102 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



A PREVENTER OF PESTILENCE 



34. Upon the resignation of Dr. Salmon (33), as Chief of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry in 1905, Dr. Alonzo D. Melvin was 

 appointed chief, a position he retained until his death, Decem- 

 ber 7, 1917. Dr. Melvin was born at Sterling, III., October 

 28, 1862, an4 was educated in the grammar school and business 

 college of that city. He then spent four years in practical 

 experience on a good livestock farm, and in 1883 entered the 

 Chicago Veterinary College. After three years of study he 

 received his degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery, and imme- 

 diately entered the service of the newly organized Bureau of 

 Animal Industry. In 1887 he was transferred to Baltimore and 

 three years later was sent to Liverpool to inspect animals and 

 vessels from the United States. In 1892 he was recalled, and 

 placed in charge of meat inspection in Packingtown, Chicago. 

 Here he remained for four years, building up and extending 

 the system of safeguarding human food products. In 1899 he 

 was made Assistant Chief of Animal Industry, and succeeded to 

 the head of it on Dr. Salmon's resignation in 1905. He was a 

 member of the Advisory Board to the Hygienic Laboratory of 

 the United States Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, 

 was president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 

 1909 to 1910, and was honorary associate of the Royal College 

 of Veterinary Surgeons. 



Under Dr. Melvin some of the most important campaigns of 

 the Bureau of Animal Industry were executed. In 1906 the 

 first appropriations for the quarantine eradication of the Texas 

 fever tick were granted, and at the time of his death, six of 

 the fifteen states, originally quarantined, were pronounced free 

 of the tick, while several of the others had only a few counties 

 remaining to clean up. Originally the territory attacked included 

 730,000 square miles, and considerably over half of it had been 

 made tick free in 1917. Under his guidance, the nation wide 



