and Premier Georges E. B. Clemenceau on the 10th. King Albert of Belgium was slated to have his mask taken on 13 or 15 January, while Field Marshal Douglas Haig, Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and Mr. Herbert H. Asquith were to be taken sometime between the 13th and 17th of the month. Whether any more of the masks were made, and what became of those which were, does not appear in the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology files other than
the statement of Major Ross, in a letter of 21 January 1919, to Colonel Owen that he understood that Lieutenant Schwarz had "been pulled off the plaster masks proposition and it was turned over to an officer of higher rank to
handle." 53[1]
The Museum's Major Aim
The major aim of the Museum was not, however, in the making of life masks of notables, nor in graphic presentation of Medical Department activities, nor even in the collection of weapons and other materials used by the armed forces of allies and enemy nations — important as these were.
The major function of the Museum was the collection and preservation of pathological materials. As to this, Major Wilson, after he had been overseas for 6 months, wrote Colonel Owen that :
It is of course useless to talk about collecting pathological specimens except through the men who are making the pathological examinations and there were very few such men over here when I came. Most of the work was centered on bacteriology. At the same time there was great need for the development of an autopsy service. One of the first steps, therefore, was to cable back for a supply of pathologists * * * Since then we have made a thorough combout of the A.E.F. for pathologists, placed good men in the most advantageous positions, and talked the necessity of autopsies not only to laboratory men but also to clinicians and surgeons most insistently, until today we have a very high grade necropsy service in smooth working order. We still are very short of competent pathologists but those that are here * * * are securing the fullest cooperation from the attending physicians and surgeons. 54[2]
The severe influenza epidemic, coinciding as it did with the great final American offensive in the Meuse-Argonne, put such a strain on medical personnel and facilities that "only relatively slight attention could be given to the collection of specimens." Nevertheless, despite the limited personnel and the lack of equipment, of supplies, of containers, and in fact of everything except
