Background

Isaac Arthur Abt was born on December 18, 1867 in Wilmington, Illinois, United States. His parents were Levi Abt and Henrietta Hart, German immigrants and his father was a grocery store owner and postmaster. The family moved to Chicago when he was eight years old.

Education

In 1886 Abt left Chicago to begin a three-year preliminary medical course at the Johns Hopkins University (the university did not establish its own medical school until 1893), where he studied under a number of outstanding instructors, including the physician W. H. Welch.

He completed his studies at Johns Hopkins in 1889.

Abt returned to Chicago and entered the Chicago Medical College (now known as Northwestern University Medical School), where some of the younger faculty had recently returned from postgraduate study in Europe, full of enthusiasm for the new field of bacteriology and its implications.

After receiving the M. D. at Chicago in 1891, Abt served as intern for two years at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, where he recognized the lack of knowledge in childhood diseases and health care. Always a diligent and conscientious student, he read the works of Abraham Jacobi, Edward Henoch, Hermann Widerhofer, and others and decided to specialize in pediatrics.

During the years 1893-1894 he went to Europe for further training, studying under Widerhofer in Vienna and Adolph Baginsky in Berlin.

Career

Abt established a private practice as a "baby doctor" in Chicago. At that time mortality among infants and children was extremely high, and physicians regarded and treated sick children as they did adults. Abt's efforts to change this pattern and to treat specific diseases of childhood were sometimes unpopular. The children's ward at Michael Reese Hospital, where he spent much of his time, was seldom full because most parents refused to trust their offspring to the care of a hospital.

From 1897 to 1901 Abt was professor of diseases of children at Northwestern University Woman's Medical School and from 1902 to 1908 was associate professor of diseases of children at Rush Medical College. From 1909 to 1942 he served as professor and head of the department of pediatrics at Northwestern School of Medicine.

Despite an expanding private practice and a growing demand for consultations throughout the Midwest, Abt never neglected his teaching. He prepared his lectures and clinics in a careful and scholarly manner and presented them with formal dignity.

In 1909, because of his growing reputation, Abt was requested to design and direct the construction of Sarah Morris Children's Hospital, the first children's hospital in Chicago. He remained at the hospital as a consulting physician until his resignation in 1925, which followed a disagreement over hospital policies.

Abt also served as consulting physician in children's diseases at the Children's Memorial Hospital and St. Luke's Hospital and as attending physician for children's diseases at the Passavant Hospital.

Abt's publications greatly influenced the development of American pediatrics. He helped found the American Journal for the Diseases of Children in 1910. In 1917 he published The Baby's Food and in 1944 his autobiography, Baby Doctor. A monumental eight-volume work that he edited, entitled Pediatrics, appeared between 1923 and 1926. In addition Abt published more than 100 articles on pediatrics, edited a volume on the subject in the Practical Medicine series, and for nearly forty years edited the Yearbook of Pediatrics.

Abt's activities in professional organizations were noteworthy.

From 1919 to 1935 Abt was a member of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association, and in 1911-1912 he was chairman of the section on diseases of children. In 1925 he presented the House of Delegates with a report on the methods of sale and promotion of proprietary infant foods "that has served as a standard since that time. "

Achievements

• Abt was the first physician in Chicago to administer diphtheria antitoxin; at a time when entire families were dying from the disease this action evoked criticism from other doctors. Abt also pioneered in the treatment of infantile scurvy and called for the pasteurization of milk and a safe water supply; in 1909 he helped found the first Chicago Milk Commission, which later became the Infant Welfare Society. He is credited with being the first Chicago physician to provide incubators for premature babies and the first American pediatrician to use protein milk in the treatment of diarrhea in infants. He also convinced his colleagues that teething, which had been considered a disease, is a natural process.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Baby's Food: Recipes for the Preparation of Food for Infants and Children

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • The 1943 Year Book of Pediatrics

    (A very good+ copy in a very good edgeworn dust jacket. Fi...)

  • The 1936 Year Book of Pediatrics

Membership

He was president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Pediatric Society, the president of the Chicago Medical Society, the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, the Chicago Pediatric Society, and the American Association of Teachers of Diseases of Children.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "Abt had been the dominant figure in pediatrics for more than fifty years. " - The New York Times.

Connections

On August 20, 1897, Abt married Lina Rosenberg; they had two sons, one of whom, Arthur Frederick Abt, became a pediatrician and eventually shared his father's practice.

Spouse :

Lina (Rosenberg) Abt

Father :

Levi Abt

Sister :

Hattie (Abt) Uhlmann

Brother :

Jacob J. Abt

Brother :

Herman H. Abt

Brother :

Solomon (Lincoln) Abt

mother :

Henrietta (Hart) Abt

Son :

Arthur Frederick Abt