Wegeforth Paul (1 results)

J. Am. Med. Ass., 72. - Chicago, January 18, 1919, 8 pp., orig. self wrappers. Rare Offprint! From the Army Neurosurgical Laboratory, John Hopkins Medical School. "The specific diagnosis of cerebrospinal meningitis depends upon the isolation and identification of the meningococcus from the cerebrospinal fluid. During the World War, spinal punctures usually were performed on all patients with symptoms of meningeal irritation or inflammation; and the diagnosis was based entirely on the bacteriological examination of the spinal fluid. Wegeforth and Latham, however, warned against the indiscriminate use of spinal puncture as a diagnostic procedure inhuman septicemia, stating that the release of spinal fluid was an important factor in the development of meningitis. This observation was preceded by the investigations of Weed, Wegeforth, Ayer, and Felton, who showed that in animals suffering with an experimentally produced bacteriemia, spinal puncture was invariably followed by meningitis. It was therefore recommended that careful consideration be given to the bacteriological study of the blood before attempting puncture of the spinal canal. However, in spite of the fact that cases were observed in which the spinal fluid obtained at the first puncture was sterile and from later punctures infected, this was usually considered only an indication of the normal progress of the infection; and it was quite generally believed that diagnostic spinal puncture in meningitis was not attended by any serious results." COLONEL JOSEPH H. FORD, AMEDD Center of History & Heritage Lewis Hill Weed "was born in Cleveland} Ohio. He received his B.A. in 1908 and his M.A. in 1909; both from Yale University; and his M.D. in 1912 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After his graduation from medical school; Weed served two years as Arthur Tracy Cabot Fellow in charge of surgical research at Harvard University; under his former professor Harvey Cushing. In 1914; he returned to Johns Hopkins as instructor of anatomy in the school of medicine; in 1919; he was named head of the department. Weed served as dean of the school of medicine from 1923 until 1929; and as director of the medical school until 1946. In 1939; Weed was appointed chairman of the Division of Medical Sciences of the National Research Council. In 1947; he resigned his Johns Hopkins posts in order to devote more attention to this position. Weed's research dealt largely with cerebrospinal fluid and with the development of the membranes that surround the central nervous system. He discovered the origin of the cerebrospinal fluid and mapped out its circulation; an accomplishment which led to a number of important clinical developments." Lewis H. Weed Collection; CHESNEY ARCHIVES / JOHNS HOPKINS Medicine.