Armstrong – Table of Contents

presence or absence of professional qualifications. By and large, in that 19th century era
of non-standardized training in medicine, the level of professional proficiency of
physicians was quite variable trending toward the lower scale of competency. Very
frequently the positions were filled with political appointees, and the changes in Federal
administrations often resulted in the replacement of these medical officers.
The experiences of Dr. Woodworth (2) “while a medical officer in the United
States Army during the Civil War impressed upon him the effectiveness of a mobile
corps of physicians who were required to maintain their physical and professional fitness,
and who were subject to a definite form of discipline. During the term of his office
(1871-1879) he worked closely with state and local health authorities in dealing with
outbreaks of epidemic diseases. He frequently responded to requests from states and
localities by assigning medical officers from the Marine Hospitals to cooperate in
handling outbreaks of smallpox, yellow fever, and other epidemic diseases. These
experiences emphasized the value of an officer corps sufficiently flexible to enable the
directing head to send officers as necessary to meet such sudden exigencies as epidemics,
public disasters or other similar emergencies. The events of that era and the
accomplishments of the Service in dealing with them laid the foundation upon which was
created the Commissioned Officers Corps by the Act of January 4, 1889. This Act
established by law the adopted policy of a mobile corps subject to duty anywhere upon
assignment, a policy that had been pursued by Dr. Woodworth since he assumed charge
of the Bureau of Marine Hospital Service in 1871.” The successors of the Service, as
exemplified by the USPHS Hygienic Laboratory and the Division (later Laboratory) of
Infectious Diseases, maintained these functions continually until the emergence of the