JOHN WEINZIRL, M.D. 1870 – 1935

jy.

June, 1938

No. 6

DISEASES

PACIFIC COAST STATES ISSUE »»

« «

WASHINGTON SECTION

CHEST OF THE

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Frederick A. Slyfield M.D., Seattle, Chairman;

Howard Hull, M.D., Yakima; Ross E. McPhail, M.D., Lakeview; Frank S Miller, M.D., Spokane; Leon G. Woodford, M.D., Everett; and Mrs. Bethesda Beals Buchanan, Seattle FOREWORD: Tuberculosis Pioneer

"THE Washington Tuberculosis Association takes this opportunity to congratulate the Editorial Committee of the Washington Section of this issue of Diseases of the Chest for a splendid portrayal of the sanatorium facilities for the

treatment of tuberculosis in the State of Washington.

Since its organization in 1906, the Washington Tuberculosis Association has promoted a continuous campaign of education against tuberculosis, as well as secured legislation authorizing county commissioners, separately or by forming districts, to construct and maintain sanatoria and to employ public health nurses. There are now seven county and one municipal sanatoria with a total capacity of more than 900 beds. Faced with the need for nurses trained for public service, the Association in 1918 sponsored a summer course in public health nursing at the University of Washington so successfully that in the fall the University made it anintegral part

JOHN WEINZIRL, M.D. 1870 ■ 1935

WEINZIRL, professor of bacteriology and JOHN director of the McDermottFoundation at the

-niversity

of Washington

at the time of his

-eath, June 26, 1935, was a native of Wisconsin.

3e was educated at River Falls Normal School the University of Wisconsin (B.S. 1896, M.S. 8 ". Ph.D. 1906). Deeply interested in public ealth, he won the degree of Dr. P.H. (1918), at while on sabbatical leave. the fall of 1896, while engaged in special " at the University of Wisconsin in preJ ation for accepting an appointment as direcof research at Agricultural Experiment StaI Geneva> New York, he was stricken with 'A erculosis. This event changed the course of lfe and gave direction to a substantial part M'hnis future research work. c ; e .Went immediately to New Mexico, where he 3-ined for nine years and completely regained .health. During this period he served as as\- nt Professor of biology at the University of Mexico (1897) and professor of biology and

Jhes

J*

of its curriculum. Recognizing the vital importance of early diagnosis, in 1920 the Association developedan itinerant diagnostic chest clinic and consultant service with a full-time specialist in charge. Mantoux tests have been stressed especially in the high school and college age since 1931, over 13,000 tests being given in 1937. The splendid cooperation of physicians, public health officials, educators, and tuberculosis leagues has been an important factor in attaining this result. During the life of the Association, the death rate from tuberculosis has decreased from 104 per 100,000 population to 46 per 100,000 in 1937, despite a rapidly increasing population.

chemistry (1900), and as director of the Hadley Climatological Laboratory. He was called to the University of Washington in 1907. The McDermott Foundation for tuberculosis research was created in 1924 and Professor Weinzirl was made director. Professor Weinzirl's published scientific work comprised some forty-five titles, distributed about equally among three fields: (1) the pure science of bacteriology, (2) the applied field of sanitary bacteriology and public health, and (3) tuberculosis. Perhaps of chief interest in this

latter field was his work on the desensitization of tuberculous guinea pigs to the toxic products — A. W. of tubercle bacilli. 51