William Hammond
William Alexander Hammond (1828-1900) was an American neurologist, military physician, surgeon and naturalist.
Hammond was one of the most colourful and controversial figures in the history of the United States Army Medical Corps and American medicine.
He was a seminal figure in 19th-century American neurology and military medicine. Born on August 28, 1828, in Annapolis, Maryland, he graduated from New York University Medical College in 1848. His career straddled service as a Union Army surgeon and the establishment of neurology as a formal discipline in the United States.
Appointed Surgeon General of the U.S. Army in 1862, Hammond reorganized the Medical Department during the Civil War and instituted major hygienic reforms. He founded the Army Medical Museum and was instrumental in establishing the precursor to the National Library of Medicine. However, political rivalries led to his court-martial and dismissal in 1864, despite later exoneration.
After military service, Hammond pioneered American neurology. He published A Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System (1871), one of the first American neurology textbooks, and co-founded the Archives of Scientific and Practical Medicine. He described athetosis in 1871 and was a leading voice in advocating neurological clinics and asylums.
He served as Professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases at Bellevue Hospital Medical College and was a founder of the American Neurological Association in 1875. A prolific writer and editor, he also authored novels and social commentaries. Hammond died on January 5, 1900, in Washington, D.C.
Biography
- 1828 – Born August 28 in Annapolis, Maryland
- 1848 – MD, New York University
- 1849 – Intern, Pennsylvania Hospital of Philadelphia. Along with Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914) he described the neurological aspects of venomous snakebite
- 1849–1860 – Army medical service in California and New Mexico; Surgeon in the American Army rising to Brigadier Surgeon General
- 1862 – Appointed Surgeon General of the U.S. Army by President Lincoln
- 1862–1864 – Civil War service; established Army Medical Museum
- 1864 – Court-martialed and dismissed from the Army; Hammond clashed with Edward M. Stanton, Secretary of War, and was court-martialed (1864, verdict reversed 1878)
- 1867-1873 Professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases, Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York
- 1868 – Co-founded Archives of Scientific and Practical Medicine
- 1871 – Published A Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System; described athetosis
- 1875 – One of the principle co-founders of the American Neurological Association
- 1882 – Co-founder of New York Medical School
- 1880s–1890s – Professor at Bellevue Hospital Medical College
- 1900 – Died January 5 in Washington, D.C.
Medical Eponyms
Hammond disease (athetosis)
A condition in which there is a constant succession of slow, writhing, involuntary movements of flexion, extension, pronation, and supination of the fingers and hands, and sometimes of the toes and feet. Usually caused by an extrapyramidal lesion.
1871 – Hammond first description of a case forms a chapter in his Diseases of the Nervous System
Under the name of athetosis ἄθετος (áthetos, “without fixed position”), I piropose to describe an affection which, so far as I know, has not heretofore attracted the attention of medical writers, and of which two cases have come to my knowledge. It is mainly characterized by an inability to retain the fingers and toes in any position in which they may be placed, and by their continual motion.
The analogies of the affection are with chorea and cerebro-spinal sclerosis, but it is clearly neither of these diseases. One probable seat of the morbid process is the corpus striatum.
The first case described was that of a man of 33 who suffered a hemiparesis and central pain during an attack of delirium tremens. Soon after recovering consciousness, continual involuntary movements began in the affected hand, and persisted until his death. The second case was that of a man of 39, who apparently had a spontaneous cerebral thrombosis with aphasia and right hemiplegia and athetosis of the right hand.
The analogies of the affection are with chorea and cerebro-spinal sclerosis, but it is clearly neither of these diseases. One probable seat of the morbid process is the corpus striatum.
This brilliant guess was confirmed when the first patient came to autopsy, as was announced in the ninth edition of the same text-book. Meanwhile, a large number of cases had been reported, some with autopsy.
The term “athetosis” has evolved to become synonymous with dystonia and, as a result, has fallen into disuse. A case is made for retaining the term to describe a specific category of dystonic movement with predominantly distal involuntary irregular movements, as originally used by Hammond in acquired hemidystonia and by Shaw in cerebral palsy
Other eponyms
Hammond started collecting specimens on the Pacific Railroad Survey and at Fort Riley, for the Smithsonian collection and Spencer Fullerton Baird, naturalist and museum curator.
