The Massachusetts General Hospital, 1935–1955

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In this account of the main activities of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Nathaniel Faxon, who is the fifth distinguished author to chronicle the impressive accomplishments of the “Mass General,” discusses the physical growth of the hospital from a single building to the present group of fourteen major buildings and many smaller ones; the extraordinary development of research during these twenty years; and the place of the hospital in the educational field (over 1000 persons receive instruction daily).

Included in this comprehensive study are an evaluation of the contributions of women’s organizations; chapters on anesthesia radiology, the tumor clinic, and the blood bank; as well as the tale of the rise and fall of the apothecaries. The problems of wartime, of sudden disease epidemics, of a disastrous fire, are all treated, occasionally with a light touch which is as illuminating as the most impressive statistics.