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DR. MAX ADLES. In the various phases that medicine has developed none is of more value to mankind nor is showing a more speedy development than is that of the laboratory investigator. These men who court death every day of their lives in handling the deadly germs of typhoid fever or of diphtheria in the effort to advance the cause of science are not always to be found in the big laboratories of the city, but many of them are in the small towns, working with equal enthusiasm in spite of the lack of inspiration that is in the atmosphere of a laboratory where a number of scientists are all working together. One of these true scientists is to be found in the person of Dr. Max Adles. Primarily, however, Dr. Adles is a doctor and the foremost thought in his mind is the care of the sick dependent on him, but secondarily comes the investigations that he has and is making as a student. His studies have led him beyond the realm of science, and have given him a broad minded view on many subjects. He is a close student of political economy, and is intensely alive to the conditions of the times and the changes that are sweeping over the face of the country.
Dr. Adles is not a native born American, having first seen the light in far away Russia, in Kiev, "the mother city of Russia." The day of his birth was December 28, 1867, and his father was Hirsch Adles. Hirsch Adles brought his family to America, and what a change it must have been for the lad, from the old city on the banks of the Dnieper to the rush and whirl of New York. It was in the latter city that Mr. Adles located and here he spent the remainder of his life. His wife was Rachel Rafelson, and she became the mother of three children. After the death of her husband Mrs. Adles went to the Holy land and took up her residence in Jerusalem.
In the land of his birth Dr. Max Adles was accustomed to the comfort and ease of a well-to-do household, and he had received the best education that Kiev afforded. On his arrival in this country, he was sent to complete his studies in the Cooper Institute of New York City. When he later decided to enter the medical profession he entered the medical department of the University of Columbia. He came west in 1890 and continued his studies in the old Missouri Medical College, which is now a part of the Washington University at St. Louis. From this institution he was graduated in 1898. The first year of his practice he spent in St. Louis, where he had the valuable experience that is to be gained through hospital work. In 1899 he came to Perry county, and first settled in Pinckneyville, but DuQuoin seemed to offer him a broader field, so in January, 1900, he moved hither. It is here that his chief professional work has been done.
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Dr. Adles is of that type of man who is never content, he always wants to know the "Whys" of things. He is not satisfied, either, unless he has reasoned a thing out to his own satisfaction, and he proposes to take as little as may be on faith, he must have a reason. This is the mind of the investigator, and this turn in his mental processes has led him far afield from his profession, so that there is scarcely a subject into which he has not dipped. As for the great fundamental principles of life, Dr. Adles believes that everyone should work them out to suit himself, which theory he has himself followed.
In order not to lag in the procession of those who are putting into practical use what the research men are discovering daily, Dr. Adles took a post-graduate course in New York City in 1904, and his affiliation with the various societies of the "regular school" has been close ever since he began to practice. He belongs to the local medical society of DuQuoin, to the Southern Illinois Medical Association, to the Illinois State Medical Association and to the American Medical Association. His activity toward better sanitation and the prevention of disease by public preventive measures brought to him the responsibility of the office of president of the DuQuoin board of health. He also holds the position of medical examiner for several of the mutual insurance orders, and some of the old line companies have commissioned him to conserve their interests. He has never had the time to take a very active part in politics but he is a firm believer in the tenets of the Republican party.
Dr. Adles was first married in New York City, in 1889, to Mary Koenigsen, who died leaving a son Ben, who is now in his senior year at Harvard College. On the 5th of July, 1899, Dr. Adles was married for a second time, in Belleville, Illinois, his wife being Elinor Wood, a daughter of Oscar Wood. Dr. and Mrs. Adles are the parents of three children, Eula B., Elizabeth and Galon Hirsch.