1881, but, as on account of the peculiar nature of the work newly appointed clerks experience considerable difficulty in learning the same, some time must necessarily elapse before they can be expected to perform it with the facility and accuracy exhibited by those who, from long experience, are more familiar with the records. Because of the overcrowded condition of the building Nos. 509-511, Tenth street, northwest, in which the hospital records are filed, fortytwo clerks were transferred to the building on the northeast corner of F and Tenth streets, northwest, the second and third floors of which were secured for their accommodation from the 1st of July, 1881, by authority of the Secretary of War. During the past fiscal year 2,655 monthly reports of sick and wounded have been received from the medical officers in charge of the various posts and stations. These have been examined, consolidated on statistical sheets for use, and the deaths and discharges entered in the appropriate alphabetical registers. Eight hundred and sixty-six monthly meteorological reports were received from medical officers, which have been transmitted to the Chief Signal Officer of the Army for his use, and 992 reports of the medical examination of recruits were received and filed. Seven hundred and twenty-three volumes of hospital records were received from discontinued posts and commands, making the total number of such volumes on file 18,083. DIVISION OF SURGICAL RECORDS. The work pertaining to this division of the Surgeon-General's Office has embraced the reception, acknowledgement, and examination of the surgical reports of the medical officers of the Army, the correspondence referring to the reception and classification of specimens received for the Army Medical Museum, and the continuance of the publication of the Surgical History of the War. Five thousand nine hundred and sixty-two cases of wounds, accidents, and injuries were recorded in Class V of the monthly reports of sick and wounded during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881, in a mean strength of the Army of 23,804 men. The deaths from wounds received in action or from other violent causes numbered 91, being a proportion of 3.8 per 1,000 of mean strength. From medical officers in charge of post hospitals, or with detachments of troops in the field, 2,436 official reports were received. Of these, 1,710 were regular quarterly reports, 54 were special, 661 miscellaneous and 11 reports of casualties. The losses in actions with hostile Indians were 12 killed and 13 wounded; sustained in the following engagements: 1. At Rocky Ridge, Texas, July 30, 1880, in a fight between Companies C and G, Tenth Cavalry, and a number of Apache Indians, Acting Assist. Surg. C. K. Gregg reported 1 lieutenant and 1 private wounded, and 1 private killed by a shot through the chest. 2. Near Eagle Spring, Texas, August 3, 1880, a party of Indians, 15 in number, attacked a detachment of 5 men of the Tenth Cavalry. Acting Assist. Surg. C. K. Gregg reported 1 private killed and I wounded. 3. On August 4, 1880, at Taylor's Cañon, Guadalupe Mountains, Texas, 1 private of the Tenth Cavalry was killed, and 1 wounded; the report was sent by Acting Assist. Surg. M. F. Price. 4. A detachment of Company G, Ninth Cavalry, was attacked on September 1, 1880, by a party of hostile Mescalero Indians, at Agua Chiquito, sixty-six miles from the Mescalero Apache Agency, South Fork, N. Mex. Acting Assist. Surg. F. H. Atkins reported 2 1 privates wounded, death ensuing on the second and third days after; both were shot in the abdomen. 5. On the morning of September 7, 1880, Company A of the Fourth Cavalry and 10 Indian scouts, attacked Victoria's band of Indians in the Mogoleon Mountains, about twenty miles from Fort Cummings, N. Mex.; 1 private and 2 scouts were killed, and 3 privates were wounded. No medical officer was present at the fight; an account of the engagement was sent by Assist. Surg. W. R. Hall. 6. At Ojo Caliente, October 28, 1880, from 20 to 30 Mexican Indians, supposed to belong to Victoria's band, attacked the pickets of the Tenth Cavalry; 1 corporal and 4 privates were reported as killed, by Acting Assist. Surg. W. Church Henderson. 7. One musician and 1 private of the Ninth Cavalry, were wounded in a fight at the Mescalero Indian Agency, N. Mex., December 2, 1880. Reported by Assist. Surg. R. C. Newton. 8. On January 24, 1881, an escort to a wagon train was attacked by Indians at Cruz Cañon, N. Mex. Acting Assist. Surg. F. S. Dewey reported 1 private of Company D, Ninth Cavalry, severely wounded; the man died on January 25, 1881. 