Medical Purveyors and
Medical Storekeepers
Part 2
Directions Concerning the Duties of Medical Purveyors and Medical
Storekeepers, and the Manner of Obtaining and Accounting
for Medical and Hospital Supplies for the Army.
By the United
States Army Medical Dept, Army
Medical Dept, Surgeon-General's
Office, United States
Surgeon-General's Office, United
States, Published by
Gov. Pub. Off., 1863
Circular No. 7. Surgeon General's
Office, ( May 7, 1863)
DUTIES OF MEDICAL PURVEYORS AND MEDICAL STOREKEEPERS.
1. Medical Purveyors are charged, under the direction of the Surgeon
General, with the
Election and purchase of all medical and hospital supplies for the Army.
In all cases of
emergency they may provide such additional accommodations for the sick
and wounded
of the Army, and may transport such medical and hospital supplies, as
circumstances may
render necessary. Li all cam of emergency they shall promptly issue
supplies on special
requisitions made directly upon them, and such special requisitions
shall consist simply of
a list of the articles and quantities required, and be dated and signed
by the Medical
Officer who makes the requisition. The nature of the emergency must be
stated, other-
wise the requisition will be referred to the Medical Director.
2. Except in the "cases of emergency" referred to in the preceding
paragraph, Medical
Purveyors and Medical Storekeepers will issue medical and hospital
supplies only on the
order of the Surgeon General, the Assistant Surgeon General, or a
Medical Director.
3. Medical Storekeepers are charged, under the direction of the Surgeon
General and
Medical Purveyors, with the storing and safe-keeping of medical and
hospital supplies,
and with the duties of receiving, issuing, and accounting for the same,
according to regu-
lations. Medical and hospital supplies transferred to Medical
Storekeepers by Medical
Purveyors will be receipted for as invoiced without breaking packages,
provided the number
of packages correspond with the invoice, that they are in good shipping
condition, and
that there be no reason to suppose the contents broken or defective.
4. Medical Purveyors will be responsible for the quality of the medical
and hospital
supplies purchased by them, and they are directed to have all surgical
instruments made
in the best manner, of the best materials, and according to patterns
approved by the Sur-
geon General. Each instrument is to be inspected, and each chain saw
tested on fresh
bone by them, or under their supervision, before being ^Id fat qx. visj^vA.
5. Medical Purveyors and Medical Storekeepers will be held responsible
that the medical
and hospital supplies issued or transferred by them are well packed,
that each article is
designated by the name of the maker or vendor, and that each package is
legibly and cor-
rectly marked with the address of the officer for whom it is intended,
and with its weight
and contents, whether medicines, hospital stores, Instruments,
dressings, books and sta-
tionery, bedding, clothing, or furniture and appliances.
6. In issuing or transferring medical and hospital supplies, Medical
Purveyors and
Medical Storekeepers will furnish a packer's list and invoice to the
officer who is to receive
them, and transmit a duplicate of the invoice to the Surgeon General. In
turning over
supplies to a Quartermaster for storage or transportation, they will
forward to the Surgeon
General, with the invoice, the Quartermaster's receipt for the packages.
7. In issuing medical and hospital supplies. Medical Purveyors and
Medical Storekeepers
will, ordinarily, be governed by the Supply Table ; but when articles
are required in large
quantities for use in hospitals and at permanent posts, and not for
reissue, or for field
service, they will disregard the size of packages designated in that
table, and will issue in
such packages as they may deem most advantageous for the public service.
8. Medical Purveyors and all other disbursing officers will render
direct to the Second
Auditor of the Treasury, within ten days after the expiration of each
successive month, a
duly certified monthly statement of all public moneys on hand from last
returns, received, dis-
bursed, or transferred during the month, the balance remaining on hand,
and where
deposited, (Form 1.) A duplicate of this monthly summary statement will
be forwarded
at the same time to the Surgeon General, with an estimate of the funds
required during
the ensuing month, (Form 2.)
