The
following is a dictated translation of the hand-written application to
the U. S. Navy Examination Board during the Civil War by a civilian
physician/surgeon for a position as a medical officer in the Federal
Navy or for promotion to Assistant Surgeon by an Acting Assistant
Surgeon. The actual
applications are in the possession of the author and presented to
enlighten the general public and other researchers as to the education
process before and during the Civil War, the personal history of the
applicants, as well as to show their personal level of medical knowledge
in answering the questions asked by the Navy Board of Examiners.
(Some applicants failed to pass and did not serve or served in the Union
Army.)
This written presentation was first of a part of a two-part exam consisting of a written
exam and an oral exam.
Many of these applications are rich
with highly detailed medical content offering an interesting perspective
on the medical knowledge and practices of the period.
A broad sampling of these exams is presented to
give you a 'picture' of the type of applicant being examined and
admitted to or rejected by the Federal Navy in 1863. Much more detail
on the individuals and their personal and naval history will be
presented in a forth-coming book by Dr. Herman.
(The actual written exam photos are available, but not presented on
these pages due to the size of the files. An
example
of a hand-written exam is on the
'List of all Applicants' page)
If you have additional information or images for any of these
doctors, please
contact us.
A list with links to
all applicants in this survey of U.S. Navy Applicants for 1863
Example of a handwritten exam given by the Navy Examination Board
Applicant:
Somerset Robinson, M.D.
U. States Naval Asylum,
Philadelphia, Pa.
September 14th 1863.
Sir:
I am pleased to state that I received
the Commission of an Assistant Surgeon in the U.S. Navy, May 9th
1861 and was a few days there after assigned to duty at the New York
Naval Hospital, of which Surgeon John A. Lockwood was in charge. At the
expiration of about five weeks I was detached from that Institution and
ordered to Boston, Mass. to report for duty on board the U.S. Sloop
Vincennes, of which Doctor S. A. Engles was surgeon.
The ship was put in commission late
in June 1861 and early in July we put to sea, under the command of
Commander Robert Handy, for a short cruise off Nantucket in search of
enemical [sic] vessels, from which we returned to Boston a week
afterwards without sighting any.
Late in July 1861 we again sailed
from Boston bound for the Gulf Blockading Squadron under command of
Commodore Mervine to whom Captain Handy had orders to report, which
being done our ship was ordered to take her station off Passe a'l'outre
where we remained near a month, and then ascended about 18 miles up the
river following the U.S. Steam Sloop Richmond up the S. W. Pass to the
Basin or Head of the Pass, this being the point where the main stream
divides into diverging channels and forms the Delta of the Mississippi
river or its estuaries. About mid-autumn we returned down S. W. Pass
and resumed the Blockade outside the Bar.
At this time I was detached from the
USS Vincennes and ordered to report on board the Steam Sloop, Richmond
of which Doctor A. A. Henderson was the Surgeon. Three months
subsequent the ship having returned from the Gulf to New York for
repairs, I was detached and order to report to Commodore Hudson for duty
on board the U.S. Gun-Boat Katahdin then fitting out at Boston Navy Yard
to join the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron. We sailed on the first of
March 1862 under command of Lieut. Commanding G. H. Preble, and
reported to Flag Officer Farragut, who commanded the Squadron of which
we were to be a part.
I remain on board the Katahdin while
she was on service in the Mississippi river where she remained until
January 1863 when we had the good fortune to get out in the Gulf of
Mexico and crews a few weeks along the Texan Coast, after which we took
our station off Galveston, Texas, where the ship was August 15th
1863 when I left her to return North.
Having been allowed the opportunity
of coming before the Medical Board now in session at this place, I
respectfully present myself for the examination.
I am your most obedient servant,
Somerset Robinson,
Asst. Surgeon, U.S.N.
To Surgeon J. M. Green,
U.S. Navy
Questions by the Board:
Questions to be answered in writing,
by Asst Surgeon Somerset Robinson.
