COLD COMFORT.

A flip through a contemporary HVAC textbook shows that Gorrie's discoveries are usually credited to innovators who based their work on his idea, but rarely to Gorrie himself. Had Gorrie lived, he would have seen one of his biggest dreams come true: Hospitals could now treat every patient suffering from surgical wounds, broken bones or fever with ice. There is at least one institution - beyond the museum - that credits Gorrie's achievements: The National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., which houses the doctor's first working ice-making machine prototype and his original patents. For nearly 10 years, Gorrie worked with Green to administer experimental treatments to ease patients' symptoms. [Extracted from the article]