9. Medical Purveyors and all other medical disbursing officers will also
render direct to
the Second Auditor of the Treasury, within one month after the
expiration of each successive
quarter, a quarterly account current of moneys received, expended, &c.,
during the quarter,
(Form 3,) with an abstract of disbursements (Form 4,) and proper
vouchers (Form 5. ) A dupli-
cate of the account current, and of the abstract, will be forwarded at
the same time to the
Surgeon General.
10. Medical Purveyors and all other medical disbursing officers will
render their sum-
mary statements, accounts, abstracts, and vouchers, as above directed,
when they cease to
disburse, from change of duty or otherwise.
11. Medical Purveyors and Medical Storekeepers will make to the Surgeon
General, at
the end of each fiscal quarter, returns in duplicate of medical and
hospital property,
(Form 6,) with an abstract of receipts and issues, (Form 7,) giving the
number of the
voucher and the name of the person from whom received and to whom
issued.
12. Medical Purveyors and Medical Storekeepers will give bonds in such
sums as the
Secretary of War may require, with security to be approved by him.
Medical Officers tem--
porarily assigned to duty as Acting Medical Purveyors are not required
to give bonds.
MEDICAL AND HOSPITAL SUPPLIES.
13. The standard of medical and hospital supplies for the Army is the
Supply Table. It is
not the design of the Department to confine medical officers absolutely
to that table, either
in variety or quantity, but only to establish a standard for their
guidance in making requisition
for supplies, leaving individual preferences to be indulged at the
discretion of the
Medical Director or the Surgeon General. Neither is it supposed that the
quantities of the
table will always meet the necessities of unusual emergencies, as daring
epidemics, or in
unhealthy seasons and localities ; and medical officers who allow their
supplies to be ex-
hausted through any such contingencies, without timely notice of their
approaching neces-
sities, will be held to a strict accountability.
14. Medical Purveyors and Medical Storekeepers at depots for issue, and
at field depots,
and the senior medical officers of hospitals, regiments, posts, or
detached commands, will
make their requisitions for medical and hospital supplies upon the
Medical Director under
whom they may be serving. The Medical Director will approve or modify
the requisitions
at his discretion; and, in ordinary cases, will transmit them to the
nearest Purveyor or
Medical Storekeeper, with his order for the supplies. If, however, the
amount required be
large, and the situation and nature of the service permit, the Medical
Director will trans-
mit the requisitions, with his recommendations indorsed thereon, to the
Surgeon General.
15. Requisitions for medical and hospital supplies are to be made in
duplicate. In pre-
paring them, medical officers will conform to the Standard Supply Table,
both in the articles
and quantities asked for, avoiding fractions in quantities. When
increased quantities or
additional articles are required, satisfactory reasons therefore must be
assigned, or they will
not be supplied.
16. Requisitions for outfits of medical and hospital supplies will be
made for three
months, and in the form of a letter, stating the number of men or beds
to be supplied,
and whether for general hospitals, permanent posts, or field service. If
for permanent
posts, the amount of hospital accommodations must be stated, so that, if
less than one
hundred beds, the allowance of bedding, hospital clothing, furniture,
and appliances may
be correspondingly reduced.
17. Requisitions to replenish medical and hospital supplies will always
be made in detail,
according to Form 8, and for those articles only that are really
deficient in quantity. If the
supplies are to be obtained from the principal purveying depots, these
requisitions will be
made quarterly ; if from department or field depots, they will be made
at such times and
for such periods as the Medical Director may prescribe. Special
requisitions are not intended
to take the place of the regular quarterly requisition. They are only
permissible in cases of
emergency, and the face of the requisition must state the circumstances
which constitute the
emergency rendering such special requisition necessary.
