A Treatise on Hygiene with Special Reference to Military Service
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1863. Item #026070
xvi, 13-604 pages. While known as the first American physician to devote himself entirely to neurology and the author of the first treatise on the subject, it was his role in the Civil War and this major work for which he is best remembered. When Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, fired Clement Finley, the Surgeon General, Abraham Lincoln (against Stanton's advice) named the 34-year-old Hammond to succeed him with the rank of brigadier general. On April 1962, he became Surgeon General of the Army. He launched many reforms, ranging from qualifications of medical personnel, importance of ventilation, record-keeping and the creation of the Satterlee Hospital. He promoted Jonathan Letterman which brought an efficient ambulance system to the service. He banned mercury from army supplies. Since hygienic standards were still very poor in the United States Army and soldiers often died because of inadequate medical care, poor sanitary conditions, and lack of attention to proper shelter and nutrition, since there was no up-to-date work on the subject he wrote this book to be distributed to all officers and medical personnel. A thorough and detailed book, it contains many of the ideas and principles that Hammond instituted in his reform of the army medical service. In writing on morbid habits, he warns of the mischief caused by masturbation which causes, he notes, that "the masturbator shuns society...and evinces an apathy for all kinds of amusements." He discusses all aspects of diet, providing charts and comparisons of the requirements in the British and Russian armies. How to keep the alimentary canal in good order is a major concern for the soldier. Bound in publisher's brown embossed cloth, wear to spine ends, light chipping to head with a bit of wear to upper joint near head not cracked and some cloth missing from foot(about 2" x 1" x 1.5") dark brown coated endpapers, inner hinges fine, early owner's names, one in brown ink, one in pencil to upper right corner of title page, internally free from foxing. A very good copy of this scarce work.
Price: $270.00