- Carl Rogers Darnall
Brigadier General Carl Rogers Darnall (
December 25 ,1867 ,Weston, Texas , USA -January 18 ,1941 ,Washington, D.C. , USA) was aUnited States Army chemist andsurgeon credited with originating the technique of liquidchlorination of drinking water. It has been plausibly asserted that more lives have been saved and more disease prevented by this contribution to sanitation than by any other single achievement inmedicine orpublic health .Biography
Youth and education
Darnall was born on his father’s farm in the Cottage Hill community near McKinney, in
Collin County, Texas . He was the eldest of the seven children of Reverend Joseph Rogers Darnall, minister of theChristian Church , and Mary Ellen (Thomas) Darnall.He studied at
Carlton College ,Bonham, Texas , andTransylvania University ,Lexington, Kentucky and received a MD degree fromJefferson Medical College ,Philadelphia (1890). In 1892 he married Annie Estella Major ofErwinna, Pennsylvania . In 1896, after a few years of private practice, he was commissioned a first lieutenant and assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army. He was graduated from theArmy Medical School in Washington the following year.Early career
Darnall’s first assignments were to stations in Texas –
Fort Clark at Brackettville, andFort McIntosh at Laredo. During theSpanish-American War (1898), Darnall served inCuba . Later, he served as an operating surgeon and pathologist aboard the hospital ship USS "Relief" in thePhilippines and commanded the hospital at Iloilo. He was one of the few medical officers that accompanied the Allied Forces during theBoxer Rebellion in China.Chlorination
In 1902, Darnall returned to Washington, D.C., and served as secretary of the faculty and instructor for sanitary chemistry and operative surgery at the Army Medical School. It was while a major and a professor of chemistry there that he discovered the value of liquefied chlorine in purifying water for use by troops in the field. His 1910 invention, the mechanical liquid chlorine purifier, was the prototype of the technology that is now applied to municipal water supplies throughout the world. Darnall also devised and patented a water filter that was used by the Army for many years. Major William Lyster further adapted the process of water chlorination to field use by inventing a method to apply
sodium hypochlorite in a cloth bag (the “Lyster bag”).Later career
Darnall was promoted to
Colonel in 1917. DuringWorld War I , Darnall’s talents for business and organization were recognized and he was assigned to the Finance and Supply Division in the Office of The Surgeon General (OTSG). After the war, he served as department surgeon in Hawaii. In 1925, he returned to the OTSG asexecutive officer . In November (or December 5?), 1929, he was promoted to brigadier general and became the Commanding General of the Army Medical Center, a post he held until he retired on Dec. 31, 1931.Darnall died on 18 January 1941 at
Walter Reed General Hospital ,Washington, D.C. . Six days earlier, his wife had died at the family home in Washington. They left three sons, Joseph Rogers (1894-1976), William Major (b. 1895), and Carl Robert (b. 1904), all of whom served in some capacity in the Army. He is buried in theArlington National Cemetery inArlington, Virginia .Awards and honors
Darnall was a fellow of the
American College of Surgeons , a member of theAmerican Medical Association andAssociation of Military Surgeons of the United States . He was a veteran of theMilitary Order of the Carabao , member of the Army and Navy Club of Washington, and Founder Member of theArmy and Navy Country Club . Darnall received the Distinguished Service Medal for his organizing, developing and administering medical supplies during World War I.Legacy
*The
Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center atFort Hood ,Killeen, Texas (established as the Darnall Army Community Hospital in 1965) is named in honor of Darnall.References
*Darnall C.R. (1911), "The Purification of Water by Anhydrous Chlorine", "
Journal of the American Public Health Association "; 1: 783–97.ee also
*
Frederick F. Russell External links
* [http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/collin/obits/nyt1941.txt Darnall’s "New York Times" obituary]
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