Vol. XXvi] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 351 



The Urgent Need of the Economic Entomologist. 

 By A. A. GIRAULT, Washington, D. C. 



My experience as an economic entomologist has taught me 

 that when a man of science is in a position where he is ex- 

 pected to be practical in the ordinary meaning of that word, 

 either he or the public has to surrender. The so-called prac- 

 tical man is too often just the opposite as I am reminded 

 by a conversation which I once had with a farmer. This 

 man was thought to be very practical ; he had a large farm 

 which was profitable. He was a man of affairs and family. 

 As a practical man, he became interested in a certain insect 

 which was causing him considerable loss from year to year. 

 He made it an object of his business and for many years 

 experimented with various operations and objects and so 

 obtained a large experience in dealing with the insect. I 

 visited him especially for this reason as I hoped to obtain 

 the results from all these years of experiment and experi- 

 ence. I was greatly surprised, however, to find that there 

 had been none. Tn the course of the conversation this emi- 

 nently practical man intimated to me that, though he was a 

 practical man, he was not a writer, meaning to show, I 

 suppose, his contempt for such an impractical operation. 

 He gave me various accounts of his experiments but it 

 needed no acumen to see that they had long since been lost 

 to him and that he was totally confused. This eminently prac- 

 tical man could not perceive his own impracticality in not 

 making use of the art of writing. 



We see then that the word practical has a somewhat false 

 meaning in popular use. To expect a scientist to be thus prac- 

 tical is like expecting him to renounce himself together with 

 all of those aids which the really practical sense of man has 

 laid up in store for his proper use. T have in mind theories, 

 books and mechanical appliances. All are greatly abused and 

 most are worthless. A small minority are invaluable and true. 

 Practicality in life is shown by the use of those aids made 

 by the individual, his selection of the worthy and rejection 

 of the false. 



