Harvey Washington Wiley, M.D.
F.D.A. Commisioner  1/1/1907 - 3/15/1912

Harvey Washington Wiley was born in a log farmhouse in Indiana, in 1844. A top graduate of Hanover College (1867), Wiley then studied at Indiana Medical College where he received his M.D. in 1871. After he graduated, Wiley accepted a position teaching chemistry at the medical college, where he taught Indiana's first laboratory course in chemistry beginning in 1873. Following a brief interlude at Harvard, where he was awarded a B.S. degree after only a few months of intense effort, he accepted a faculty position in chemistry at the newly opened Purdue University in 1874. In 1878, Wiley travelled overseas where he attended the lectures of August Wilhelm von Hoffman the celebrated German discoverer of several organic tar derivatives, including analine. While in Germany, Wiley was elected to the prestigious German Chemical Society founded by Hoffman. Wiley spent most of his time in the Imperial Food Laboratory in Bismarck working with Eugene Sell, mastering the use of the polariscope and studying sugar chemistry. Upon his return to Purdue, Wiley was asked by the Indiana State Board of Health to analyze the sugars and syrups on sale in the state to detect any adulteration. He spent his last years at Purdue studying sorghum culture and sugar chemistry, hoping, as did others, to help the United States develop a strong domestic sugar industry. His first published paper in 1881 discussed the adulteration of sugar with glucose.

Wiley was offered the position of Chief Chemist in the U. S. Department of Agriculture by George Loring, the Commissioner of Agriculture, in 1882. Loring was seeking to replace Peter Collier, his current Chief Chemist, with someone who could employ a more objective approach to the study of sorghum, the potential of which as a sugar source, was far from proven. Wiley accepted the offer after being passed over for the presidency of Purdue, allegedly because he was "too young and too jovial," unorthodox in his religious beliefs, and also a bachelor. Wiley brought with him to Washington a practical knowledge of agriculture, a sympathetic approach to the problems of agricultural industry and an untapped talent for public relations. After assisting Congress in their earliest questions regarding the safety of the chemical preservatives then being employed in foods, Wiley was appropriated $5,000 in 1902 to study the effects of a diet consisting in part of the various preservatives on human volunteers. These famous "poison squad" studies drew national attention to the need for a federal food and drug law. Wiley soon became a crusader and coalition builder in support of national food and drug regulation which earned him the title of "Father of the Pure Food and Drugs Act" when it became law in 1906.1 Wiley authored two editions of Foods and Their Adulteration (1907 and 1911), which detailed for a broad audience the history, preparation and subsequent adulteration of basic foodstuffs. He was also a founding father of the Association of Official Analytic Chemists, and left a legacy to the American pure food movement as its "crusading chemist" that was both broad and substantial.

The fact that enforcement of the federal Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906 was given to the Bureau of Chemistry rather than placed in the Department of Commerce or the Department of the Interior is a tribute to the scientific qualifications which the Bureau of Chemistry brought to the study of food and drug adulteration and misbranding. The first food and drug inspectors were hired to complement the work of the laboratory scientists, and an inspection program was launched which revolutionized the country's food supply within the first decade under the new federal law. Wiley's tenure, however, was marked by controversy over the administration of the 1906 statute which he had worked so hard to secure. Concerns over preserving chemicals, which had not been specifically addressed in the law, continued to be controversial. The Secretary of Agriculture appointed a Referee Board of Consulting Scientists, headed by Ira Remsen at Johns Hopkins to repeat Wiley's human trials of preservatives. The use of saccharin, bleached flour, caffeine, and benzoate of soda were all important issues which had to be ultimately settled by the courts in the early days under the new law. Under Wiley's leadership, however, the Bureau of Chemistry grew significantly, both in strength and in stature after assuming responsibility for the enforcement of the 1906 Act. Between 1906 and 1912, Wiley's staff expanded from 110 to 146 and in 1910 the Bureau moved into its own building. Appropriations, which had been only $155,000 in 1906 were $963,780 in 1912.

In 1912, Wiley resigned and took over the laboratories of Good Housekeeping Magazine where he established the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and worked tirelessly on behalf of the consuming public. Harvey Wiley died at his home in Washington in 1930, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

*Although the Pure Food and Drug Act was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 6, 1906, it did not become effective until Jan. 1, 1907. Dr. Wiley had been conducting laboratory studies on food adulteration as part of his job with the Department of Agriculture since 1883.

Generation No. 1

1. PRESTON PRITCHARD^{3 WILEY (JOSEPH2, JOHN1) was born 24 Dec 1810 in Brown, Indiana, USA, and died 21 Aug 1895 in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, USA. He married LUCINDA WEIR MAXWELL 01 Mar 1832 in Jefferson, Indiana, USA, daughter of SAMUEL MAXWELL and JANE TILFORD. She was born 26 Jun 1809 in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, USA, and died 28 Feb 1893 in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, USA.}

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Residence: 1860, Republican, Jefferson, Indiana, United States

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Residence: 1880, Republican, Jefferson, Indiana, United States

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2. HARVEY WASHINGTON4 WILEY (PRESTON PRITCHARD3, JOSEPH2, JOHN1) was born 18 Oct 1844 in Kent, Smyrna Township, Jefferson County, Indiana, and died 30 Jun 1930. He married ANNA CAMPBELL KELTON 27 Feb 1911. She was born 08 Mar 1877 in Oakland, Alameda, California, USA.

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Residence: 1850, Smyrna, Jefferson, Indiana

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Residence: 1920, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia

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3. ELIZABETH JANE4 WILEY (PRESTON PRITCHARD3, JOSEPH2, JOHN1) was born 10 Jul 1833 in Jefferson County, Indiana. She married (1) SAMUEL J CORBETT 07 Mar 1867 in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. He was born 11 Mar 1852 in Wellington, Shropshire, England. She married (2) COLONEL WARREN 20 Sep 1860. He was born in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.

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Residence: 1850, Smyrna, Jefferson, Indiana

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4. MARY EMMA4 WILEY (PRESTON PRITCHARD3, JOSEPH2, JOHN1) was born 18 Feb 1840 in Jefferson County, Indiana, and died 25 Feb 1912. She married EUGENE E EDSON 15 Jun 1863. He was born in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.

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5. ULRIC Z4 WILEY (PRESTON PRITCHARD3, JOSEPH2, JOHN1) was born 14 Nov 1847 in Jefferson, Indiana, USA, and died 05 Jan 1929. He married MARY ALBERTA COLE 06 May 1874 in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, USA. She was born 05 Aug 1854 in Connersville, Fayette, Indiana, USA, and died 16 Jul 1932.

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Residence: 1860, Republican, Jefferson, Indiana, United States

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Residence: 1880, Fowler, Benton, Indiana, United States

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