1. What are the different
anesthetics, + how employed in Surgery?
2. What is hemorrhage, the causes
and treatment?
3. Describe the operation of vena
section at the bend of the arm.
4. Describe the action of muscles in
voiding the bladder, and explain to limit between the voluntary +
Excitomotory actions of these.
5. Write without abbreviations
directions for making and using Lugals Solution –
6. Give a theory of the galvanic
circuit.
7. What are the branches of the
Internal Iliac artery, their course + distribution.?
8. What are the symptoms + treatment
of Erysipelas?
9. What are the constituents of the
Bile?
Answers by Robinson:
1. The terchlorid [sic] of formyl,
the oxyd of ethyl and protoxide of Nitrogen, used by inhalation; the
frigorific mixture of ice and common salt, used by local application,
and formally powerful narcotics were administered, and sometimes
pressure made on the nerve.
2. Escape of blood from the vessels
which naturally convey it to its course, the causes are external agents
which mechanically rupture of the vessel by coming in violent contact
with them; high excitement or breach the walls of vessel by diseased
action and sometimes there is a hæmorrhagic diathesis; treatment, secure
the patent vessel of possible by ligature or tourniquet, enjoin entire
rest in the horizontal position, make judicious use of astringents by
administration and topical application diet light nutritious and mild
laxatives of the bowels are constipated [sic], the body must be kept
cool, ice should always be at hand as temperature and position have much
control of the flow of blood in case of hæmorrhage.
3. A band is placed above the band
of the arm and then we see the Median-Cephalic and the Media-Basilic the
last two joining respectively the Cephalic and the Basilic Veins, the
Median-Cephalic is selected when it presents a good volume as there is
not the danger of injuring the artery, although that is not probable
even in the Median-Basilic as the biceps fascia intervenes; the part
being selected the thumb or spring lancet is held so as to cut through
the skin and fascia at an angle of 45° with the axis of the vessel,
which being opened the thumb lancet is made to cut its way upwards and
outwards; when it is desirable to stop the flow of blood the upper
bandages removed and a compress applied and secured over the incision by
a few turns of a roller
4. The membranous sack is made to
expel its contents by the action of muscular fibres concentrically
arranged and in contraction these fibres increased are diameters which
increase diminishes their length with a consequent diminution of all the
circles in their areas: the voluntary action is that under the control
of the individual through the Cerebro-Spinal System, the Excito-motory
is without his control, being a reflex action, that is where an
impression is made upon a sentient or afferent nerve which reaches the
nerve centre, and contraction is induced through the efferent branches
5. Recipe
Iodinii
grana quinque
Iodidi Potassii
grana decem
Aquae distillatae,
uniciam fluidam unam
Misce et fiat Solutio drachma fluida sumatur, bis in die
6. There appears to be in
imponderable and irreversible body, at ordinary times in a state of
equilibrium and is only known to exist but by its effects and these are
shown or brought out by mechanical or chemical actions which seem to
separate that body into two, namely a negative and positive which are
kept apart by means of non conducting bodies of matter called
insulators. Now these positive and negative parts show a decided
tendency to come together again and resume their equilibrium and if any
substance capable of transmitting one of these parts come in contact
with it, the part makes active exertion to join its fellow and passes
with incalculable speed through a conductor for that purpose, thus
forming a current.
By this we presume that while the
negative part was isolated from the whole imponderable body surrounding
the earth, that imponderable body was wanting in equilibrium until the
separated part was restored.