9. On April 30, 1881, Acting Assist. Surg. W. Whitney reported a private of Company B, Ninth Cavalry, killed by Apache Indians in the Boca Grande Mount ains. At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, 8,862 cases of injuries and operations reported in the Army since the publication of Circular No. 3, in 1871, had been collected; to these have been added, during the last fiscal year, 1,306 cases, viz, 215 injuries of the face, 4 of the neck, 37 of the trunk, 190 of the upper extremities, 100 of the lower extremities, 539 simple fractures, luxations, and sprains, and 221 miscellaneous injuries, making a total of 10,168 cases, namely, 2,499 injuries of the head, 356 of the face, 69 of the neck, 633 of the trunk, 1,766 of the upper extremities, 1,150 of the lower extremities, 2,553 simple fract ures, luxations, and sprains, and 1,122 miscellaneous injuries. Surgical statistics of the war.-From reports of pension examiners and through correspondence with medical officers who served during the war, additional information has been received in 102 cases of injuries received during the War of the Rebellion and from searches in the Pension Office the remote results were ascertained in 886 cases. PROPERTY DIVISION. The following is a summary statement of the work performed in the property division of this office during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881, viz: Letters received and recorded.. Letters sent and recorded.. Indorsements sent, charged Accounts current examinetl, recorded and forwarded to Treasury. Indorsements sent, recorded Vouchers pertaining to accounts current examined, recorded in detail, approved and forwarded Accounts of sales with vouchers settled. Miscellaneous notifications..... Statements of funds received, recorded, and forwarded to Treasury. Property returns examined and settled. Property returns prepared in Surgeon-General's Office..... Letters and indorsements sent, pertaining to property returns.... Aggregate... The contributors to the Army Medical Museum were 9 surgeons, 28 assistant surgeons, 15 acting assistant surgeons, 3 hospital stewards, 1 private, and 32 civilians. The names of 34,479 visitors were registered at the Army Medical Museum during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1881. Sixty-five negatives and 1,802 photographic prints of surgical objects were made, and 1,026 of them were distributed among correspondents and contributors. Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion.-One hundred and ten drawings on wood, 96 engravings, and 4 lithographic plates were prepared for Volume II of Part III of the Medical and Surgical History of the War, and 152 pages of this volume were completed, advancing the work from page 382 to page 534, inclusive. LIBRARY. Nearly two thousand five hundred volumes, and 3,200 pamphlets have been added to the library during the past year, making the total number about 54,000 volumes, and 60,200 pamphlets. The publication of Volume II of the Index-Catalogue has been completed, and the edition of 1,500 copies is being distributed. The manuscript of Volume III is now going to press. An estimate has been forwarded for printing Volume IV of the Catalogue, and it is hoped that the appropriation asked for will be granted, in order that the progress of this important work may not be retarded. A NEW FIRE-PROOF BUILDING A NECESSITY FOR THE ARMY MEDI. CAL MUSEUM AND LIBRARY. I would again invite attention to the necessity for a new fire-proof building for the Army Medical Museum and Library, set forth in my last report, and would refer to the following extract from the message of the President to Congress at the commencement of its last session, and request that the subject be again brought to the attention of that body: The collections of books, specimens, and records constituting the Army Medical Museum and Library are of national importance. The library now contains about 51,500 volumes and 57,000 pamphlets relating to medicine, surgery, and allied topics. The contents of the Army Medical Museum consists of 22,000 specimens, and are unique in the completeness with which both military surgery and the diseases of armies are illustrated. Their destruction would be an irreparable loss, not only to the United States, but to the world. There are filed in the record and pension division, over 16,000 bound volumes of hospital records, together with a great quantity of papers, embracing the original records of the hospitals of our armies during the civil war. Aside from their historical value, these records are daily searched for evidence needed in the settlement of large numbers of pension and other claims, for the protection of the Government against attempted frauds, as well as for the benefit of honest claimants. These valuable collections are now in a building which is peculiarly exposed to the danger of destruction by fire. It is therefore earnestly recommended that an appropriation be made for a new fire-proof building, adequate for the present needs and reasonable future expansion of these valuable collections. Such a building should be absolutely fire-proof; no expenditure for mere architectural display is required. It is believed that a suitable structure can be erected at a cost not to exceed $250,000. MISCELLANEOUS. The requirements of the Army as regards medical officers during the past year have been as follows: