The 1920s Medicine and Health: Overview

During the 1920s, great strides were made in ridding the world of such communicable, and potentially deadly, diseases as tuberculosis, measles, scarlet fever, and syphilis. Medical pioneers discovered and perfected a range of new instruments which aided doctors in diagnosing and treating illness. Among them were the electroencephalograph, which measured brain waves; the Papanicolaou (or "Pap") smear, which aided in the early detection of cancer; and the iron lung, which assisted individuals who were unable to breathe on their own. Reuben Leon Kahn introduced a more accurate blood test for syphilis, which replaced the one devised by Albert Wassermann in 1906. One of the decade's great discoveries was that the consumption of calves' liver was an effective cure for anemia, an iron deficiency in the blood. Another was that insulin, produced in the pancreas, effectively controls diabetes. Until that time, diabetes was a fatal disease. Other medical breakthroughs, however, were embraced by some, but not all. One controversial medical technique was the Rorschach (or ink-blot) test, which allowed psychiatrists to evaluate the mental processes of patients.

Those whose medical and health-related innovations came during previous decades were honored in the 1920s for their earlier achievements. For example, Willem Einthoven, the discoverer of the electrocardiograph, which measures electrical currents in the heart, won the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1924. Five years later, Christiaan Eijkman and Frederick Hopkins shared the same Nobel Prize for discovering vitamin A and determining that vitamins are necessary to maintain good health. Meanwhile, initial findings were made during the 1920s which led to groundbreaking medical advances in future decades. One major breakthrough was the accidental discovery of penicillin, an antibiotic fungus, by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Two decades later, penicillin could be artificially produced and became the world's most effective life-saving drug.

Much headway was made in combating such rampant diseases as hookworm and pellagra, which primarily plagued individuals residing in rural areas. During the decade, vitamins B¹, C, D, E, and K were isolated or discovered. Theories were put forth regarding the nature of personality traits and the numerical measurement of intelligence. Advances were made in the areas of women's and children's health. At the beginning of the 1920s, infant mortality and maternity death rates were alarmingly high. The Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1921, made funding available for health care clinics and educational materials for pregnant women and mothers. Unfortunately, pressure on the part of political conservatives and the American Medical Association (AMA) led to the act's repeal before the decade ended. Meanwhile, birth control advocates organized conferences and opened clinics; they also met with resistance from those who were antifamily planning.