William A. Hammond facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William A. Hammond
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| Birth name | William Alexander Hammond |
| Born | August 28, 1828 Annapolis, Maryland |
| Died | January 5, 1900 (aged 71) Washington, D.C. |
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| Allegiance | United States of America Union |
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U.S. Army Medical Corps Union Army |
| Years of service | 1849–1860, 1861–1864 |
| Rank |  Brigadier General |
| Commands held | Surgeon General of the U.S. Army |
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William Alexander Hammond (born August 28, 1828 – died January 5, 1900) was an American doctor who specialized in military medicine and the study of the nervous system. During the American Civil War, he served as the eleventh Surgeon General of the United States Army from 1862 to 1864. He also started the Army Medical Museum, which is now known as the National Museum of Health and Medicine.
He was the first American doctor to focus only on neurology, which is the study of the brain and nerves. He wrote the first American book about neurology and helped create the American Neurological Association.
Contents
A Doctor's Life
William Hammond was born in Annapolis, Maryland. He grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He became a doctor at just 20 years old, earning his degree from New York University.
After working for a short time in a private practice, he joined the United States Army as an assistant surgeon. This was in 1849. He served in the army until 1860.
His early army work took him to New Mexico, where he was part of the Sioux Wars. He also visited military hospitals in Europe. He spent many years doing research. In 1857, his research paper won an award from the American Medical Association.
He was interested in how poisons affect the nervous system, like snake venom. He wrote a paper about this with another doctor, Silas Weir Mitchell, in 1859. That same year, he was chosen to join the American Philosophical Society.
While working at Fort Riley, Hammond also collected different plants and animals. In 1860, he left the army to become a professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
The Civil War
When the American Civil War began, Hammond worked at a hospital in Baltimore. He then rejoined the army on May 28, 1861, soon after the war started.
He was sent to West Virginia and met Jonathan Letterman. Hammond worked with Letterman and General William Starke Rosecrans to design a new type of ambulance wagon.
The army's medical services had many problems at the time. However, this gave Hammond a chance to advance. The tenth Surgeon General, Clement Finley, was fired. President Abraham Lincoln then chose the 34-year-old Hammond to take his place. This was a big step up for him. Hammond became the Surgeon General of the Army on April 25, 1862.
Leading the Army Medical Corps
As Surgeon General, Hammond made many important changes. He made it harder to join the Army Medical Corps, making sure only the best doctors were accepted.
He greatly increased the number of hospitals. He also made sure hospitals had good air flow. He created Satterlee Hospital, which could hold up to 4,500 patients in hundreds of tents. Hospitals were also told to keep much better records.
In Washington, D.C., he started the National Museum of Health and Medicine. He put John H. Brinton in charge of it. Hammond also suggested creating a permanent military medical group and a permanent hospital for soldiers. He wanted the government to be in charge of giving out medicines, not private companies.
He successfully moved the responsibility for medical transport trains from private companies to the government. He personally watched over the building of these wagons. He also supported Letterman's ambulance system, which was tested and then used across the entire Union army. These changes helped lower the number of deaths and made the medical services work better. Hammond promoted people based on their skills, not their connections.
Leaving His Post
On May 4, 1863, Hammond stopped the use of a mercury medicine called calomel in the army. He believed it was not safe or helpful, especially for sick soldiers. Many other doctors disagreed because they had no other treatments.
Hammond's way of dealing with problems sometimes made things worse. His relationship with the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, became difficult. On September 3, 1863, Hammond was sent on a long "inspection tour" to the South. This effectively removed him from his job. Joseph Barnes became the acting Surgeon General.
Hammond asked to be put back in his job or to face a military trial. A trial found him guilty of "irregularities" in buying medical furniture. He was dismissed from the army on August 18, 1864.
Studying the Brain and Nerves
With help from his friends, Hammond started a new life in New York City. In 1867, he became a professor at Bellevue Hospital Center, teaching about nervous and mental diseases. He also taught at New York University starting in 1874.
He helped start the Post Graduate Medical School of New York. In the 1870s, he became the first American doctor to focus only on treating nervous and mental diseases. He even did early tests using lithium to treat mania.
