed the use of anhydrous 

 chlorine to purify drinking water, the method 

 which with some modifications is used worldwide 

 for water purification today.-** 



With an ongoing dynamic program of research 

 and many years of distinguished accomplish- 

 ments, the Army Medical Corps was ready for 

 World War I. Under Surgeon General Gorgas the 

 Corps became the dominant force in medical re- 

 search. With the exception of one influenza epi- 

 demic, it made great strides in the prevention of 

 disease. In fact. World War I was the first major 

 war in history in which the mortality from com- 

 municable diseases was less than that from battle 

 wounds.-*^ 



Signal Corps. Another Army unit that engaged 

 in research was the Signal Corps. After the Civil 

 War the Signal Service seemed doomed to failure 

 because of its small size and discontinuous struc- 

 ture, but its aggressive leader. Brigadier General 

 Albert Myer, formerly of the Medical Corps, suc- 

 ceeded in gaining national responsibility for meteor- 

 ology from 1870-1890. The Service collected data 

 by telegraph. ''O This responsibility and most of the 

 personnel involved were transferred to Agriculture 

 in 1890, and the Signal Service became the Signal 

 Corps under A. W. Greely.^' Greely revived two 

 lines of research which had been neglected for 20 

 years, communications and aeronautics. -*- 

 (Aeronautics will be discussed under the Air 

 Force.) He stimulated research in electrical fire 

 control equipment and advanced electrical commu- 

 nications, including wireless. ''^ During World War 



-'Dupree, p. 264; Reingold, p 65. 

 ^''Engleman, op. cit.. p. 15; Reingold, p. 65. 

 -'Dupree, pp. 266-267; Engleman, op. oil., p. 

 -"Engleman, op. cil., p. 16. 

 -•'Ibid., p. 17. 

 MReingold. pp. .W, 42-43. 

 'i|bid., p. 51; Dupree, p. 192. 

 "Reingold, p. 51. 

 'Mbid.. pp. .52-54. 



13. 



