CHAPTER XVIII.

LABORATORY WORK.

The changes which have been made in the practice of medicine by the advances in biology, physics and chemistry have greatly increased the amount of laboratory work which must be done for the average practicing physician.

The older physicians neither have the training nor the inclination to do this work for themselves; and in hospital organization, efficiency calls for specialists in this line. These laboratory specialists need not necessarily be medical graduates; but in this connection this field deserves consideration because it may prove inviting to those medical graduates who find, after having made their preparation, that they have such a repugnance to morbid humanity that their success in general practice would be problematical. Moreover it requires for patient laboratory work just the careful deliberate type of mind which some of those possess who shrink from those situations which require ready resourcefulness.

As set forth in a previous chapter, the state and municipal departments of health have their own laboratories. The hospitals likewise have their own force of laboratory assistants. There are also research laboratories and the commercial establishments in which medical supplies are prepared and tested; and in some

cities specialists establish themselves by doing work for the private physicians.

Examinations of blood are to be made to determine the presence of evidence of typhoid fever or malaria; mucus from the throat for germs of diphtheria; sputum for tuberculosis; spinal cords of animals for rabies; drinking water for evidence of pollution; drugs for adulterations; tainted food supplies; and so on through an almost endless series. The water supply companies have their own establishments in which samples of drinking water are being continually tested; and on account of the heavy penalties which are imposed upon the vendors of impure milk, the milk companies in our cities are compelled to employ specialists for examining their supplies.

This field is particularly inviting to the scientifically trained women; the associations are good, the surroundings attractive, and the pay compares favorably with the earnings in those fields usually entered by women.

Each one of the lines of special laboratory work has its own methods of procedure, and the routine of different laboratories doing the same kinds of work may vary greatly.

The Bureaus of Standards of several cities in which the subject of salaries has been carefully considered have recommended schedules of pay for this service as follows: laboratory assistants, in New York, from $600 with annual increases of $120 to $1,200; in Chicago, from $780 with annual increments of $60 to $960; in St. Paul, $600 with annual increases of $60 to $720; in Portland, Ore., from $780 to $1,200; for assistant bacteriologists, in New York, from $1,300 to $2,100; in Chicago, from $1,200 to $1,440; for bacteriologists,

in New York, from $2,280 to $3,420; in Chicago, from $1,620 to $1,860; in Philadelphia, from $1,000 to $2,000; in Cleveland, from $1,200 to $2,000; in Buffalo, from $2,000 to $2,300.

Candidates are usually selected from the civil-service lists, and men and women are admitted to the examination on the same terms. It is true that many of the examinations which are given for the purpose of selecting laboratory assistants can be passed by those who have had a good high-school course, but the chances of such persons for promotion will be very limited. A college course laying stress upon practical work in biology and chemistry, or the laboratory work of the usual medical course, is generally a sufficient preparation for admission to subordinate positions in this service. Specialization either in college or in laboratory service is needed to qualify for advanced positions.

Several physicians with wide experience in this kind of work, upon being interviewed, expressed it as their opinion that the precautions are such that those who work in these testing laboratories do not take any special risks by engaging in this kind of work.