INVESTIGATIONS ON THE CONTROL OF HOOKWORM DISEASE, PARTS I-XXXIV
Book Details + Condition: No Publisher Listed. First Edition, 1925. Hardcover. 623 pages. Inscribed and signed by the author on the first blank page. Illustrated, and includes large fold-outs. From the title page: Reprinted from The American Journal of Hygiene, Vol. I, Nos 5 and 6, September-November, 1921. The book is a compilation of Dr. William W. Cort's global work on the diagnosis and treatment of hookworm disease published in the aforementioned journal. Hookworm was a prevalent and common parasitic infection to humans during the 1920s and 1930. For more on Dr. Cort's work, please see below. A very scarce inscribed copy by a medical pioneer's attempt to eradicate a prevalent human parasite. Firm binding; rubbed corners and edges; light aging and wear to boards; interior is clean and free of markings, save author's inscription and a pencilled note to the works cited on p 16, which we kept as it may have been an edit by the author. Book has been rebound (or the original journals were), and binder or owner added pen-noted page numbers to the top corner of each page.
From the "Heroes of Public Health" Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health Website: At the time the School was founded, parasitic diseases dominated public health concerns, and controlling widespread hookworm infections was among the primary challenges. William Cort, who was immersed in hookworm studies at the University of Michigan's Biological Station, was recruited as one of the School's first faculty members.
From Egypt to China, Panama to Puerto Rico, Dr. Cort led Hopkins field crews around the globe in an attempt to unravel the biology, ecology and epidemiology of hookworm disease. His work was literally in the trenches taking human fecal samples looking for Hookworm larvae.
In Baltimore, Dr. Cort's rigorous laboratory work with dogs allowed him to illuminate the importance of diet to hookworm disease. However, the realization that it was a disease of malnutrition and poverty presented a major hurdle for him and fellow researchers, who once dreamed of eradicating the parasite.
