212 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



rant the creation of a special department, which 

 conferred a new dignity upon the Commissioner 

 of Forestry and made him a member of the Gov- 

 ernor's cabinet. 



" This position I held until 1904, when I le- 

 signed the office, for I had been twenty-six years 

 a laborer in the interest of Pennsylvania forestry. 

 It is for others to place an estimate upon my 

 efforts. The very day I resigned, a vacancy oc- 

 curred in the advisory board, and I was imme- 

 diately appointed to fill it. (I still hold the 

 position, without salary.) 



" In 1902, 'without warrant of law,' I estab- 

 lished the principle, near Mont Alto, of opening 

 homes for consumptives on the State Forest Re- 

 serve. A few cheap shacks, costing on the aver- 

 age about fifty dollars each, were erected, and 

 in these such suitable, incipient cases as cared to 

 come, furnishing their own food and preparing 

 it, were allowed to stay and obtain such benefit as 

 they could from forest air, food and rest. 



" The experiment proved a success and, by 

 1907, legislative appropriation, aggregating $23, 

 000, had been made for its support. Beyond 

 doubt great good was done, the demands for 

 admission being always in excess of our receiv- 

 ing capacity. In 1907, on the request of the For- 

 estry Department, the camp was formally turned 

 over to the newly created Department of Health. 



