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. Dante, ELMER Samon 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 
Pror. 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- 
