The Portland daily press., 1896-08-04
GERMS LAY A DOCTOR LOW.
DIR. Park, Searching for Antitoxin, Gets
Typhoid.
New York SUM-

Another well-known bacteriologist,
Dr. William II. Park, of 1913 West
Eleventh street, has fallen victim to
his zeal in the cause of science. DR..
Park is seriously i'll of typhoid fever at
the Presbyterian Hospital. He contract
ed the disease while experimenting with
the germs of typhoid fever at the Health
Department laboratory, adjoining the
Willard Parker Hospital, foot of East
Sixteenth street, of which he has boon
in charge for about three years. DIR.
Park recognized the nature of his disease
week ago, after he had been i'll for
several days, and he WAS taken to the
hospital where he became the patient
Of DIR. Walter B. James of 26S Madison
avenue. DR.. James was out of town yes
terday, but DR.. Norton, the house ply
sician, said that Or. Park was doing adj
mirablY. lie has now passed the crisis
o: the fever. and unless there should be
relapse it is expected that he will recov-
or. His condition is still SO serious, how
ever, that he is able to sea even his rcla-
tiyes for not more than few minutes at
time.
DR.. Parker is about thirty three years
old. He was graduated at the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, and attsrward
spent several years at Roosevelt Hospital
After he became attached to the Health
Department he did great deal of exper-
imenting in developing the diphtheria
anti-toxin.
He worked out the system of practical
diagnosis for diphtheria which has proved
of SO great service to the Health Depart
ment in detecting the disease in its early
stage and in preventing its spread by
contagion. Under this system. which
has now been established throughout the
city, q pnsyioisn who has case that
looks like diphtheria may obtain at any
one of number of stations q test tube
prepared with gelatine and serum for the
reception of germs. With this he pre-
pares a culture from the throat of his
patient and returns the sealed tube to
the station. These tubes are collected
da lily by the inspectors of the Health
De artment and taken to the laboratory
in the Criminal Courts building, where
they are kept at n high temperature over
night to develop such germs as may be
present. The next day q microscopic
examination is made, and if it shows the
| presence of diphtheria germs an inspector
| of the department. visits the homo OF tho
| patient and gives instructions for the
treatment of the case and the precautions
| to be usee1 to prevent contagion.
| Since the discovery of diphtheria anti
l @ox- nj 1, hoo, LII i,,
| laboratories all over the world to dis
cover u similar anti-toxin for typhoid
fever. Experimentation in this line WAS
| begun in this city last March by DR..
| Park and his assistants at the Sixteenth
street laboratory While the antitoxin
has not yet been secured. the progress of
the experiments has greatly encouraged
the baoteriologists.
The method which has been followed
in attempting to find q typhoid anri-tox-
i'll is similar in irs general outline to that
used for the development of the diphthe.
| ria anti-toxin. The diphtheria poison
| is injected into horse, at first in small
| quantities, but afterward in much larg or
doses, until the horse has become i'm
mune To diphtherin. He is then lanced
and quantity OF blood drawn off. This
| is permitted to stand until the serum or
| thin colorless liquor can be separated from
| the rest, and the nerum of the immuniZed
animal is the essential ingredient of the
| antitoxin. An injection of the latter in
TO person having diphtheria has the
effect of partly immunizing him, and
thus assisting in warding off the dis
| ease
In experimenting with typhoid fever
toxin, horses, sheep and goats have been
used at the Sixteenth street laboratory.
Guinea pigs arc used, as ii the diphths-
ria experiments, to test the efficacy of
the anti toxin developed.
While, the experiments with typhoid
toxin have been going on at the labora
tory, it has been necessary to kesp on
hand typhoid fever germs. They are
placed in glass saucers, known at Petri
plates, upon q surface of gelatine from
which they derive nourishment. Ordi-
narily this gelatine remains hard and
the germs ais embedded in its surface.
so that they are not released when the
covering is removed. In hot weather,
however, the gelatine has tendency to
melt, and the plates, when not in use,
arc kept in refrigerator. Even if the
germs are released there is less danger
than from the germs of phthisis, which
fill the all and induce consumption by
being breathed in. The typhoid germs
must bo swallowed to induce the disease
The assumption is that DIR. Park got
some of the germs on his hands, and SO
transferred them to his food or drink.
Dr. Park began to feel thu effects of
the disease nearly two weeks ago. He
had been absorbed in the experiments
and had been working SO hard for weeks
that he was completely run down and in
a very favorable condition to be attacked
by the disease. One morning he ap-
peared at the laboratory feeling COM
plutely exhausted, but supposed that his
condition was due TO overwork.
81 am troubled with that tired feel
ing" he remarked laughingly TO DIR.
Alexander Lambert, one of his assist
ants DR.. Lambert, who had been hard
at work on the experiments too, said that
he also felt tired out. DR.. Park con-
tinued his work that day, but the next
morning he complained of still greater
exhaustion. Az Or. Lambert's sugges-
ton he decided to go out of town for a
rest. Two days later DR.. Lambert re-
ceived q note from him saying that be
was back in town and i'll with typhoid
| fever.
DR.. Parks illness recalls the case Of
DR.. Byron, the young and eminent bac-
teriologist of this city who contracted
consum ption while experimenting with
| fin herculosis haci11i ahOut n vanr 600