At her microscope, this historic image of bacteriologist Dr. Ida A. Bengston (1881-1952), was taken from the U.S. Public Health Service records. This photo is symbolic of the importance of laboratory equipment to the CDC's progress in the improvement of world wide public health standards. Dr. Bengston was one of the first women employed on the scientific staff of the Hygienic Laboratory of the Public Health Service, the predecessor to the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bengston was particularly noted for her studies of bacterial toxins, especially the discovery of the organism Clostridium botulinum, which caused a paralytic disease in chickens.