18. When it is necessary to obtain medical and hospital supplies, and
recourse cannot be
l^id to a Medical Purveyor or Storekeeper, they may be purchased by a
Quartermaster, on
special requisition made according to Form 9 and Account Form 10. — (See
Army Regula-
tions, paragraph 1233.) A triplicate of all such special requisitions,
giving: the name and
station of the officer upon whom it is made, is to be transmitted,
through the Medical
Director, to the Surgeon General, for his information, and as a guide in
auditing the
account when presented.
19. Those articles of the Standard Supply Table which are printed in
italics will be fur-
nished only on special requisitions approved by the Surgeon General.
20. Articles of furniture and appliances in Class No. 2 will be issued
on ''requisitions to
outfits,"
21. Medical officers having charge of medical and hospital supplies will
make to the
Surgeon General annually, on the 31st of December, and whenever relieved
there from,
returns in duplicate, (Form 6 ) These returns will exhibit the condition
of the supplies
and state to whom or from whom and when and where issued or received.
22. Hospital clothing belongs to the United States, and will only be
worn by patients
, during their stay in the hospital. Each article will be marked as
hospital property, and
with the number of the bed for which it is appropriated.
23. An officer transferring medical and hospital supplies will furnish a
certified invoice
and packer's list to the officer who is to receive them, and transmit a
duplicate of th^
invoice to the Surgeon General. The receiving officer will furnish a
receipt to the officer
making the issue, with a report of the quality and condition of the
articles, and transmit
a duplicate of the receipt and report to the Surgeon General. A medical
officer who turns
over medical supplies to a quartermaster for storage or transportation
will forward to the
Surgeon General, with the invoice, the Quartermaster's receipt for the
packages.
24. Medical officers will take up and account for all medical and
hospital supplies of the
Army that come into their possession, and report, when they know it, to
whose account
they are to be credited.
25. The transfer of surgical instruments
issued to medical officers for their personal use
is positively forbidden. Each medical officer will retain those
instruments in his imme-
diate possession so long as he remains in the Army, and will be held
responsible for their
complete and serviceable condition, and for their easy accessibility at
all times. If the
instruments be lost, destroyed, or damaged, they must be replaced or
repaired as soon as
possible by requisition upon the nearest Medical Purveyor, setting forth
fully the causes of
such loss or damage. If the loss or damage be from the unavoidable
casualties of the
service, the expense of replacing or repairing the instruments will be
paid by the Medical
Department ; if from any other causes, such expenses must be paid by the
medical officer.
26. When a medical officer leaves the Army,
he will deliver his instruments to the near-
est Medical Purveyor, taking receipts thereforw in detail ; and if
transportation be required,
he will take receipts for the package containing the instruments from an
officer of the
Quartermaster's Department.
27. Staff Surgeons, Staff Assistant
Surgeons, and medical officers in charge of general
hospitals, will be furnished with additional instruments on special
requisition, provided the
reasons for requiring them be given and prove satisfactory to the
Surgeon General.
28. The Surgeon General, Assistant Surgeon
General, Medical Inspector General, and
Medical Inspectors, are allowed the same instruments as Staff Surgeons.
29. These instruments will be accounted for to the Surgeon General on
the 31st of De-
cember annually, in a special return, (Form 11,) in which the true
condition of each must
be stated ; and if any be lost or damaged, a report of the facts and
circumstances attend-
ing such loss or damage must be given.
30. Amputating, trephining, exsecting, general operating, and pocket
instruments that
do not correspond in detail with the sets prescribed by regulations,
will be accounted for
as the regular property returns as amputating, trephining, exsecting,
general operating pocket sets, without designating the special instruments comprising
each set, or making special return thereof.
31. Medical officers will report to the Surgeon General and to the
issuing officer all defects
observed in the quality, quantity, or packing of medical and hospital
supplies, or in the
material or construction of their surgical Instruments, giving the name
of the vendor or
maker, and of the officer by whom they were issued.
32. Carbolic acid, (Bower's,) sulphate of iron, nitrate of lead,
chlorinated lime, perman-
ganate of potash, or charcoal, will be furnished as antiseptics or
disinfectants, when re-
quired.
