Sami Hamarneh 



HISTORY of the 

 DIVISION of MEDICAL SCIENCES 



In The Museum of History and Technology 



This paper truces, for the first time, the history of the Division 

 of Medical Sciences in the Mui eum of I lis ton and Technology from 

 its small beginnings as a section of materia medica in 1881 to 

 its present bro.nl scope. The original collection of a feu hundred 

 specimens of crude drugs which had been exhibited .it the centen- 

 nial exhibition of 1876 at "Philadelphia, has now developed into 

 tin largest collection in the Western Hemisphere of historical 

 objects related to the healing arts. 



The Author: Sami Hamarneh is the curator of the Division 

 of Medical Sciences in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of 

 History and Technology. 



BY THE EARLY I870'S, LEADING FIG! RES from both 

 the health professions and the general public had 

 begun to realize the necessity for having the medical 

 sciences represented in the Smithsonian Institution. 

 The impetus behind this new feeling resulted from the 

 action of a distinguished American physician, phi- 

 lanthropist, and author. Joseph Meredith [oner 

 (182 5 lS'Hi), and came almost a decade before the 

 integration oi a new section concerned with research 

 and the historical and educational aspects of the 

 healing arts in the Smithsonian Institution. 



In 1872, Dr. Toner established the" I oner Lectures" 

 to encourage efforts towards discovering new truths 

 '•for the advancement of medie.il science . . . for the 



benefit of mankind." To finance these lectures, he 

 provided a fund worth approximately 53,000 to be 

 administered l>\ a board of trustees consisting of the 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the Surgeon 



Genera] of the U.S. Navy, the Surgeon G 



of the U.S. Army (onl) in some years), and the 



president of the Medical Societ) of the District of 

 Columbia. The interest from this fund was to com- 

 pensate physicians and scholars who were to deliver 

 "at least two annual memoirs or essays" based on 

 original research on some branch of the medical 

 sciences and containing information which had been 

 verified "l>\ experiments or observations." ! 



The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution agreed 

 to have these lectures published l>> the Institution in 

 its Miscellaneous Collections. The first lectun 

 In the Assistanl Surgeon ol the I s \rm\. "On the 



1 [nnual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution fur tlii > , at 1882 [ha einafter referred to as the Smithsonian 

 Annua! Report), pp. 101-103; and introductory "advertise- 

 ment" to the lectures published i>\ tin- Smithsonian Institution 

 in its Miscellaneous Collections (see bibliography). 



PAPER 43: HISTORY OF THE DIVISION ( >!■' MEDICAL SCIENCES 



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