Iv. Literature and Institutions

The body of the text: Literacy's corporeal constant

“…"Skillful diagnoses, judicious medication, or bold and successful operation, if not properly recorded," wrote John Shaw Billings in 1876, "benefit the individual only, not being available for those compari-sons and higher generalizations which alone can make medicine a science. " 59 A prominent surgeon, librarian, and statistician, Billings (1838-1913) built a national medical library in the Surgeon-General's Office, collected medical statistics during the Civil War, and founded the Index Medicus, the major catalogue of medical research in the United States. He counted a single medical book by an American author at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, three reprints, and about twenty pamphlets.…”

John Jones, M.D.: Pioneer, Patriot, and Founder of American Surgery

“…The text was reprinted in 1776, emphasizing the importance of the work, and was used extensively during the Revolutionary War [9]. ''At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, we had one medical book by an American author, three reprints, and about twenty pamphlets,'' Dr. John Shaw Billings wrote in 1876 [10]. John Jones was the American author, and the only medical book the fledgling American army used was written by him.…”