98 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



THE FIRST CHIEF OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY 



33. An act of congress in 1884 established the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry with Dr. Daniel Elmer Salmon as chief. Dr. 

 Salmon's attention was first directed to the protection of the 

 American livestock industry from the plagues which occasionally 

 enter from outside the borders of the country, as well as to the 

 extermination of those diseases that had already gained a foot- 

 hold. He established a system of policing to prevent the 

 entrance of the two most destructive diseases found in foreign 

 countries, the foot and mouth disease and rinderpest. So suc- 

 cessful has been this precaution, that rinderpest has never gained 

 an entrance and foot and mouth disease appeared only thrice. 



Dr. Salmon was born at Mount Olive, Morris Co., New Jer- 

 sey, July 23, 1850. His early life was passed partly on a farm 

 and partly as a clerk in a country store. His pre-collegiate 

 training was received at the Mount Olive district school at 

 Chester Institute, and at the East Business College. He entered 

 Cornell University as a member of its first freshman class, and 

 almost immediately came under the stimulating influence of 

 Prof. James Law (122). Circumstances developed which per- 

 mitted him to attend the Alfort Veterinary School near Paris 

 during the last six months of his course, when he came under the 

 influence of the great Pasteur. He was given credit for this 

 work at Cornell, and in 1876 received the degree of Veterinary 

 Surgeon. He immediately entered upon practice in Newark, New 

 Jersey, and was so successful and original in his methods, that 

 in 1876 his Alma Mater granted him the advanced degree of 

 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. In 1877 he was invited to 

 deliver a course of lectures on Veterinary Science in the Uni- 

 versity of Georgia, but continued his practice until his appoint- 

 ment as first Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. 



In 1879 he was appointed inspector of the state of New York 

 to serve on the staff of Dr. Law in an effort to stamp out con- 