33. Applications for microscopes by medical
officers in charge of general hospitals will
be favorably considered, provided the evidence be satisfactory that the
officer will use the
instrument for the benefit of science, and will report the results of
his observations to the
Surgeon General.
34. The dissecting case, obstetrical case, pocket case for hospitals,
teeth-extracting case,
medicine case, and medicine panniers, will be issued, receipted, and
returned for as sets
without stating their contents in detail.
35. No officer shall drop from his return any medical or hospital
property as worn out
or unserviceable until it has been condemned after proper inspection,
and ordered to be so
dropped. Articles purchased with the hospital fund will not be accounted
for on the
regular return of medical and hospital property.
36. Requisitions on officers of the Quartermaster's Department for
hospitals, and the
necessary fixtures and hospital tents, for fuel, straw, and wagons for
the transportation of
the sick and wounded, and of medical and hospital supplies, and will be
made by the
senior surgeon and approved by the commanding officer or Medical
Director. Requisitions
for hospitals will state the number and dimensions of the rooms
required, the use to
which they are severally to be applied, and the strength of the command
for which they
are estimated, duplicates of which will be transmitted to the Surgeon
General.
37. Surgical instruments, medicine cases, panniers, and mess chests that
need and are
worth repairing, or that require to be refilled, will be invoiced and
sent, when circum-
stances permit, to the nearest Medical Purveyor or Medical Storekeeper,
and are not to be
submitted to inspection with a view to condemnation, unless the probable
expense of trans-
portation and repair will exceed the value of the articles.
38. All empty boxes, cans, and bottles, in which medical and hospital
supplies were
received, are to be carefully cleansed and preserved from damage. Such
as will not be
required for further use in the hospital will be disposed of, at either
private or public sale,
at least once a year, and the net proceeds of such sales will be furned
over to the nearest
Medical Purveyor, and be receipted for by him as public funds pertaining
to the Medical
Department of the Army. At stations near a Medical Purveyor, these
articles will be
turned over to that officer.
39. In all official lists of medical supplies, the classification,
order, and nomenclature of
the Standard Supply Table will be strictly followed. The whole table
need not be tran-
scribed, but the names of those articles only which are accounted for or
required.
Circular No. 7. Surgeon General's
Office, ( May 7, 1863)
ALLOWANCE OF SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS FOR MEDICAL OFFICERS,
FOR STAFF SURGEONS AND ASSISTANT SURGEONS.
FOR CAPITAL OPERATIONS
Two Amputating Knives, one long, one medium.
Two Catlings, one long, one medium.
Four Scalpels.
One Cartilage Knife.
One Capital Saw, long, bow, two blades.
One Metacarpal Saw.
One Chain Saw.
One Hey's Saw.
One Trephine, conical.
One Trephine, small crown.
One Bone Forceps, Liston's long, sharp,
spring handle.
One Bone Forceps, broad-edged, slightly
curved, spring handle.
One Bone Forceps, gnawing, spring handle.
One Bone Forceps, sequestrum, spring handle.
One Artery Forceps.
One Artery Needle.
One Artery Needle Key.
Twelve Surgeon's Needles.
One Tourniquet Screw, with pad.
One Tenaculeum.
One Scissors.
One Chisel.
One Gouge.
One Mallet.
Four Drills, (with one handle.)
Two Retractors.
One Raspatory.
One Elevator.
One Brush.
Twelve yards Suture Wire, iron.
One ounce Ligature Silk.
One ounce Wax.
One Mahogany Case, brass bound, slide catch.
One Leather Pouch.
FOR MINOR OPERATIONS.
One Amputating Knife.
Three Scalpels.
Two Bistouries.
One Hernia Knife.
One Finger Knife.
One Artery Forceps,
One Bail Forceps.
One Gullet, Forceps.
One Dressing Forceps.
One Dissection Forceps.
One Artery Needle.
One Artery Needle Key.
Twelve Surgeon's Needles.
One Tenaculum.
