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: John Paul Quinn, M.D.
U.S. Naval Asylum
Philadelphia Pa
Sept. 17th 1863.
Gentlemen:
My first duty, as an Assistant
Surgeon in the U.S. Navy, was performed at the U.S. Naval Rendezvous in
this City during a portion of the month of May '61. My official
connection with that Station terminated, on the receipt of orders from
the Department, dated 4th June 1861, directing me to Report
for Duty on board the U.S. Frigate St. Lawrence, Capt. H. Y. Purivance
U.S.N. Commanding. The Vessel sailed from the Navy Yard at this Port;
June 29th of the same year. Her Cruising was confined to are
own Coast during a few months I remained attached to her. Surgeon
Robert Woodworth, U.S.N. was her [unclear] Medical Officer on board, and
favored me with a written testimonial, which I have already placed in
the hands of the Board.
My next Order detached me from the
St. Lawrence and directed me to “Report to Capt. Pearson, U.S.N.,
Comman'g Navy Yard, Portsmouth N.H., for Duty on board the U.S. Gunboat
Sebago.” I remained attached to the Sebado from Feb'y 20th
1862, until July 22nd 1863 – The date of her return to New
York. I was then ordered to the Receiving Ship North Carolina, and
subsequently, at my own request, I was transferred to the Naval
Hospital, N. Y.
The Cases I met with on board Ships,
were generally devoid of interest. On two or three occasions, it was my
good fortune to be in position where I could render Surgical aid to the
Army, and in that way I was enabled to see some peculiarly interesting
cases among our wounded Soldiers.
I have the honor to remain Gentlemen,
Very respectfully,
Your Ob't Serv'tJno.
Paul QuinnAsst. Surgeon, U.S.N.
To the Naval Medical
Board,
Naval Asylum
Phila
Questions of the Board:
Asst Surgn Jno
Paul Quinn
1. Describe the operation of the vena
section at the bend of the arm.
2. What are the diameters of the
fœtal head?
3. The symptoms of dislocation of the
thigh into the Ischiatic notch, and the mode of reduction?
4. Give some account of the nature of
the human voice; the mechanism + action of the organs involved _
5. Write without abbreviations a
composite prescription for chronic bronchitis in a debilitated person.
6. Give the mode in which alcohol is
derived from Starch.
7. Give the reflexions of the
Peritoneum.
8. What are the physical signs of
Pleuritis?
9. What are the tests for sugar
(grape)?
Answers by Quinn:
A.I. Apply a small bandage about two
inches above the end of the arm + tight moderately. Place thumb of left
hand half an inch below the point selected for incision, on medien-cephalic
[sic] vein or median-basilic, if the former; make an incision, obliquely
to the axis of the vein – small, or large, according to the impression
you wish to make on the system – taking care to avoid the artery, by
previously feeling for its pulsations. The external cutaneous nerve is
apt to be wounded in this neighborhood. When sufficient blood has been
abstracted, place the thumb (removed from the vein immediately after its
puncture), over the bleeding orifice; remove bandage; put a compress on
the wounded vein and retain its there for three or four turns of a
3-inch bandage. The bandage and compress should remain about 48 hours.
A.II. Diameters of the fœtal head –
Anterio-posterior 4 ½ inches. Bi-parietal 3 ¾. Occipito-mental 5
inches. Circumference 14 inches. The size, and consequently
measurements, of the fœtal head are variable, and smaller in the female
than in the male head.
A.III. Pain; head of the bone felt
in the ischiatic notch; thigh inclined to sound side; foot inverted;
shortening of the leg.
Modes of reduction: – by
manipulation; – flex thigh on abdomen, leg on thigh; rotate the limb and
carried upwards and across the sound side, downwards and outwards etc.
repeating the movements until the head of the bones slips into the
Acetabulum. By extension and counter-extension make the extending force
in direction of displacement.
A.IIII. The vocal apparatus is
sometimes compared to an instrument. Voice is caused by the vibration
of air on the vocal cords during expiration, its pitch and tone
depending upon the force of the expiration. The vocal apparatus is
composed of the crycoid [sic], thyroid, two aretynoid and two semi-lunar
cartilages; muscles, nerves, blood-vessels etc. Speech is formed by the
aid of the tongue, lips + teeth etc.
A.V. Recipe – Decoti Senegae
Octarius
Misturae
Acaciae Unciam
Syrupi
Toulitani [sic, unknown] Unciam semess
Misce. Signa,
Unciam ter in die.
A.VI. First convert into dextren
[sic] by an acid + then by the presence of an animal substance, at the
temperature of 70 Fahr. [sic] dextren [sic] is converted into Alcohol
and Carbonic Acid.
A.VII. From the umbilicus to the
under surface of the diaphragm from thence it is reflected in the upper
surface of the liver, part of its under surface, then crosses the
stomach, forming the gastro-hepatic omentum – down over the intestines
forming one layer of the mesentery – to under portion of colon –
[unclear, a correction was made here] anterior portion of bladder, and
so on to the place of starting, in males it is a shut sac. Near the
posterior portion of the gallbladder is the foramen of Winslow.
