J. H. Mason Knox

Artist: H.A. Roben; Oil on canvas

James Hall Mason Knox was born in Philadelphia in 1872 and grew up in Easton, Pa, where his father was president of Lafayette College. He graduated from Yale in 1892; completed his PhD in physiological chemistry in 1894, received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1898.

Knox devoted himself to improving the milk available to Baltimore's poorest families. Knox was instrumental in setting up milk depots to provide clean milk from healthy cows. In 1910, Knox became the first president of the American Association for Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality. He and his colleagues, including William Henry Welch, argued forcefully that infant mortality was largely preventable.

In 1922, Knox headed the newly formed Maryland Bureau of Child Hygiene. Knox taught the first child hygiene classes offered at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, beginning in 1924.

In the years following his retirement from the Maryland Bureau of Child Hygiene, Knox continued to provide consultation in the same capacity as he had as an employee, but now he was not paid. He did, however, wage a long but ultimately successful battle with the state to pay for the gasoline he used on official business trips.

Received April 30, 1952 (MMJ v. 1, #12, p. 580)