HC 33

• Anthropometry, 1930
• Approximately 20 items.
• The collections includes a small collection of anthropometric instruments, including a skin color guide. Anthropometric research includes a facial mask of a Mayan man made by Morris Steggerda and casts of brains made by George Crile.

HC 34

• Body Weights and Measures, 1890-present
• Approximately 10 items.
• Includes devices for weighing and measuring the human body, such as skin fold calipers, doctor's office scales, a rhinometer, and a urethrometer.

HC 35

• Chemistry, Analytical, 1870-present
• Approximately 220 items.
• Includes mostly scientific glassware as well as a few examples of laboratory equipment.

HC 36

• Dilation, 1850-present
• Approximately 180 items.
• Includes instruments developed to expand openings in the body, such as mouth, nose, vagina, urethra or rectum. These instruments were used to assist in diagnosis or treatment of the affected area. Includes instruments which belonged to Civil War Surgeon General William H. Hammond.

HC 37

• Drug Administration Routes, 1850-present
• Approximately 460 items.
• Since the 19th century, a wide range of instruments has been devised for the administration of pharmaceuticals. These devices include medicine spoons; nebulizers, for intranasal drug administration; vaporizers, for the inhalation of drugs; and syringes and intravenous needles for direct administration into the bloodstream. Highlights include Hunter's syringe, an early hypodermic syringe developed in 1856, and nebulizers developed for the administration of aerosolized pentamidine, a treatment for Pneumocystis Carnii, an opportunistic infection resulting from AIDS.  

HC 38

• Irrigation, 1880-present
• Approximately 65 items.
• Instruments used to clean out parts of the body, due to wounds, surgery, or disease. Included in the collection are urethral irrigators, dating from the turn of the century, used for the treatment of syphilis.

HC 39

• Microscopy (a.k.a. Billings Microscope Collection), 1650-present
• Approximately 1,280 items.
• The Billings Microscope Collection is the largest and most comprehensive collection of microscopes in the world and the only collection in the Museum with a published catalog: The Billings Microscope Collection of the Medical Museum, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. 2nd edition. Washington, D.C.: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 1974. One of the earliest microscopes in the collection is the Robert Hooke microscope, circa 1686, which was used by the author of Micrographia, the first publication of observations made through a microscope. A collection of microscopes and accessories used by Joseph Woodward, a pioneer photomicrographer at the Army Medical Museum, documents early research in tissue pathology. Also included in the collection is the microscope used by Walter Reed when he identified the vector for yellow fever. Representatives of modern microscopical technology are added to the collection as the AFIP donates instruments no longer used. The collection includes 25 electron microscopes; including a 1938 Siemans electron microscope used by Dr. Theodore Morell, Adolph Hitler's physician; the first electron microscope in North America made by W.A. Ladd in 1940, and the prototype Cambridge Stereoscan, the first scanning electron microscope.

HC 40

• Technology, Medical, 1700 to present
• Approximately 205 items
• Includes artifacts that document the development of the allied medical professions. Most of the collection relates to histological techniques. Included are 18th century microslide cabinets with ivory microslides as well as a large collection of microtomes and accessories. Highlights include the collection of microslides made by Joseph J. Woodward in his pioneering work in photomicrography.

HC 41

• Technology, Pharmaceutical, 1860-present
• Approximately 955 items.
• Compounding pharmaceuticals is the traditional role of physicians. The collections represent a wide variety of medical traditions including modern Western medicine, allopathy, homeopathy, Asian medicine, herbal medicines, and phytomedicines. The collection includes drugs ranging from samples of antimony, arsphenamine, AZT, calomel, penicillin, prozac, quinine, and sulfadimine. Also included is equipment used to compound drugs such as pill machines and mortars and pestles. Highlights include the flasks used by Howard Florey to grow penicillin, pharmaceuticals captured from a Vietnamese National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) Hospital, a pocket surgical kit belonging to Confederate Civil War Captain John Kinyoun, and the pharmaceuticals used by Ron Wogaman in his unsuccessful fight against AIDS.