132 PROCEEDINOS OF THE ACADEMY OF [April, 



of the Board of Health in Philadelphia that the laws were properiy 

 drafted and their approval secured. 



In the selection of Dr. Dixon to be the first Commissioner of 

 Health in Pennsylvania, Governor Pennypacker in his auto- 

 biography may be quoted: 



"The session of the Legislature ended on the 13th day of April. A Depart- 

 ment of Health had been created, to which had been given very great authority 

 and power which extended to the person of the individual citizen and might 

 even be regarded as an infringement of his personal liberty. The value and 

 permanence of the legislation would depend upon the manner in which the 

 department would be organized. It was at first suggested to me that it should 



be placed in charge of Dr , but that thought I instantly dismissed. 



I then had an interview with Dr. Charles B. Penrose, who had been very much 

 interested in the matter, and he named to me a gentleman connected with one 

 of the schools in the Western part of the State. I had a talk with this gentle- 

 man, but was still not satisfied. Then Dr. Penrose told me he thought Dr. 

 Samuel G. Dixon, President of the Academy of Natural Sciences, would be 

 willing to undertake the task. That suggestion suited me exactly. Dixon 

 consented and I made the appointment. Under his direction it has come to be 

 accepted as the most important and efficient organization for this line of work 

 in the United States. There is good ground for hope that many of the 

 inflammatory diseases due to specific poisons, such as typhoid fever, smallpox, 

 diphtheria and tuberculosis, may be in time stamped out of existence." 



Dr. Dixon was commissioned by Governor Pennypacker on the 

 6th day of June, 1905, and from that day until the day of his death 

 devoted the greater part of each hour that he was awake to the 

 organization and administration of the State Department of Health. 

 The organization was successful almost immediately for the reason 

 that every new step taken by the Department was carefully thought 

 out before being projected, and because the public were fully taken 

 into the confidence of the Commissioner prior to his enforcing any 

 new plan of procedure. 



Knowing the common interpretation that the wielding of police 

 authority extending to the person of an individual citizen for the 

 purpose of protecting all might be regarded as an infringement of 

 personal liberty, Dr. Dixon from the beginning tried to change this 

 general acceptance of the public and to make Pennsylvanians see 

 that in civilized life many primitive and individual lilierties must 

 be given up to insure the benefits to be had by public health protec- 

 tion. From the very beginning of the State Department of Health 

 the central thought in its educational work was ''how may we get 

 close to the people, and how may we make them see public health 

 problems from the viewpoint of benefits to be obtained." Dr. Dixon's 

 preachment, "Pennsylvania's citizens want to be kept well and in 

 good health and are willing to submit to inconveniences if we only 

 show them what to do" — these and similar slogans reached re- 



