The story of Harvey Wiley, the man responsible for getting the Pure Food and Drug Act passed through Congress and the House of Represenitives, and has this legislation named after him. It starts in the Civil War after young Wiley drops his chemistry studies in college to answer the call to arms. Healthy when he goes, he succumbs to food poisoning and is left sick and unfit for active duty. Later, at Indian’as Purdue University, he sets himself up as a pioneer in food chemistry. He first fails in his efforts to get a pure-food law passed by the United States government, but when, during the Spanish-American war, thousands of lives are lost through food poisoning, he tries again, and the law is passed and signed by U. S. President Theodore Rosevelt.