![Richard H. Coolidge, M.D. (1816 to 1866), served the U.S. Army as an assistant surgeon and medical inspector. In 1863, he designed a compact field case, the U.S. Army Surgeon’s Field Companion (or “Coolidge Carrier Set”), which housed needles, sutures, bandages, and tins of essential pharmaceuticals such as ginger, ipecac, opium, quinine, and chloroform (left). This 8-ounce tin was marked “CHLOROFORMUM” (right) and labeled as “Prepared at the / U.S.A. [United States Army] Laboratory / Philadelphia / Pa. / 1863.” Because this tin was inspected officially, it bore the coat of arms of the U.S. Army Medical Department, with the cockerel of vigilance cresting an escutcheon bearing the staff of Aesculapius (sinister) and the 20-star U.S. flag (dexter) from the 1818 year of departmental founding, all surmounting the Latin motto Experientia et Progressus. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)](https://asa2.silverchair-cdn.com/asa2/content_public/journal/anesthesiology/126/3/10.1097_aln.0000000000001552/4/m_8ff01.jpeg?Expires=1687359695&Signature=vjQuPzLXNaqVUccLkMH2dkVkui7KPhNfgG81-Hsh5rU8BEjOd2c3bPIsLeng8rPl1m0ao7Tv7uLkrum2u9ubZPapZPyZgjNsmLr7MFuRWVIHoD7~8jsn1rFMQ1pdsiEWNL5p3ENQnE5wwZFSnPj3x4vfPhQnNgS4VMtGqPh-iiUEa~gdyfzWCN6zAZ5vUwxVrMZZN43CcQnf51DKy2AmoMILjXStIZLJxcqTuHBVjckWmxLSz0fThbThGXhqENOrLLSpKX-fKwDB-9Gd9TvHNw~qnsHvMi89apEFH~SCaembSeqWTeysKlOf6mT3cQE-APxqo58QfltRiEDjYDJh5w__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA)
Richard H. Coolidge, M.D. (1816 to 1866), served the U.S. Army as an assistant surgeon and medical inspector. In 1863, he designed a compact field case, the U.S. Army Surgeon’s Field Companion (or “Coolidge Carrier Set”), which housed needles, sutures, bandages, and tins of essential pharmaceuticals such as ginger, ipecac, opium, quinine, and chloroform (left). This 8-ounce tin was marked “CHLOROFORMUM” (right) and labeled as “Prepared at the / U.S.A. [United States Army] Laboratory / Philadelphia / Pa. / 1863.” Because this tin was inspected officially, it bore the coat of arms of the U.S. Army Medical Department, with the cockerel of vigilance cresting an escutcheon bearing the staff of Aesculapius (sinister) and the 20-star U.S. flag (dexter) from the 1818 year of departmental founding, all surmounting the Latin motto Experientia et Progressus. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
Richard H. Coolidge, M.D. (1816 to 1866), served the U.S. Army as an assistant surgeon and medical inspector. In 1863, he designed a compact field case, the U.S. Army Surgeon’s Field Companion (or “Coolidge Carrier Set”), which housed needles, sutures, bandages, and tins of essential pharmaceuticals such as ginger, ipecac, opium, quinine, and chloroform (left). This 8-ounce tin was marked “CHLOROFORMUM” (right) and labeled as “Prepared at the / U.S.A. [United States Army] Laboratory / Philadelphia / Pa. / 1863.” Because this tin was inspected officially, it bore the coat of arms of the U.S. Army Medical Department, with the cockerel of vigilance cresting an escutcheon bearing the staff of Aesculapius (sinister) and the 20-star U.S. flag (dexter) from the 1818 year of departmental founding, all surmounting the Latin motto Experientia et Progressus. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology.)
George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H., Honorary Curator and Laureate of the History of Anesthesia, Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Schaumburg, Illinois, and Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. UJYC@aol.com.
