PEDIATRICS Vol. 121 No. 5 May 2008, pp. 1050-1051 (doi:10.1542/peds.2008-0239)
HISTORICAL ARTICLE |
Patriots' Day Fire on April 19, 1950 at Children's Hospital Boston
Department of Pediatrics (emeritus), Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Patriots' Day is a legal holiday in Massachusetts and Maine, celebrating the battle of Concord and Lexington on April 19, 1775. The event of April 19, 1950, was very unusual, because of the origin of a fire at Children's Hospital Boston. At that time, the hospital consisted of 2-story stucco pavilion buildings that housed patients of diverse ages. In addition, on the southwest side of the area, there was a routine laboratory facility adjacent to the clinical neurology unit. The surgical suite was also on the southwest side. In the midst of these buildings was Dr James Gamble's study research laboratory, with his magnificent cherry wood library that contained his personal collection of research journals. This conference room was used for chart reviews for patient and brief seminars.
The personnel in the Gamble Division consisted of Dr Gamble, the director and professor; Dr William M. Wallace, his protégé; and 4 postgraduate fellows, including the author who personally observed these events.
Before 1945, clinical chemistry consisted of quantitative chemical analysis1,2; thus, sodium was determined after ashing at 400°C. The tissue was precipitated with zinc uranyl acetate. The precipitate was then washed, dried, and weighed. Potassium was similarly analyzed with chloroplatinate. This process for each element took 24 to 48 hours. The new flame photometry permitted these analyses to be preformed in 20 to 30 minutes.
Wallace was a remarkable man. As a teenager, he was given an airplane engine that he took apart and then reassembled in the family garage to be fully functional. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and its medical school, where he had his first experience in research in the department of surgery. Subsequently, he went to Harvard and began a fellowship in the department of biological chemistry with A. Baird Hastings, chairman of the department. When World War II began, he was among the first to volunteer. He worked as battalion surgeon on the front lines in North Africa, Sicily, the United Kingdom, and Northern Europe. He then returned to the study of pediatrics at Children's Hospital, Boston.
At that time, he noted a report in an unusual journal for a physician. He saw an article by Barnes et al3 on flame photometry. He learned about absolute and indirect methods of flame photometry. He immediately recognized the implications for clinical care and research. He set about to custom build his own machine. The base was a wooden box that was 
2 x 3 x 4 feet. It housed the optical equipment on the top layer. There were 2 channels. On the right side was a lithium filter, behind which was a photocell detector. On the other side were exchangeable filters for sodium or potassium with a single photocell. Both photocells were wired to a potentiometer and a galvanometer.4 The source of the spectrum was a Meeker burner, which was a little larger than a Bunsen burner. Propane gas was delivered via rubber tubing from a 5-foot high tank of gas. A custom-built atomizer delivered fluids containing a reference lithium and standards. Because the flame produced toxic effluent, there was a large tin chimney over the burner, which was directed to an exhaust fan that blew into an enclosed corridor. In the winter, the walkways between patient wards were enclosed by glass panels.
On April 19, 1950, the fellows were working in the upstairs tissue laboratory. Wallace had been concerned that the flame photometer had become erratic.5,6 He corrected the problem within an hour. He then came upstairs to demonstrate his results to the fellows. At that point, the telephone operator made the announcement for a "Drill" in the laboratory study building. Bill immediately recognized the implications. A nurse had noted that smoke was pouring from the building and sounded the alarm. Wallace took the CO2 extinguisher down to the flame room. When Bill had left the machine, the Meeker burner flashed back to its base. It got hot and melted the rubber tubing. As a result, propane gas was spewed onto the wooden box. Wallace thought he had taken care of the problem. He wanted to recover the electrical equipment. In the meantime, 6 fire trucks responded. The firemen clamored over adjacent buildings, and they broke through the wooden window frame with axes. They also destroyed the custom-built flame photometer with their axes. We observed in shock. Then, we noticed that no one had turned off the propane tank. We brushed aside the firemen to correct the omission.
Fortunately, Wallace had established a mutually positive relationship with Professor John P. Peters' Department of Medicine at Yale. Peters was so impressed by the implications of flame photometry for research and clinical care that he persuaded a manufacturer in Waterbury, CT to produce a model of the Wallace machine.Fortunately, they had produced several metal-encased machines. Within 48 hours, we drove to the Patent Button Company in Waterbury to obtain a replica of the flame photometer. We had virtually no downtime in our research, having been through much of World War II. Bill Wallace was philosophical about the loss of the first machine.
|
FOOTNOTES
Accepted Feb 15, 2008.
Address correspondence to Robert Schwartz, 33 North Ave, Providence, RI 02906
Opinions expressed in these commentaries are those of the author and not necessarily those of the American Academy of Pediatrics or its Committees.
REFERENCES
- Peters JP, Van Slyke DD. Quantitative Clinical Chemistry, Vol. II, Methods. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins; 1932
- Darrow DC, Schwartz R, Iannucci JF, Coville F. Relation of serum bicarbonate concentration to muscle composition. J Clin Invest. 1948;27 (2):198 –208[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
- Barnes RB, Richardson D, Berry JW, Hood RL. Flame photometry: a rapid analytical procedure. Industr Engin Chem (Anal. Ed). 1945;17 :605[CrossRef]
- Schwartz R. The William McLean Wallace Symposium on Growth and Development: introduction. Pediatrics 1971;47 (suppl 2):165 –167[Web of Science][Medline]
- Wallace WM, Holliday M, Cushman M, Elkinton JR. The application of the internal standard flame photometer to the analysis of biological material. J Lab Clin Med. 1951;37 (4):621 –629[Web of Science][Medline]
- Cotlove E, Holliday MA, Schwartz R, Wallace WM. Effects of electrolyte depletion and acid-base disturbance on muscle cations.
Am J Physiol. 1951;167
(3):665
–675
[Free Full Text]
PEDIATRICS (ISSN 1098-4275). ©2008 by the American Academy of Pediatrics
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Facebook 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
