On Jul. 16, 1798, the Marine Hospital Service, predecessor to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was established with the signing by President John Adams of an act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen, included examining passengers on arriving ships for clinical signs of infectious diseases, such as cholera and yellow fever, to prevent epidemics.

A monthly deduction from the seamen’s wage was used by the Federal Government to provide medical services for the seamen in existing hospitals or to build new hospitals.

The first marine hospitals were established in the port cities along the East Coast. As trade expanded along the inland waterways and the Great Lakes, the marine hospitals followed. One was erected even in Hawaii. The major function of the Marine Hospital Service until the 1870s remained the care of sick seamen. But after 1878 its functions were expanded greatly.