- Hammond’s Garter Snake: Thamnophis hammondii – Hammond collected some of the first specimens of the two-striped garter snake, a species of aquatic garter snake, endemic to western North America
- Hammond’s spadefoot toad or Western spadefoot toad: Spea hammondii – Baird named the toad after Hammond. (Baird, 1859)
- Hammond’s flycatcher: Empidonax hammondii – Baird named the bird after Hammond.
Key Medical Attributions
In spite of his varied military activities he found time to engage in serious and productive investigations, primarily in physiology. Isolated from any great medical centers, he was original in his research, often using himself as the subject of his experiments.
For example his 1857 ‘Experimental researches relative to the nutritive value and physiological effects of albumen, startch, and gum, when singly and exclusively used as food…’
and who could forget painstaking research that went into…The physiological effects of alcohol and tobacco upon the human system
The present paper is intended to exhibit the action of alcohol and tobacco upon the system generally, and, more especially, upon the important functions concerned in the metamorphosis of tissue.
The experiments illustrative of the effects of these substances were performed upon myself, and were conducted with all the care and accuracy which my limited facilities permitted. Those only who are familiar with investigations of this character can appreciate the time and labor necessary to conduct them properly
Hammond 1856
Army Medical Museum and National Library of Medicine Hammond’s founding of the Army Medical Museum in 1862 helped institutionalize pathology and medical education. He also laid the foundation for what became the National Library of Medicine.
Military Medicine Reform As Surgeon General, Hammond modernized the Medical Department, instituting sanitation standards, expanding hospital capacity, and professionalizing medical supply systems. His innovations saved thousands of lives during the Civil War.
Neurology Textbook A Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System (1871) was among the earliest comprehensive neurology texts in the U.S., combining clinical cases with speculative theory. It marked a major step in the recognition of neurology as a distinct medical specialty.
Controversies
Court-martial and Army dismissal
Hammond was appointed Surgeon General in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. He introduced sweeping reforms including banning the use of calomel (mercurous chloride), a common purgative with toxic effects, which angered conservative medical officers and pharmaceutical suppliers.
Conflict and Charges: Hammond’s reorganisation of the Medical Department, especially centralizing medical supply procurement, drew political ire. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and others perceived him as insubordinate. He was accused of “irregularities” in awarding a contract for bedsacks—a procurement issue involving alleged favouritism and procedural shortcuts.
Proceedings and Dismissal: In 1864, Hammond was court-martialed on dubious charges and removed from office. Despite his insistence on innocence, he was convicted and dismissed from the army.
Aftermath and Exoneration: The trial is widely considered a miscarriage of justice, driven by bureaucratic politics. In 1879, Congress officially reversed the sentence and restored his name to the Army register, although he declined to re-enter service .
Scientific Skepticism
William Alexander Hammond actively opposed spiritualism and critiqued religious phenomena from a medical and rationalist standpoint
- Spiritualism and Mediums: Hammond was a vocal critic of spiritualist practices and mediums, which he dismissed as fraudulent and delusional. He warned that these phenomena often involved self-deception or exploitation of the psychologically vulnerable.
- Fasting Girls: He examined cases of so-called “fasting girls”—young women who claimed to survive without food—and interpreted them as manifestations of hysteria or deception, sometimes supported by complicit families or communities.
- Stigmata and Religious Ecstasies: Hammond addressed religious phenomena such as stigmata, interpreting them through a neuropsychiatric lens. He argued that such conditions were psychosomatic, often linked to suggestion, hysteria, or self-inflicted behavior under trance-like states.
