Page:The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology-ItsFirstCentury.djvu/397

INTO THE SECOND CENTURY became a major general and head of the Army Dental Corps. Besides giving attention to consultation sought in about 250 cases per month, the Division carried on an active program in research and education. The use of loan materials in the form of microscope study sets and lantern slides was virtually doubled in 1961, as compared with i960, while response to the Division's postgraduate short course on the pathology of the oral regions was such that 60 civilians who applied for the course had to be turned down because of lack of space. 12

The Veterinary Pathology Division was headed by Lt. Col. M. A. Ross, VC, USA, who had succeeded Col. F. D. Maurer upon the latter's transfer in June 1961. The Division consisted of three branches, one on General Veterinary Pathology, of which Colonel Ross was Chief, and the others, on Animal Care and Surgery and X-ray, combined, with Capt. Keith L. Kraner, USAF, VC, as Chief. The work of this Division is ample proof of the error in the opinion that an army without horses would have no need for veterinary services. When it is considered that there are at least 80 diseases which are communicable from the lower animals to man, and that the laboratory animal is a necessary part of research dealing with human diseases, the importance of veterinary knowledge and services becomes apparent. Indeed, research into the maintenance in health of the colonies of laboratory animals becomes the more important since the validity of the results of experimentation may be impaired if the animals used are not healthy specimens. More recently, there have been other calls for veterinary science in the space tests of animals which were an essential preliminary to space flights by man. 13 Newest of the eight divisions of the Department of Pathology is that of Geographic Pathology, of which Dr. Chapman H. Binford is Chief. The assignment of the Division is the study of the peculiarities of disease as affected by topography, climate, food habits, and population of various regions of the earth, with special attention to infectious diseases that might be encountered by persons going into unfamiliar environments. To this end, the Division not only carries on research studies on selected diseases, but also seeks to stimulate the exchange of information among different countries by establishing closer relations with their pathologists. The Geographic Pathology Division included six branches. Two of these — the Branches of Infectious Diseases and Virology— had been transferred from other divisions in 1961. Under the new organization, Infectious Diseases was