Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Wyman, Walter

WYMAN, WALTER an American surgeon; born in St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 17, 1848; was graduated at Amherst College in 1870, and at the St. Louis Medical College in 1873; was made assistant surgeon in the United States Hospital Service in 1876, and became chief medical purveyor of the quarantine division in 1888; was appointed supervising surgeon-general of the United States Marine Hospital Service in 1891. Under his management was one of the finest laboratories in the world, where diseases were constantly being scientifically investigated. He was an earnest advocate for the sanitation of ports not only in the United States but in the West Indies and South America, holding that if this were enforced yellow fever would be entirely eradicated from the Western Hemisphere. He was also interested in purifying water supplies; in the study of leprosy and tuberculosis; etc. On his recommendation the Government set apart a large tract of land in New Mexico for a hospital whence all consumptive patients in the United States marine hospitals could be transferred. He died in 1911.