Biography
Born in Annapolis (Maryland), Hammond grew up in Harrisburg (Pennsylvania). He received his M.D. from New York University at the age of 20. After his internship and a few months in private practice he became assistant-surgeon in the American Army, serving from 1849 to 1860. He was first sent to New Mexico and took part in the Sioux Wars. While on sick leave, he visited military hospitals in Europe. He conducted research over many years and the resulting paper was awarded a prize by the American Medical Association in 1857. With a common interest in poisons acting on the nervous system (among them snake venom), he wrote a paper with Silas Weir Mitchell that was published in 1859.
While serving at Fort Riley as medical director, Hammond also collected biological specimens. In 1860 he accepted a chair of anatomy and physiology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore and left the army.
Read more about this topic: William Alexander Hammond
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