Winters, S. R. Magic medicine. Hygeia (July 1937), vol. 15, pp. 630-633.
[1] Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the Year 1882 [hereinafter referred to as the Smithsonian Annual Report], pp. 101-103; and introductory “advertisement” to the lectures published by the Smithsonian Institution in its Miscellaneous Collections (see bibliography).
[2] Dr. J. J. Woodward’s lecture explained the progress of medical knowledge of morbid growth and cancerous tumors from 1865 to 1872. It cautioned that uncertain methods of diagnosis at that time allowed charlatans and uneducated practitioners to report cures of cancer in instances where nonmalignant growths were “removed by their caustic pastes and plasters.”
[3] The two longest intervals were in preparing the last two lectures: the ninth in 1884, and the tenth, 1889. Both came after the establishment in 1881 of the Section of Materia Medica in the U.S. National Museum, to display the development and progress of the health professions.
[4] Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1883, pp. 190, 614-615.
[5] For classifying chemical compounds, Dr. Flint relied on the work of H. E. Roscoe and C. Schorlemmez, A Treatise on Chemistry, 2 vols. (New York: D. Appleton, 1878-1800.)
[6] Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the year 1882, vol. 2, part 2, pp. 100, 228, 656-657. Dr. Flint in his article “Report on Pharmacopoeias of All Nations,” ibid., pp. 655-680, remarks that there were then 19 official pharmacopoeias in the world, besides three semiofficial formularies in certain localities in Italy. The pharmacopoeias collected represent Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, India, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (two), and the United States.
[7] The Universal Formulary, by R. Eglesfeld Griffith, first edited in March 1850 (3rd ed. rev. and enlarged by John M. Maisch, Philadelphia: Lea, 1874) should not be considered an international drug standard. It was mainly concerned with compiling a great number of formulas and recipes, methods of preparing and administering official and other medicines, and tables on weights and measures for utilization by the U.S. practitioners of the time.
[8] Other elaborate arrangements were also made to improve and expand the Section’s activities and services, though some have never materialized. For example, a herbarium was suggested from which specimens could be obtained for display of the actual drug with painted pictures of its plant next to it. Consideration was given to displaying enlarged drawings to show the minute structure of the specimen for better identification. In addition, an exhibition of several 10-liter vessels of the most popular mineral waters was planned. The amount of saline substances which analysis had shown to be present in each vessel was to be listed in a table to be attached to that vessel, or the same amount of minerals was to be put in a small bottle beside it. This plan was carried out to the best advantage at the Cotton States and International Exposition held in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia.