File:W.T. Evans (SP 334), National Museum of Health and Medicine (5396563712).jpg

W.T. Evans (SP 334), National Museum of Health and Medicine

Description: Image of W.T. Evans. As a child, Evans suffered an injury of the right shoulder from a fall, which resulted in the removal of necrosed bone. Photograph taken at the Army Medical Museum.

Caption reads: “War Department, Surgeon General's Office, Army Medical Museum, Surgical Photograph, No. 334, prepared under the supervision of Assistant Surgeon George A. Otis, U.S.A. by order of the Surgeon General.”

History is on reverse: "Surgeon General’s Office, Army Medical Museum. Photograph No. 334.—Injury of the Right Shoulder from Fall. Removal of Necrosed Bone. W.T. Evans, a child of three years, while playing in the First Ward, in Washington, in 1833, fell on his right shoulder, bruising it severely. Dr. Joseph Lovell, the Surgeon General of the Army, saw the patient and was unable to detect a dislocation or fracture; but suspected a diastasis. The shoulder was very lame and incapable of motion. The arm was bandaged from the fingers to the shoulder, a pad was put in the axilla, and the arm was flexed, and secured to the chest. Inflammation and suppuration followed, and an abscess opened anteriorly and posteriorly. In the following winter the fistulous sinuses were probed, and dead bone being discovered, the wound was enlarged, and pieces of necrosed bone, from one to three inches in length, were removed. Dr. Lovell operated, assisted by Dr. Henderson. It was about two years before the patient revered much use of his arm, the fistulae remaining open and discharging. The family ascribed the final closure of the fistulae, to the use of Swaim’s panacea. At this date, December 1, 1872, Mr. Evans had a very good arm, the functions of the forearm and hand, being as good as those of the left limb. The right hand is somewhat more swollen than the left. The rounded head of the shaft appears to form the articulation of the glenoid cavity; there is no trace of the original head; the shoulder is fairly rounded, and there is a deep depressed cicatrix under the coracoid, and another posteriorly, under the outer end of the spine of the scapula. From the acromion to the outer condoyle is 12 ½ inches on the left side, and 7 ¾ inches on the right side—a shortening of 4 ¾ inches. This measurement is taken with the forearm flexed, which carries up the humerus, and makes the shortening most conspicuous. Mr. Evans is now aged forty-two; his general health is very good. Photographed at the Army Medical Museum. By order of the Surgeon General: George A. Otis, Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army.”

Date: circa 1872

Photo ID: SP 334

Source Collection: OHA 82: Surgical Photographs

Repository: National Museum of Health and Medicine, Otis Historical Archives