History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

358 History of Medical Practice in IllinoisWashburne to the post of "Deputy Commissioner of Health," in charge ofa newly created "Bureau of Milk Inspection," the first bacteriologic examinationsfor the city were made by Professor Stuart and his assistant,Dr. Adolph Gehrmann, microscopist for the health department. The workconsisted of bacterial plate counts of milk and also an investigation of theincidence of tubercle bacilli in the milk supply of the city.At the same time Prof. J.H. Salisbury, who had just been appointedcity chemist, with the aid of Mr. Cass L. Kennecott, assistant chemist, conducteda series of chemical analyses of milk in the laboratory of theWoman's Medical College, at Lincoln and West Harrison Streets.The first bacterial findings in milk were included in the report of thedepartment of health of 1893, which also contained tables showing thetotal number of specimens examined by the new city laboratory.On September 8 of that year, the new bureau of milk inspection wastransferred by order of the city council to the department of health, and amunicipal laboratory was officially authorized, to be financed from therevenues of the milk licenses. However, no provision for quarters for thenew laboratory was made until the following January, when a single roomon the top floor of the old city hall, at La Salle and Washington Streets, wasassigned to thistechnical work. The laboratory equipment was installedvery soon thereafter, and in February 1894 the municipal laboratory beganto function, under the direction of Dr. Adolph Gehrmann, bacteriologist,with the aid of Mr. Cass L. Kennecott, city chemist, and one otherassistant.At first, only milk samples were examined in the laboratory, but as soonas possible, in response to popular demand, Dr. Gehrmann began the routineexamination of throat cultures for diphtheria bacilli (October 1894)and also secured two horses for use in the production of the (then) newdiphtheria antitoxin. During that year the work of the laboratory wasalso extended to include examination of the city water supply.One item in the departmental report of this early period istypical ofthe demands made on municipal and state laboratories from the very beginning,for public health research. This item is a report of a series ofmicroscopic examinations of 243 samples of market milk for tuberclebacilli. The conclusions drawn are most interesting, in the light of laterexperience with such direct microscopic tests of milk. "It is true that occasionallyobjects similar to tubercle bacillus would appear in the stainedspecimens, but they were never present in sufficient number to render thediagnosis positive, or to condemn the sample." The writer (anonymous)concludes that 'the direct microscopic examination of milk for tuberclebacilli"milch" cows.can be of value only in connection with veterinary inspection of