Two Scissors.
One Trocar and Canula.
One Belloc's Canula.
One Bullet Probe.
One Director.
One Cutting Pliers, small.
Six Steel Bougies, silvered, double curve,
Nos. 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8,
9 and 10, 11 and 12.
Three silver Catheters, Nos. 3, 6, and 9.
Six Gum-elastic Catheters, Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7,
9, and 11.
Twenty-four Suture Pins, silvered.
Six yards Suture Wire, iron.
One quarter ounce ligature Silk. ,
One quarter ounce Wax.
One Mahogany Case, brass-bound, slide catch.
One Leather Pouch.
FOR THE POCKET CASE
One Scalpel.
Three Bistouries.
One Tenotome.
One Gum Lancet.
IVo Thumb Lancets.
One Razor, small.
One Artery Forceps.
One Dressing Forceps.
One Artery Needle.
Six Surgeon's Needles.
One Exploring Needle.
One Tenaculeum.
One Scissors.
One Director.
Three Probes.
One Caustic Holder.
One Silver Catheter, compound.
Six yards Suture Wire, iron.
One quarter ounce Ligature Silk.
One quarter ounce Wax.
One Russia Leather Case.
One Leather Trunk for the set.
FOR REGIMENTAL SURGEONS AND ASSISTANT SURGEONS.
FOR THE FIELD CASE.
Two Amputating Knives, one long, one medium.
Two Catlins, one long, one medium.
Three Scalpels.
Two Bistouries.
One Hernia Knife.
One Finger Knife
One Capital Saw, long, bow, two blades.
One Metacarpal Saw.
One Key's Saw.
One Trephine, conical.
One Bone Forceps, broad-edged, slightly
curved, spring handle.
One Bone Forceps, sequestrum, spring handle.
One Artery Forceps.
One Ball Forceps.
One Dressing Forceps.
One Dissection Forceps.
One Artery Needle.
One Artery Needle Key.
Twelve Surgeon's Needles.
Pocket Case, the same as
One Tourniquet, screw, with pad.
One Tenaculeum.
Two Scissors.
Two Retractors.
One Trocar and Canula.
One Raspatory.
One Elevator.
One Brush.
One Bullet Probe.
One Director.
Six Steel Bougies, silvered, double curve,
Nos. 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8,
9 and 10, 11 and 12.
Three Silver Catheters, Nos. 3, 6, 9.
Six Gum-elastic Catheters, Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7,
9, 11.
Twelve yards Suture Wire, iron.
One quarter ounce Ligature Silk.
One quarter ounce Wax.
One Mahogany Case, brass bound, slide catch.
One Leather Pouch.
Allowed to Staff Surgeons
CONTENTS OF THE SETS OF INSTRUMENTS AND APPLIANCES REFERRED TO
IN THE STANDARD SUPPLY TABLE.
1. The dissecting case.
One Cartilage Knife.
Three Scalpels.
One Tenaculeum.
One Dissection Forceps.
One Chain and Hooks.
Two Needles and Thread.
One Enterotome.
One Scissors.
One Blowpipe.
One Chisel.
Mahogany Box.
2. The obstetrical case.
One Simpson's Forceps.
One Vectis or Lever.
One Crochet and Blunt Hook.
One Perforator.
Russia Leather Case.
3. The pocket case for hospitals.
One sharp-pointed Bistoury.
One probe-pointed Bistoury.
One Scalpel.
One Tenaculeum.
One Abscess Lancet.
One Compound Catheter.
One Straight Scissors.
One Angular Scissors.
One Dressing Forceps.
One Artery Forceps.
One Spatula.
One Director.
Two Probes.
Six Needles.
Ligature Silk and Wax.
Russia Leather Case.
4. The teeth extracting case.
One Key with three Hooks.
Two Forceps for Molars.
One Forceps for Bicuspids.
One Forceps for Incisors.
One Gum Lancet.
One Stump Elevator.
Russia Leather Case.
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