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upstate with me? Right away?
Cherry nodded. Dr. Hal picked up the jar of the
remedy that Mrs. Swaybill had given her.
By starting at once and taking short cuts, Dr. Hal and
Cherry reached Iowa City by late morning. They parked
in front of University Hospital and went directly to its
laboratory. Dr. Hal, as a county health officer, knew the
chief laboratory technician, Nan Cross, a woman in a
starched white coat. He introduced her to Cherry.
MEDICAL DETECTIVE WORK 71
I m always glad to meet a county nurse, Miss Cross
said. What can the lab do for you, Doctor?
Dr. Hal Miller handed her the jar of Nature s Herb
Cure, with the request that she use only a little of it
for biochemical analysis and return the rest to him.
The technician nodded, poured some into a container,
and gave back the jar. Then Dr. Miller described for
Miss Cross the symptoms of his flu patients who had
treated themselves with the doubtful patent medi-
cine. Of course I ve reported this concoction to the
health authorities, he said. While he talked, Cherry
glanced around the well equipped laboratory.
Here on long tables were racks of test tubes, some
frothing, some with frozen materials, microscopes,
slides, Petri dishes full of cultures. Near the win-
dows were cages of white mice. In the next room was
the blood bank. All of this equipment was familiar to
Cherry, for no hospital could function without labora-
tory technicians. These specialists were highly trained
in biology, chemistry, and biochemistry, and performed
laboratory tests through which physicians could reach
an accurate diagnosis.
I ve been treating these special patients not only
for flu, but for Well, the disturbance acted like some
kind of poisoning, Dr. Miller was saying to Miss Cross.
Treatments against poisoning have helped so far. It
was only late yesterday that Miss Ames was able to
obtain this sample of the cure all.
I ll run tests on white mice, Miss Cross said. We ll
study how this patent medicine affects them, since, as
72 CHERRY AMES, RURAL NURSE
you know, mice and men have the same physical make-
up. I ll give the medicine to mice which I ll infect with
flu virus, and I ll also give it to healthy mice, as a con-
trol test. She added, It will take a few days for results
to develop.
This patent medicine produces discomfort fast,
Dr. Miller said. I urgently need your reports so I ll be able
to prescribe the most effective treatment for patients,
and also I d like to report the results of the tests to the
health authorities. Can t you start the tests right now
and let us have an answer by Monday or Tuesday?
The lab technician bit her lip, figuring. I ll speed
things up, Doctor. As soon as I have some answers, I ll
phone you or Miss Ames at your county health office.
That s fine. Thanks very much, Dr. Hal said. Is
there a chemist here today?
Miss Cross said no, but there was a commercial
chemistry laboratory in town, Greer s, which the medi-
cal personnel, food processors, local druggists, and the
university trained farmers relied on.
Greer s Laboratories was in an office building.
Dr. Thomas Greer, a tall, greying man wearing a lab
coat and rubber gloves, stopped his experiment to talk
with Dr. Hal and Cherry. Cherry felt at home in the
quiet laboratory with its racy odors and its tables
and shelves piled with big pieces of equipment, racks,
flasks, reference books, and typed reports.
A breakdown of the elements in this patent medi-
cine? the chemist said, as Dr. Hal handed him the jar.
He unscrewed the top and sniffed its contents. What
MEDICAL DETECTIVE WORK 73
do you think is in this mixture? After all, this could be
any one of a thousand different things.
Cherry remembered that the pedlar who sold the
stuff lived in the woods; he picked berries and herbs,
and sold those, too. She recalled Phoebe Grisbee s and
Amy Swaybill s faith in herbs as cure-alls.
Mightn t the remedy contain some sort of herb that
grows wild in these parts? Cherry suggested. As one
of the ingredients?
The label does mention herbs, Dr. Greer said.
Well, we ll test for an herb. My two assistants are off
today if either of you d like to help a bit.
We re rusty, Dr. Hal warned him. But Cherry said,
Helping with an analysis is exciting like detective
work!
The chemist smiled at her. Exactly how I feel, too.
Let s start.
First Dr. Greer made a litmus paper test checking
for acid base balance. Then he took a clean glass test
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