Sidney Ewing – Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Late in the 19th and early 20th Century the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) was a hotbed of parasitologists, including Charles Wardell Stiles (1867-1941) and Albert Hassall (1862-1942) who established the Index Catalogue of Medical and Veterinary Zoology. Stiles and Hassall also laid the foundation for the U. S. National Parasite Collection, which was curated in the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1892 until 2013-14 when it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. Two other parasitologists at BAI, Cooper Curtice (1856-1939) and Maurice Hall (1881-1938), were key figures in the emergence of the sub-discipline, veterinary parasitology. Many recognize Curtice as founder of veterinary parasitology. Accordingly, Maurice Hall might well be considered father of the sub-discipline in the United States. Hall’s extensive writing and his impact on professional development of numerous other parasitologists was key to emergence and recognition of veterinary parasitology in America. Hall influenced many BAI colleagues and others outside of government service. Research conducted by these scientists addressed parasitism and its effect on animal health; the knowledge generated was important to veterinarians and others devoted to improving health of livestock and companion animals. Hall’s work on anthelmintics and hookworm disease in dogs led to his transfer from BAI to the National Institutes of Health in 1936 where his focus changed to human health, especially trichinosis. Hall had served as president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1930-31) and as president of the American Society of Parasitologists (1932). Hall’s move from BAI echoed that of Stiles who left BAI for the Hygienic Laboratory in 1902, which changed his focus toward human health. Some of Hall’s BAI protégés, including Wendell Krull (1897-1971), became leaders who founded the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists in 1956.
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