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Walter Wyman (August 17, 1848 – November 21, 1911) was an American physician and soldier. He was appointed the third
Surgeon General of the United States The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. T ...
from 1891 until his death in 1911.


Biography


Early years

Wyman was born in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
. He obtained his A.B. degree from
Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...
in 1870 and then graduated in 1873 from the St. Louis Medical College (now
Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis, located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine shares a ca ...
)


Career

Wyman served as a physician at the city hospital in St. Louis for two years and then engaged in private practice for another year before joining the
Marine Hospital Service The Marine Hospital Service was an organization of Marine Hospitals dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen in the United States Merchant Marine, the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal beneficiaries. The Marine Hospital Service evolved ...
in 1876 as an Assistant Surgeon. He was promoted to
Surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...
the following year, and served successively in the marine hospitals at St. Louis,
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
,
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
, and
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. While he was in charge of the marine hospital in
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
, the Hygienic Laboratory (forerunner of the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
) was established there in 1887 by Supervising Surgeon General John B. Hamilton. Wyman had studied in Europe in 1885, and was well acquainted with the bacteriological investigations of
Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( ; ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax, he i ...
and others. He fully supported the creation of the Hygienic Laboratory. In December 1888, Wyman moved to
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
as Chief of the
Quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals, and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have bee ...
Division. When Hamilton resigned as Supervising Surgeon General, Wyman was appointed to the position as of June 1, 1891. He was to remain at the helm of the Marine Hospital Service for 20 years. During Wyman's tenure, the Marine Hospital Service significantly expanded its responsibilities, and in 1902 was renamed the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service. At that time, Wyman's title was also changed from Supervising Surgeon General to just Surgeon General. As a result of immigration legislation passed on March 3, 1891, shortly before Wyman took office, the Marine Hospital Service was assigned responsibility for the medical inspection of arriving immigrations. The largest immigration depot was
Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...
in New York, opened in 1892, where service physicians would inspect thousands of arriving immigrants on busy days. The quarantine activities of the service were expanded by legislative acts of 1893 and 1906, and maritime quarantine functions were extended to
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
,
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
, the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
, and the
Philippine Islands The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. The 1902 act, which changed the name of the service, also charged the Surgeon General with convening a conference of state health authorities at least on an annual basis, and directed him to prepare and distribute to state health officers forms for the uniform compilation of vital statistics. This statistical information was published in the service's journal, Public Health Reports. The 1902 law also expanded the Hygienic Laboratory, which Wyman had moved to Washington, D.C., in 1891. Under Wyman's administration, the Laboratory significantly increased its research activities, including studies on diseases such as
hookworm Hookworms are Gastrointestinal tract, intestinal, Hematophagy, blood-feeding, parasitic Nematode, roundworms that cause types of infection known as helminthiases. Hookworm infection is found in many parts of the world, and is common in areas with ...
and
Rocky Mountain spotted fever Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a bacterial disease spread by ticks. It typically begins with a fever and headache, which is followed a few days later with the development of a rash. The rash is generally Petechial rash, made up of small s ...
, and was provided with a new building in 1901. The 1902 Biologics Control Act gave the Laboratory responsibility for the regulation of biological products such as
vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an ag ...
and
antitoxins An antitoxin is an antibody with the ability to neutralize a specific toxin. Antitoxins are produced by certain animals, plants, and bacteria in response to toxin exposure. Although they are most effective in neutralizing toxins, they can also ...
. In the early years of the twentieth century, Surgeon General Wyman found himself in the midst of a controversy over the San Francisco plague of 1900–1904. The service first became involved in the situation in 1900 when MHS physician
Joseph J. Kinyoun Joseph James Kinyoun (November 25, 1860 – February 14, 1919) was an American physician and the founder of the United States' Hygienic Laboratory, the predecessor of the National Institutes of Health. His career was nearly ended by his ins ...
, stationed in San Francisco, confirmed by bacteriological analysis that the death of a laborer in the city's
Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...
section was due to
bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...
. Many local officials and business leaders, as well as Chinatown residents, concerned about how fears of plague would affect their lives and businesses, denied the existence of the disease and/or resisted quarantine and immunization efforts. When Wyman attempted to enforce an embargo on interstate travel for Californians without proper health certificates, the Governor of the state,
Henry Gage Henry Tifft Gage (December 25, 1852 – August 28, 1924) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. A Republican, Gage was elected to a single term as the 20th governor of California from 1899 to 1903. Gage was also the U.S. Minister t ...
, persuaded
President McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party, he led a realignment that made Republicans largely do ...
to lift the travel ban. By 1903, however, the situation had become serious enough that an emergency conference was held in Washington, D.C., and a recommendation was made that all traffic between California and the rest of the country be halted unless Federal authorities were permitted to carry out their eradication campaign. Faced with the threat of a national
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...
, San Francisco officials cooperated with Wyman and the service, and a successful campaign to eliminate the disease was led by Public Health Service physician Rupert Blue (who later served as Surgeon General). The service under Wyman also cooperated with state and local health authorities in the control of other infectious diseases such as yellow fever. Wyman was involved in the creation of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau in 1902. From the time of its organization until 1936, the Surgeons General of the Public Health Service served as the Directors of the Bureau, with Wyman as Director until his death in 1911. Many of Wyman's health policies and principles were adopted by the Bureau. He also played a leading role in the first four Inter-American Sanitary Conferences, acting as President of the first two and attending the next two as the United States Delegate. Wyman authorized a nationwide study of the prevalence of
leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...
in 1901, and worked to establish a leprosy hospital and laboratory in Hawaii. In 1905, Wyman personally went to Hawaii to select the site of the new facility. During his tenure as surgeon general, Wyman was active in professional service in a number of organizations. For example, he served as president of the American Public Health Association in 1902 and as president of the Association of Military Surgeons in 1904. Wyman was a member of the
Society of Colonial Wars The General Society of Colonial Wars is a patriotic society composed of men who trace their descents from forebears who, in military, naval, or civil positions of high trust and responsibility, by acts or counsel, assisted in the establishment, d ...
. Lake Wyman in Boca Raton, Florida was named for him. He was reported being to the north in Lake Worth in 1883. Wyman continued to serve as surgeon general until his death at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C., on November 21, 1911.


Commemoration

The Public Health Service boarding tug USPHS ''Walter Wyman'', in service from 1932 to 1957, was named for Wyman.


References

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External links


Distinguished Officers
Biographical Sketch
''Men of Mark in America''
Biographical Sketch * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wyman, Walter 1848 births 1911 deaths Amherst College alumni Surgeons general of the United States Washington University School of Medicine alumni Marine Hospital Service personnel American public health doctors Physicians from St. Louis 19th-century American physicians 20th-century American physicians