A.VIII. Dry friction sounds soon
followed by dullness on percussion and ęgophony.
A.IX. Frommer's test. Add to a
solution containing grape sugar a few drops of a solution of Sulph.
Copper – merely enough to give a light blue collar – then add caustic
Potassa in excess and heat the mixture. A yellowish precipitate will be
thrown down – The sub-oxide of copper.
Moore’s test. The suspect liquid
changes to a brown color on the addition of caustic Potassa.
The fermentation test. Mix the sugar
was some putrifying substance and maintain the mixture at a temperature
of 70° Fahr. There will be an escape of bubbles – Carbonic Acid.
Very respectfully Yours
Your Obt Servt
Jno. Paul Quinn, Asst Surgn
To the Naval Medical Board
Naval Asylum
Phila
Pneumonia by Dr. Quinn
An Inflammation of the parenchymatous
and cellular structure of the lungs. Most often met with in Winter and
Spring; attacks all ages; exposure to cold, moisture and alterations of
temperature of the direct causes.
Symptoms –. If the disease is
generally ushered in by a slight chill; followed by a febrile symptoms;
pain in one or both sides; cough and dyspnoea, uneasiness etc.;
increased pain on inspiration; flushed face, furred tongue, and full
hard pulse, soon attended with, hacking cough; expectoration of mucus
which is sometimes streaked with blood. In the second stage the sputum
is sometimes colored brown, like brick-dust, iron-rust, or even
prime-juice. Progressively this is changed to, or mixed with, a frothy,
creamy matter, muco- or sero-purulent.
In the worst case it grows thin
sero-sanguinolent, dark and highly offensive. The pulse becomes small,
weak, and very frequent; skin cold and clammy; livid and shrunken
countenance; lips and tongue bluish or purple; there is a low muttering
delirium; cessation of cough and expectoration and, death.
Physical signs – Impairment and final
loss of respiratory murmur, with the crepitant rȃle; absence of
resonance over the affected part, which is generally the lower lobe of
the right lung. When the expectoration becomes free, an open mucus rȃle
and bronchophony can be heard, with great vibration when the patient
speaks.
Diagnosis. – Distinguished from
pleurisy by the early absence of respiratory murmur; frottement
[underlined by board, a friction rub, not commonly heard in pneumonia]
and dullness on percussion. From bronchitis by the prune-juice sputa
and dullness.
Prognosis. – In young or very old
subjects, or if the constitution be in fault, unfavorable.
Autopsy. – In the first, or
congestive stage, the lung is marked a deep red color, crepitates under
pressure, retains the pits, exudes frosty serum, floats on water. In
the second, or inflammatory stage, the lung is marked by deep red, a
reddish-brown, or grayish-red; absence of crepitation; sinks in water,
cohesion very much diminished. Third, or suppurative stage, fisted
conditions, grey hepatization an abscesses.
Treatment. – Venesection in the
first stage to an extent that relieves the breathing and decreases the
pulse (?) [sic]; cups and leeches, followed emollient poultices; a
saline cathartic with a diaphoretic; nifus seneca [sic] and salts, or
pulv. Doveri with hydrarg. Chlo. Mite aa [“ana” abbreviation, ‘of each
ingredient’] grs x, at night. Nit. of potassa with mercury, or seneca
with ipecacuanha, or tartar emetic with paregoric. Blisters over the
seat of injury after the first stage has passed – palliate the cough
with an anodyne expectorant. Tinct. tolu., tinct. Sanguinarię, and
benzoin.
Chronic Pneumonia
Sometimes follows pleuro-pneumonia,
catarrhal fever, gun-shot and other wounds of the lungs; asthma, gastric
and hepatic derangements; some of the exanthemata. An abscess forming
in the lung is attended with fixed, heavy pain, pulsating, or at times
lancinating; dyspnoea, increased by exercise or lying down, or rest on
the sound side; cough severe, and it first without expectoration. The
abscess sometimes discharges throug [sic] small openings, but more
frequently bursts and discharges freely, pus being coughed up in great
quantities. Expectoration continues abundant for some time and consists
of pus mingled with mucus and serum. Recovery may take place at this
point, but more frequently hectic sets in, with a long train of
symptoms. Digestion sometimes remains good up to the last stages,
diarrhœa then coming on, with redness and ulceration of the lips,
cheeks, gums, and tongue.
Prognosis – unfavorable; duration
varied.
Diagnosis – Attended with more pain
than bronchitis or phthisis.
Treatment – Small bleeding in the
first stage, repeated, if not contra-indicated; cups to the affected
side, followed by protracted blistering. Large warm fomenting poultices
are useful – Dovers powder before and after expectoration etc. etc.
[sic]
The treatment in both forms of this
disease is subject to great variety. The plan of treatment adopted by
Dr. Hughes Bennett seems to [unclear] which many eminent physicians.
The mortality being diminished in his practice. Their other varieties
of pneumonia which my limited space must exclude.
Very respectfully
Your Obt. Serv't
Jno. Paul Quinn
Asst. Surgeon U.S.N.
