An antique medical advertising booklet
for the National Surgical Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, is being auctioned on eBay. According to the listing, the Institute was started in 1858 by Dr. Horace R. Allen as a Clinic/Hospital for the treatment of congenital deformities—being the first of its kind in the United States.
From the colorful item description: "Dr. Allen was born in Nelsonville, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio University. He studied medicine and graduated from Western Reserve University in Cleveland and served with distinction in the Civil War as a surgeon with an Illinois regiment.
Dr. Allen started the National Surgical Institute in 1858 with the purchase of buildings on the corner of Illinois and Georgia Street in Indianapolis. The practice grew to a very large establishment of International renown. The Institute had a large exhibit at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia for which they won first prize. The National Institute would unfortunately suffer a horrific fate as a fire on January 21, 1892, which would kill 19 people, many of them afflicted children who had been undergoing treatment. This event is one of the worst of its kind in Indianapolis history.
The booklet itself measures 8 1/4" by 4 1/4" and contains a total of 34 pages many of which are illustrated in black and red printing with pretty wild depictions of various human deformities treated at the Institute. The booklet has a depiction of the Institute's exhibit at the Centennial Exhibition on the interior of the cover as well as a engraving of a street scene of the buildings it occupies."
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