27. Jim the horse modernized medicine in 1902
After spending most of his life pulling milk wagons through the streets of St Louis, Jim the horse changed his career. Chemists once injected horses with the diphtheria toxin because of their immunity to the disease. This produced an anti-diphtheria toxin, which could then be given to human sufferers. Jim produced 7.5 gallons of diphtheria serum in his career. However, people noticed in 1901 that Jim had tetanus, but it was already too late. Jim’s serum caused 13 children to die of tetanus. In response, the US Government passed the 1902 Biologics Control Act, to regulate biologics and created the FDA.
