ability of large quantities of plasma 

 and whole blood for the treatment of 

 severely wounded men. 



2. The Committee on Medical 

 Research of the Office of Scien- 

 tific Research and Development 



In the summer of 1940, the advice 

 of the Di\'ision of Medical Sciences 

 of the National Research Council 

 was sought by the Surgeons General 

 in many fields of medicine and sur- 

 pery. Ultimately 13 committees and 

 43 subcommittees were set up in avi- 

 ation medicine, chemotherapy, con- 

 valescence and rehabilitation, drugs 

 and medical supplies, industrial medi- 

 cine, medicine including malarial 

 studies, infectious diseases, nutrition, 

 tropical disease, tuberculosis, venereal 

 diseases, etc., neuropsychiatry, path- 

 ology, sanitary engineering, shock 

 and transfusion, surgery, and the 

 treatment of gas casualties. 



In June 1941, the Committee on 

 Medical Research was organized un- 

 der the Office of Scientific Research 

 and Development, to "initiate and 

 support scientific research on medical 

 problems affecting the national de- 

 fense." The existing committees of 

 the National Research Council acted 

 in an advisory capacity to the new 

 organization. 



As of December 1, 1944, 496 re- 

 search contracts had been executed 

 by the Committee on Medical Re- 

 search with 120 different institutions. 

 Over 95 percent of these contracts 

 were with universities or teaching 

 hospitals. The personnel represented 

 in this work numbered about 2,670, 

 of whom 553 were physicians. These 

 investigators have studied dysentery, 

 bubonic plague, cholera, gas gan- 

 grene, influenza, tuberculosis, hemo- 

 lytic streptococcal disease, encepha- 

 litis, primary atypical pneumonia, 



airborne infections, venereal diseases, 

 infected wounds, burns, neurosur- 

 gery. X-rays, surgical sutures, shock, 

 blood substitutes, treatment of gas 

 casualties, convalescence and reha- 

 bilitation, insect and rodent control, 

 antimalarial drugs, and the develop- 

 ment and use of penicillin. 



Among the most conspicuous 

 achievements of this program are 

 the following: 



a. The acquisition, in civilian hos- 

 pitals and laboratories, of suffi- 

 cient knowledge of the thera- 

 peutic value of penicillin to 

 warrant its official adoption by 

 the medical divisions of the 

 Army and Navy and to provide 

 the impetus for the great pro- 

 duction program that has made 

 this remarkable drug available 

 in large quantities for both mili- 

 tary and civilian use. 



h. Developments in insect repel- 

 lents and insecticides, particu- 

 larly DDT, important in guard- 

 ing troops against insect-borne 

 diseases such as typhus and 

 malaria. 



c. The study of human blood 

 plasma which has led to use by 

 the armed forces of serum al- 

 bumin as a blood substitute, of 

 immune globulins to combat in- 

 fections, and of fibrin foam to 

 stop bleeding. 



d. The improvement and stand- 

 ardization of the treatment of 

 malaria by atabrine. 



e. The determination of the rela- 

 tive usefulness of sulfonamide 

 drugs in the treatment of 

 wounds and burns. 



f. The physiological indoctrination 

 of our airmen and the develop- 

 ment of devices which enable 

 them to endure the rigors of 



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