The following is a direct entry from the History of the New York City Police Department. The sanitary conditions of nearly all the station houses was defective in a marked degree, and but little attention was paid to the general health of the force. This naturally resulted in much unnecessary suffering and sickness among the members, and a consequent loss of time to the department. Under the old system station houses were rarely visited and inspected; cleanliness was not deemed a part of the discipline, and when sick at home, the men were not visited, except merely to ascertain whether the disability had been procured in the discharge of duty. This led, in 1855, to an alteration in the surgical bureau of the department. The new plan regarded the proper ventilation and cleanliness of the station houses and sleeping apartments; furnished at all times a sufficient supply of medicines, surgical instrument, tourniquets, etc., required immediate attention to be given to all invalid Policemen, whether becoming sick or disabled in the discharge of duty or not, until entirely recovered and fit for duty. In order the better to carry out this system, the city was divided into seven surgical districts, and each district was placed under the charge of a competent practicing physician, who, under the law, had to be appointed a Policeman, and detailed for this duty, with a Surgeon-General as chief of the whole, to whom reports were made by the District Surgeons once every forty-eight hours. Critical physical examinations were made of every persons appointed by the Commissioners, not only by the District surgeon in the Ward to which said person might belong, but also by the Surgeon-General stationed permanently at the office of the Chief of Police. Stephen Hasbrouck, M. D., filled the post of Surgeon-General.
White metal lancet case inscribed Stephen Hasbrouck, M.D from HEB 1851. The case contains 4 tortoise shell lancets, two marked from the Evans firm, the other 2 from George Tiemann at their 63 Chatham address. The marks on the lancets all make them contemporary to the inscription on the case increasing the likelyhood that they are original to the set. Entries from the family history indicates that he was born in Shawangunk NY in 1792 and died in New Jersey in 1881. According to the same family history he was a protege of the Mayor of New York and held appoinments under two different administrations. Research along these lines indicates that one of the administrations was that of Hiram Emit Barton this is very likely the HEB in the inscription.