7. This branch after leaving the
primitive Iliac divides into anterior and posterior trunk and from these
are given the Gluteal which passes backwards out of the pelvis along
side of the pyraformis muscle to the greater Sacro-Sciatic notch for
distribution, the pudic courses along close to the inner edge of the
ramus Pubis and supplies the penis, the Ischiatic supplying the parts
around the tuberosity, the inferior hæmorrhoid distributed to the rectum
the vesicle supplying the bladder
8. The person attacked the complains
of headache want of appetite, unsound sleep, the tongue may be clean and
dry the skin is not naturally moist, the face a little flushed and the
pulse accelerated and there is a cutaneous redness which may or may not
disappear on pressure, there are general indications of a weakened
system present: the treatment consists in administering nutritious food
and tonics, such as milk, good soup and porter with the terchlorid of
iron in Tincture and local applications of Tincture of Iodine or Nitrate
of Silver to the inflamed surface, should suppuration occur producing
rigor, free incisions are to be made and the patient supported by Quinia
and stimulats [sic]
9. Water
Glyko-cholate of soda
Tauro-cholate of soda
Cholesterine
Biliverdine
Stearate of soda
Margarate " "
Oleate " "
Phosphate of lime
Phosphate " soda
Phosphate " magnesia
Chlorid of sodium
Chlorid " potassium
Mucus of the gall bladder.
Very respectfully submitted
Somerset Robinson
Assistant Surgeon
U.S.N.
To Surgeon
J. M. Green
U.S.N.
Congestive Fever
Synonym, Pernicious Fever, and it is
sometimes called Cold Remittent or Cold Intermittent Fever by those who
live within its deadly grasp.
The cause of Congestive Fever is said
by Medical observers to be that of Common Remittent and Intermittent,
modified and rendered more intense by locality, as it is noticed more
frequently within proximity of water courses, while Remittent will be
found at points more distance from these streams, yet this remark is
only if general application as Intermittent, Remittent and Congestive
Fevers are often met with on the same sections of country together at
the same time and this is a fact of peculiar interest; in may be that
one person is exposed to a current of air loaded with the cause of the
intensified disease while a second has only been exposed to a current of
air containing the cause, if the same, in a less Malignant form, the
idiosyncrasies and nativity of the person attacked is likewise to be
considered
The Pathology of this disease can be
expressed a few words, it is a defect of Innervation, of course
producing derangement of all the dependent functions to a most dangerous
extent.
The Symptoms are such as as
Pathology would point out to us, the person attack is observed to the
much depressed, there is relaxation of the tissues and soon it comes on
a cold, clammy sweat with shriveled hands and sometimes the breath of
the patient is chilled, the patient’s mind is light and he moves about
without any definite object in view, there is great irritability of the
stomach and articles of nutriment and medicine must be administered with
discretion to avoid the increase of the irritability by the vomiting
which set in. Sometimes there is constipation at others the bowels are
loose and the character of the stools fluid and light; the urine may be
retained in the bladder in the latter stages of the Fever; a full, soft,
entirely comprepible [sic] pulse is one of the early symptoms.
The Diagnosis is not difficult with
all these symptoms to guide us but it must be remembered that they are
not all present in every case and when we are in a locality where this
Fever is known to exist we should examine every case having any of these
symptoms as an early diagnosis is most essential to a successful
treatment.
The Prognosis is unfavorable
generally, but much depends upon the experience of the Practitioner.
The Treatment must be directed to the maintenance of Innervation which
is so seriously impaired, opium to allay the irritability and quiet the
bowels, when they are too loose, calomel to excite the biliary secretion
may be used cautiously, Tincture of Capsicum, artificial heat, counter
irritants to the extremities all have a little share in a good result,
but the Disulphate of Quinia is the preparation to which we must have
the earliest recourse, the proper time to administer it is in the
absence of paroxysm, but time is so precious in this disease that it may
be used throughout the fit, it may be given in ten grain doses, with a
small quantity of whiskey and gum acacia until its effect is shown, the
patient should be kept at rest to reserve his strength and external
warmth applied and a gentle diaphoresis kept up, which in conjunction
with the Quinia seems to be of good service in restoring the function of
the Liver which appears to be suspended, and it must be mentioned in
treatment that every exertion should be made to save the patient from a
following paroxysm.
Very respectfully submit,
Somerset Robinson,
Assistant Surgeon,
U.S.N.
To Surgeon,
J. M. Greene,
U.S. Navy.