Number of permanent posts.............. Number of temporary posts and substations. Total... Number of military expeditions in the field during the year 152 24 176 17 The services of 34 medical officers were required with these expedi tions, and there were also 84 medical officers reported to this office as having been on duty with scouting parties during the year. The Army Medical Examining Board, convened in New York City on the 7th of November, 1877, for the examination of assistant surgeons for promotion, and of candidates for appointment in the medical corps of the Army, has been continued in session throughout the past year, and since my last report 8 candidates have been found qualified and approved by the board; of whom 4 were appointed and commissioned assistant surgeons, on the 18th of February last, and the names of the remaining 4 have been submitted to the Secretary of War for appointment, and in due time will be presented to the Senate for confirmation. The following is a recapitulation of the work thus far performed by the Army Medical Examining Board: Number of assistant surgeons examined for promotion.... Number of candidates for appointment in the medical corps invited to ap 44 pear for examination.... Number of candidates found qualified. Number of candidates rejected... Number of candidates who withdrew after partial examination.... Total number examined.. Number of candidates who failed to appear for examination.. Total number invited but not examined.... At the date of my last report there were 9 vacancies in the medical corps, all of which were in the grade of assistant surgeon. During the past year 1 assistant medical purveyor, with the rank of lieutenantcolonel, 1 surgeon, with the rank of major, 1 assistant surgeon, with the rank of captain, and 1 lieutenant-colonel, retired, have died, and 1 assistant surgeon, with the rank of captain, has resigned; 1 surgeon, with the rank of major, has been promoted to assistant medical purveyor, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and 2 assistant surgeons have been promoted to surgeon, with the rank of major; 4 appointments in the grade of assistant surgeons have also been made; leaving 9 vacancies in the medical corps at the present time in the grade of assistant surgeon. There are at present 13 medical officers on sick leave of absence, 5 of whom have been found incapacitated for active service and recommended for retirement by army retiring boards, and 1 has been recommended to be brought before a retiring board with a view to his retirement from active service; 3 medical officers are on ordinary leave of absence after a tour of duty on the remote frontier; leaving 162 medical officers for duty. The medical officers who have died during the year are as follows: Lieut. Col. Richard S. Satterlee (retired), at New York City, November 10, 1880. Lieut. Col. Geo. E. Cooper, assistant medical purveyor, at San Francisco, Cal., April 13, 1881. Maj. George A. Otis, surgeon, at Washington, D. C., February 23, 1881. Capt. John W. Brewer, assistant surgeon, at the Government Hospital for the Insane, November 15, 1880. Lieut. Col. Richard S. Satterlee, chief medical purveyor (retired), entered the service as an assistant surgeon, February 25, 1822; was promoted to surgeon (with the rank of major), July 13, 1832; appointed lieutenant-colonel and chief medical purveyor, July 28, 1866, and retired from active service, as lieutenant-colonel, February 22, 1869. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel, colonel, and brigadier-general, by brevet, September 2, 1864, for diligent care and attention in procuring proper army supplies as medical purveyor, and for economy and fidelity in the disbursement of large sums of money. He served at Fort Niagara, N. Y., to March, 1823; at Detroit, Mich., to September, 1823; at Fort Howard, Wis., to June, 1825; at Fort Mackinac, Mich., to November, 1831; at Fort Winnebago, Wis., to September, 1833; at Fort Howard, Wis., to October, 1837; in Florida, to May, 1838; with troops removing the Cherokee Indians, to September, 1838; at Plattsburg, N. Y., to November, 1840; in Florida, to August, 1842; at Fort Adams, R. I., to October, 1846; with the Army in Mexico, to June, 1848; at Fort Adams, R. I., to October, 1853; accompanied Third United States Artillery to California, in December, 1853, and was wrecked on board the steamship San Francisco; attending surgeon and medical purveyor at New York City from March, 1854, to July, 1866; chief medical purveyor of the Army and stationed at New York City from July, 1866, to February 21, 1870: having been directed by the President to remain on duty as chief medical purveyor after his retirement from active service. Dr. Satterlee was born at Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York, December 6, 1799, and entered the service from Michigan. He wason duty for many years among the Indians of the Northwest, where he became a great favorite and rendered important services. During the Seminole |