History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

148 History of Medical Practice in Illinoistheir ceaseless efforts and their willingness to accept well-founded scientificknowledge finally bore fruit so that the scourges of their times—typhoidfever, malaria, cholera, smallpox, diphtheria—no longer wipe out vastnumbers in our communities.Surely the period of 1850 to1900 was one of great achievement in thepractice of medicine, and the practitioner of today must feel humbled bythe stature and accomplishments of many of his earlier colleagues.AddendaFollowing are some pertinent medical excerpts from the period 1850-1900:Smallpox was the last of the quadrivium of diseasesmalaria and smallpox) to be eradicated.(cholera, typhoid,There was a tremendous tuberculous infestation in Illinois in the latterhalf of the nineteenth century, particularly pulmonary phthisis and scrofula.An interesting article appeared in the Illinois Medical Journal of May1940, by Dr. Frederick Tice, Chicago, entitled "A Century of Tuberculosisin Illinois" in which he said: "For the seventies and eighties, the reportsare rather startling.of 275.6 per 100,000;In 1875, Springfield showed a tuberculosis mortality190.8 per 100,000 for 1876, and 239.2 per 100,000 forper 100,000.1877. In 1881, Rock Island had a tuberculosis mortality of 325In 1887, the rate for Rockford was 141.8 per 100,000. Quincy, in 1875, hada tuberculosis mortality rate of 330 per 100,000 and a mortality in 1876of 469 per 100,000. Even with Slab Hollow and the general picture ofcommunicable disease as background, these figures for Quincy seem extremelyhigh. Over the seventies and eighties many of the downstate townsshowed a higher tuberculosis mortality than Chicago."It seems strange that the extremely high rates over this period, i860 to1880, did not arouse a greater public interest and stimulate some attemptat preventive measures. On July 1,1877, two state laws, one known as theState Board of Health Act, the other as Medical Practice Act, both implementedby the board of health, organized July 12 of the same year,became effective. But the tuberculosis program was still largely untouched."Dr. John H. Rauch, secretary of the State Board of Health, who servedalmost continuously from 1877 to 1891, never locked horns with the disease.With an insight that transcended state and national boundaries and sawthe whole world as a health unit, Rauch spent all his wealth of organizinggenius in the epidemic field. For him and for workers of similarly finecaliber throughout the country, 1882 and Koch's epochal discovery shouldhave lit the torch and brought it to a flame."