US Army School of Nursing - Taps Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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Aan iHajor Salter Eeeli, JSI. ®. irihii nature has ' worh to be dour site ereiifes a (leiiitis to do it. — Emekson. ALTER REED was liorn in Gloucester County, Virginia, September 13, 1851. His parents were descendants of our English Colonial pioneers iM fc and he inherited from them the perseverance, self-control, and force of character which marks so significantly those early struggles in the Colonies, When the boy was six years old he began his education at a private school in Farmville, Prince Edward County. His keen desire for knowledge was manifested in his untiring efforts and his rapid advancement. At the age of 16, Walter Reed entered the University of Virginia and two years later, in 1867, was graduated, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. A few months after graduation he matriculated as a medical student at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, receiving his M. D. a year later. The next few vears were spent by the young doctor in various New York hospitals and as a district physician to one of the poorest districts in the city. The work afforded him a varied field of experience hut permitted little time for studv and so, after serious reflection. Dr. Reed decided to give up his civilian life and applied for entrance into the Medical Corps of the Army. In 1875 he l)rilliantly passed his entrance examination, received his com- mission of First Lieutenant, and his appointment at Willets Point. New York Harbor. The following year he was transferred to Camp Lowell, Arizona, but before he left was married to Miss Emilie Lawrence, of Murfreesboro. North Carolina, who shared with him the hardships of that western frontier life. There followed for the Reed family eighteen years of garrison life, including fifteen changes of station — years of training in constant daily, unselfish de- votion to the needs of others, often amid most uncongenial surroundings — a iDroad training which prepared Lieutenant Reed quite unconsciously for the great work in store for him. While stationed in Baltimore, in 1881, Captahi Reed, he had recently been promoted, pursued his studies at Johns Hopkins Universitv. His work there included courses in pathology, bacteriology, and research work, as well as general medicine and surgery. In 1893, when ordered to duty in the Surgeon General ' s Office, he was promoted to the rank of Major and appointed Curator of the Army Medical Museum and Professor of Bac- teriology and Clinical Microscopy in the United States Army Medical School. Major Reed ' s years of service in Washington, which were notable because of contributions to the scientific world, not only in the capacity of an instructor but also as a pioneer in new fields of research work, finally culminated; in that momentous expedition to Cuba in 1900, Yellow fever had broken out L X923 [ 19 I

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= Ban among the .Vmerican troops stationed at Havana. The mortality rate was extremely high, as no available means of controlling the disease was at that time known. A committee headed by Major Walter Reed, whose assistants were Dr. James Carol. Dr. Jesse W. Lazear, and Dr. jVristides .Agramonte. was sent to Havana to investigate the condition there. The record of that investi- gation is a story of unflinching duty, of self-sacrifice and self-efifacement, a story of men who unhesitatingly volunteered to offer themselves as subjects for tests whose outcome might be and sometimes were fatal. The unfaltering work of these men and their wonderful, inspiring lovalty to their cause made the commission successful. After carefully observing a great many cases and aided by bacterial and niicroscojMcal study. Dr. Reed discovered that the mosquito C. fasciatus serves as the intermediate host for the parasite of yellow fever. Thus by protecting ])atients from the carriers and eradication of the mosquitoes, a definite method of control was made possible, although the specific organism which causes yellow fever was unknown. E. ])eriments were conducted to discover the exact length of time necessar - for incubation. It was at this time that Dr. Lazaer was bitten by one of the dread carriers. He developed yellow fever in its most virulent form and died a few days later. The hardshijis and sac- rifices of that little band of workers in Cuba brought direct results. Not a single case of yellow fever occurred in Havana and as far as is known in Cuba in 1002. The world was thus freed of a dread disease. Upon his return to ' ashington, Alajor Keed resumed his work at the .■ rmy IMedical School and as Professor of Pathology and Bacteriology in Co!uml)ian University. In 1902 Harvard University bestowed upon him the honorary degree of M. A., and shortly after the degreed of LL. D. was con- ferred on him by the University of Alichigan. At the zenith of his career, with great work done but such far-reaching possibilities before him. the great man w as obliged to leave the field to other daring searchers. At the Army Hospital P.arracks. on November 22, 1902, Major Reed was operated u])on for appendicitis. Due to his weakened con- dition and lowered vitality, he was unable to cope with the complications that followed and he died the sixth day after the operation. He rests with the world ' s heroes at Arlington. On a knoll overlooking the City of ' ashington stands the beautiful marble monument which his wife and two children have erected to his memory. Dr. Reed was a skilled surgeon : he was a world-famed bacteriologist ; but the greate.sl lesson of his life is : that the secret of happiness and usefulness lies rather in giving what we can to life than in getting what we can from it. 1923 [21 1