• Title : Military Hospital at St Petersburg
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  90139
• Size: 36in x 24in (915mm x 610mm)

Description:
This very large original lithograph print, an architectural plan of the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy in St Petersburg, Russia - during the time of the Crimean War and just prior to the American Civil War - was engraved by John T Bowen & co. of Philadelphia and was published in the 1856 edition of Captain Richard Delafields Report on the Art of War in Europe in 1854, 1855, and 1856.

In early 1855, Captain Richard Delafield was appointed by the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, a head of the board of officers, later called The Delafield Commission, and sent to Europe to study the European military. The board included Captain George B. McClellan and Major Alfred Mordecai. They inspected the state of the military in Great Britain, Germany, the Austrian Empire, France, Belgium, and Russia, and served as military observers during the Crimean War. After his return in April 1856, Delafield submitted a report which was later published as a book by Congress, Report on the Art of War in Europe in 1854, 1855, and 1856. The book was suppressed during the American Civil War due to fears that it would be instructive to Confederate engineers as it contained multiple drawings and descriptions of military fortifications.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: -
Colors used: -
General color appearance: -
Paper size: - 36in x 24in (915mm x 610mm)
Plate size: - 36in x 24in (915mm x 610mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - Folds as issued
Verso: - Folds re-enforced with archival tape

Background:
The S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy (Военно-медицинская академия имени С. М. Кирова) is the oldest school of military medicine in Saint Petersburg and the Russian Federation. Senior medical staff are trained for the Armed Forces and conduct research in military medical services.
The origins of S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy go back to the years of Peter the Great. In 1715 by the Tsars order the Admiralty Hospital in the Vyborg Side of Saint Petersburg was founded. In 1717 next to in the Land Military Hospital was opened. Since 1773 surgical schools attached to both hospitals were operating. In 1786 those schools were consolidated into the Main Medical College. It became the principal training center for army and fleet physicians.
Unofficially, the year 1714 is considered the foundation year of the academy. The Medical and Surgical Academy was established by the order of Emperor Paul I of 18/29 December 1798 on the initiative of Baron Alexei Vasilyev, General Director of the Medical College. At the same time a Neoclassical building for the Academy was designed by Antonio Porta. It was decorated with a set of panel paintings by Giuseppe Bernasconi.
Ranked as one of the best educational institutions in the Russian Empire, it was known as the Imperial Medical and Surgical Academy from 1808. According to the order of Emperor Alexander I, a member of the Medical and Surgical Academy had the rights, liabilities, and benefits of a member of the Academy of Sciences.
Sir James Wylie, a Scottish baronet, managed the academy between 1808 and 1838. His contributions have been commemorated with a monument which stood in front of the academy until the October Revolution. The monument was designed in 1859 by David Jensen. It was later relocated and replaced with a statue of Hygieia.
In 19th century the Imperial Medical and Surgical Academy played a major role in the development of Russian natural science and medicine. In 1840 — 1856 one of its professors was Nikolay Pirogov, considered the founder of field surgery.
Since 1861 Sergey Botkin, one of Pirogovs disciples, worked at the Academy. He is considered one of the founders of modern Russian medical science and education. Botkin introduced triage, pathological anatomy, and post mortem diagnostics into Russian medical practice.
In 1881 the Academys official name was changed into the Imperial Military Medical Academy. In the late 19th century, its physiology laboratory, founded by Ivan Sechenov, was at the forefront of medical research. Ivan Romanovich Tarkhanov conducted some important experiments there.
In 1890 — 1901 the Academys President was Viktor Pashutin, one of the founders of the pathophysiologic school in Russia and of pathophysiology as an independent scientific discipline.
The Nobel-prize winning physiologist Ivan Pavlov graduated from the Academy in 1879 with Gold Medal award. Since 1895 he headed Department of Physiology at the Academy for three decades.
In 1904 — 1924 Nikolai Kravkov, the founder of Russian national school of pharmacologists, headed the Academys Department of Pharmacology.
In 1903 — 1936 one of the Academys professors was Sergey Fedorov, the founder of the largest national school of surgery and «the father of Russian urology».
The academy was also among the pioneers of medical education for women, launching the courses for nurse-midwives in 1872. Nadezhda Suslova, the first female physician in Russia, attended Sechenovs classes at the academy. A school of gymnastics (now the Military Institute of Physical Culture) was launched in 1909.

Delafield, Richard Major General 1798 - 1873
Delafield was a United States Army officer for 52 years. He served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy for 12 years. At the start of the American Civil War, then Colonel Delafield helped equip and send volunteers from New York to the Union Army. He also was in command of defences around New York harbor from 1861 to April 1864. On April 22, 1864, he was promoted to Brigadier General in the Regular Army of the United States and Chief of Engineers. On March 8, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Delafield for appointment to the grade of brevet major general in the Regular Army, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on May 4, 1866, reconfirmed due to a technicality on July 14, 1866. He retired from the US Army on August 8, 1866. He later served on two commissions relating to improvements to Boston Harbor and to lighthouses. He also served as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution.
Delafield served as assistant engineer in the construction of Hampton Roads defences from 1819–1824 and was in charge of fortifications and surveys in the Mississippi River delta area in 1824-1832. While superintendent of repair work on the Cumberland Road east of the Ohio River, he designed and built Dunlaps Creek Bridge in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, the first cast-iron tubular-arch bridge in the United States. Commissioned a major of engineers in July 1838, he was appointed superintendent of the Military Academy after the fire of 1838 and served till 1845. He designed the new buildings and the new cadet uniform that first displayed the castle insignia. He superintended the construction of coast defences for New York Harbor from 1846 to 1855.
In the beginning of 1855, Delafield was appointed by the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis a head of the board of officers, later called The Delafield Commission, and sent to Europe to study the European military. The board included Captain George B. McClellan and Major Alfred Mordecai. They inspected the state of the military in Great Britain, Germany, the Austrian Empire, France, Belgium, and Russia, and served as military observers during the Crimean War. After his return in April 1856, Delafield submitted a report which was later published as a book by Congress, Report on the Art of War in Europe in 1854, 1855, and 1856. The book was suppressed during the American Civil War due to fears that it would be instructive to Confederate engineers as it contained multiple drawings and descriptions of military fortifications.
Delafield served as superintendent of the Military Academy again in 1856-1861. In January 1861, he was succeeded by Captain Pierre G. T. Beauregard, who was dismissed shortly after Beauregards home state of Louisiana seceded from the Union, and Delafield returned as superintendent serving until March 1, 1861. In the beginning of the Civil War he advised the governor of New York Edwin D. Morgan during the volunteer force creation. Then, in 1861–1864, he was put in charge of New York Harbor defences, including Governors Island and Fort at Sandy Hook. On May 19, 1864, he was commissioned a brigadier-general after replacing Joseph Gilbert Totten, who had died, as the Chief of Engineers, United States Army Corps of Engineers, on April 22, 1864. He stayed in charge of the Bureau of Engineers of the War Department until his retirement on August 8, 1866. On March 8, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Delafield for appointment to the grade of brevet major general in the Regular Army of the United States, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on May 4, 1866 and reconfirmed it due to a technicality on July 14, 1866.After retirement Delafield served as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution and a member of the Lighthouse Board. He died in Washington, D.C. on November 5, 1873.