ORGANIZATION FOR PROTECTING HEALTH 401 



getting well and not getting well, or the difference between re- 

 maining alive and not. The supervision of these standards is a 

 matter of organization or teamwork of medical men, scientific 

 investigators, pharmacists, drug dealers, and manufacturers. 

 Through a study of how protoplasm and the different substances 

 and structures found in protoplasm react to certain types of 

 chemicals it has become possible to build up new kinds of com- 

 pounds for the purpose of counteracting certain parasites or 

 their toxins. These compounds are synthetic ; that is, they are 

 ^'put together" by the chemist out of simpler groups of atoms, 

 and are unlike any substances found in nature. Some of them 

 have brilliant colors, like the coal-tar dyes used for most of our 

 textiles ; others are white or colorless. Several have now been 

 made that do actually cure certain diseases. The Germans have 

 a preparation which destroys the parasite of African sleeping 

 sickness. Acriflavin and gentian violet have been used success- 

 fully to overcome bacterial parasites in the blood of patients. 



Other synthetic drugs produce anesthesia, or lack of sensi- 

 bility. Chloroform and ether have been used for about a cen- 

 tury, and, in certain minor operations, nitrous oxid, or laughing 

 gas. These anesthetics put a person to sleep for a while. At 

 present there are compounds that can be injected into the blood 

 or into the spinal canal and bring about various degrees of in- 

 sensitiveness. Local anesthesia is being used more and more, 

 even for large operations. In this practice the patient does not 

 lose consciousness, although he loses all sensibility in the parts 

 treated. 



In many cities the health department maintains laboratories 

 for the production of vaccines and similar supplies. Some state 

 laboratories inspect and supervise production by private com- 

 mercial laboratories, and in every state there is some attempt 

 to maintain standards of purity in these biological supplies. 

 This service involves the raising and care of many animals 

 (horses, rabbits, calves, guinea pigs, and rats), their close super- 

 vision and periodic examination, and skillful experimentation 

 and testing, which are going on all the time. 



