102 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 
A PREVENTER OF PESTILENCE 
34. Upon the resignation of Dr. Satmon (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. Metvin was born at Sterling, Ill., October 
28, 1862, and 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 