These positions were articulated in public lectures and writings in the 1870s and 1880s, as part of a broader effort to professionalize neurology and debunk pseudoscientific beliefs
Major Publications
- Hammond WA. The physiological effects of alcohol and tobacco upon the human system. American journal of the medical sciences 1856
- Hammond WA. Experimental researches relative to the nutritive value and physiological effects of albumen, startch, and gum, when singly and exclusively used as food. 1857 [American Medical Association Prize Essay]
- Hammond WA. On the injection of urea and other substances into the blood. 1858
- Hammond WA. On uraemic intoxication. 1861
- Hammond WA. Two reports on the condition of military hospitals; at Grafton, VA, and Cumberland, MD. 1862
- Hammond WA. Physiological memoirs. 1863
- Hammond WA. A treatise on hygiene: with special reference to the military service. 1863
- Hammond WA. Lectures on venereal diseases. 1864
- Hammond WA. On wakefulness. 1866
- Hammond WA. Insanity in its medico-legal relations. 1867
- Hammond WA. The physiology and pathology of the cerebellum. Quarterly Journal Of Psychological Medicine And Medical Jurisprudence 1869; 3: 209–244
- Meyer M. Electricity in its relations to practical medicine. 1869. 3e Translated Hammond WA
- Hammond WA. Sleep and its derangements. 1869
- Hammond WA. Spinal irritation. 1870
- Hammond WA. The physics and physiology of spiritualism. 1871
- Hammond WA. A treatise on the diseases of the nervous system. 1871 [2e 1876][6e 1886][8e 1889][9e 1891]
- Hammond WA. Insanity in its relations to crime : a text and a commentary. 1873
- Hammond WA. Cerebral hyperaemia, the result of mental strain or emotional disturbance. 1878
- Hammond WA. Fasting Girls: Their Physiology and Pathology. 1879
- Hammond WA. Sexual impotence in the male. 1883
Literary works
- Hammond WA. Robert Severne, his friends and his enemies. A novel. 1867
- Hammond WA. LAL. A novel. 1884
- Hammond WA. A strong-minded woman, or, Two years after. 1885
- Hammond WA. Doctor Grattan. A novel. 1885
- Hammond WA. Mr. Oldmixon: A Novel. 1885
Open Letters…
- Defence of Brigadier General WA. Hammond. 1864
- Hammond WA. A statement of the causes which led to the dismissal of Surgeon-General William A. Hammond from the Army; with a review of the evidence adduced before the court. 1864
- Editorial. Review of: A statement of the causes which led to the dismissal of Surgeon General William A. Hammond from the Army. Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal 1864; 4: 435–436
- Hammond WA. An open letter to Eugene Grissom, superintendent of the Asylum for the Insane. 1878
- Grisson E. True and false experts and a Rejoinder to Dr Hammond’s “Open Letter“. 1878
References
Biography
- Foster FP. William A. Hammond, MD, LLD. New York Medical Journal 1900; 71: 64
- Pilcher JE. XI. Brigadier General William Alexander Hammond. In: The surgeon generals of the Army of the United States of America: a series of biographical sketches of the senior officers of the military medical service from the American revolution to the Philippine pacification. 1905: 47-58
- Hume EE. Ornithologists of the United States Army medical corps thirty-six biographies. 1942
- Drayton ES. William Alexander Hammond 1828-1900, founder of the Army Medical Museum. Mil Surg. 1951; 109(4): 559-565.
- Heck AF. William Alexander Hammond—1828-1900. JAMA. 1963;183(6):466-468
- McHenry LC Jr. The birth of American neurology and highlights from the first 100 years of the Philadelphia Neurological Society, 1884-1984. Neurology. 1985; 35(9): 1326-1330.
- Blustein BE. Preserve Your Love for Science: Life of William A. Hammond, American Neurologist, Cambridge University Press, 1991
- Todman D. William Alexander Hammond (1828-1900). J Neurol. 2008; 255(5): 777-778.
- Cavanaugh R. William Alexander Hammond. The Lancet Neurology. 2018; 17(12): 1040
- Lescott C, Jumah F, Raju B, Gupta G, Nanda A. The contributions of William A. Hammond (1828-1900) to Civil War medicine & modern neurology. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2021 Sep;208:106867.
Eponymous terms
- Putnam TJ. Athetosis. Yale J Biol Med. 1939 May;11(5):459-65.
- Morris JG, Jankelowitz SK, Fung VS, Clouston PD, Hayes MW, Grattan-Smith P. Athetosis I: historical considerations. Mov Disord. 2002 Nov;17(6):1278-80
- Lanska DJ. William Hammond, the Dynamometer, the Dynamograph. Arch Neurol. 2000; 57(11):1649-1653
- Freemon FR. William Alexander Hammond: the centenary of his death. J Hist Neurosci. 2001;10(3):293-299.
- Fine EJ, Ionita CC, Lohr L. The History of the Development of the Cerebellar Examination. Seminars in Neurology 2002; 22(4): 375-384
- Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. 2011
- Nickell J. Mystery Of Mollie Fancher, ‘The Fasting Girl’, And Others Who Lived Without Eating. Skeptical Inquirer. 2017; 41(6): 18–21.
Eponym
the person behind the name
