A similar project was undertaken in 1897 at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition (May 1 to October 31) in Nashville, where there were two displays of materia medica. One showed several kinds of the cinchona barks and the medicinal preparations made from them, and another containing the commercial varieties of the alkaloids of opium.
At this time, Dr. Flint’s attention turned to a new phase of medical exhibition. He felt the need for a program of exhibits on the practice and the historical development of the healing arts. A change of the Section’s name was deemed necessary and, thus, in 1898 the more comprehensive title of Division of Medicine was adopted.
Division of Medicine (1898-1939)
The statement by L. Emmett Holt of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, that before 1906, the Smithsonian Institution was never a beneficiary to medicine in any form,[9] is not entirely applicable. The previous discussion has clearly shown that the U.S. National Museum’s cooperation with the Navy contributed materially towards encouraging and promoting medical knowledge. Furthermore, Dr. Flint tried to bring many of his plans for this medical division of the Museum to a practical fulfillment. He devised a program for presenting medical history in a way which would be of interest both to the public and to the profession. In order to best illustrate the history of the healing art, he divided his subject matter into five provisional classifications according to the Report upon the Condition and Progress of the U.S. National Museum during 1898:
1. Magical medicine including exorcism, amulets, talismans, fetishes and incantation;
2. Psychical medicine including faith cures, and hypnotism;
3. Physical and external medicine including baths, exercise, electricity, massage, surgery, cautery, and blood-letting;
4. Internal medicine including medications and treatment used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Hindus, Arabians, and Chinese; and
5. Preventive medicine including beverages, food, soil, clothing and habitation.