In 1871, he published his most famous book, Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System. In 1874, he helped create the American Neurological Association with Silas Weir Mitchell and others. In 1878, he was given his rank of brigadier general back in the army, but without pay.
Hammond wrote many books and articles. He was known for being energetic and for believing in freedom and reform. He enjoyed writing in his free time. He wrote about science and nature. He even wrote a short biography of Polydore Vergil.
In 1888, he moved back to Washington, D.C. There, he started a hospital for people with nervous and mental diseases.
He passed away in Washington on January 5, 1900, from heart failure. He was buried with military honors at the Arlington National Cemetery.
William Hammond was married twice. He had five children with his first wife, Helen Nisbet. His son, Graeme Hammond, also became a neurologist and was an Olympic fencer. William Hammond also wrote a novel with his daughter, the novelist Clara Lanza.
A Scientific Thinker
Hammond was a scientific skeptic. This means he used science and reason to question things. He was critical of spiritualism, which is the belief that people can talk to spirits. He thought that things like "mediumship" were just tricks or caused by hypnosis or other nervous conditions.
His book The Physics and Physiology of Spiritualism (1871) was an early book about why people believe in strange things. He also wrote that spiritualism itself could be a form of mental illness.
His book, Fasting Girls: Their Physiology and Pathology (1879), is still mentioned today. In this book, he looked at claims of "fasting girls" who said they never ate. He believed these cases were due to tricks or nervous conditions.
Books and Writings
Hammond wrote many important books and articles. Here are some of them:
Medicine
- (1857) Experimental research relative to the nutritive value and physiological effects of albumen starch and gum, when singly and exclusively used as a food
- (1861) On uraemic intoxication
- (1863) Treatise on hygiene, with special reference to the military service (Hammond wrote this book because he couldn't find a good guide on hygiene for the military.)
- (1866) On wakefulness: With an introductory chapter on the physiology of sleep
- (1868) Physiological memoirs
- (1869) Sleep and its derangements
- (1871) Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System
- (1871) Physics and physiology of spiritualism (About Spiritualism, the paranormal, and hysteria)
- (1879) "The non-asylum treatment of the insane" (He believed that not all people with mental illness needed to be sent to an asylum.)
- (1879) Fasting girls (About people who claimed they never ate.)
- (1881) On certain conditions of nervous derangement, somnambulism—hypnotism—hysteria—hysteroid affections, etc.
- (1883) A treatise on insanity in its medical relations
Translations
- (1869) Moritz Meyer, Electricity in its relations to practical medicine, translated by W. A. Hammond.
Speeches
- (1880) "Our friends who have passed away".
Articles in Popular Science Monthly
- (1883) "Perceptional Insanities"
- (1884) "The Relations Between the Mind and the Nervous System"
- (1887) "Brain-Forcing in Childhood" (About whether parents should push their children to be child geniuses.)
- (1890) "Sumptuary Laws and their Social Influence" (About whether the government should control people's behavior.)
History
- (1868) "Introduction" to Polydori Virgilii De rerum inventoribus (A short biography of Polydore Vergil written by Hammond.)
Fiction
- (1867) Robert Severne, his friends and his enemies
- (1884) Lal
- (1885) Doctor Grattan
- (1885) Mr. Oldmixon
- (1886) Tales of Eccentric Life (Written with his daughter, Clara Lanza.)
- (1886) A strong-minded woman, or Two years after
- (1887) On the Susquehanna
- (1898) The Son of Perdition
Things Named After Him
- Hammond's disease: This is a type of movement disorder called athetosis. Hammond was the first to describe it in his book Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System. He also created the word "athetosis."
- Animals: Several animals are named after him because he collected specimens for scientists.
- The western spadefoot toad was named after Hammond by Spencer Fullerton Baird of the Smithsonian Institution.
- The Thamnophis hammondii (a type of snake) was also named after him.
- The Hammond's flycatcher (a bird) is named after his work in studying birds.
See also
- Joseph Janvier Woodward
- Joseph K. Barnes
- John Shaw Billings
- Medicine in the American Civil War
- Hammond General Hospital
