40 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



marked success. The Young Woman's Christian Association of Lan- 

 sing used the gymnasium on Friday evenings of the fall and winter 

 tenus, under Miss Avery's instruction. In the spring term a class met 

 in the cooking laboratory on Tuesday and Friday evenings in charge 

 of one of the special students, Miss Lilian Eichbaum, the work being 

 tlirocted by Miss Lyford. 



Tlie Dean of the department, having been appointed expert in charge 

 of Household Economics for the Agricultural Colleges' exhibit at the 

 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, has been obliged to give considerable 

 lime during the year to that work. She takes this opportunity to ac- 

 knowledge with thanks the help of the members of the department. 



Eespectfully submitted, 



MAUDE GILCHRIST, 

 Dean of Women's Department. 



Aiii'icultural College, Mich. 

 June 30, 1904. 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BACTERIOLOGY AND 



HYGIENE. 



President J. L. Snyder: 



Dear Sir — The College work in bacteriology for the year has been 

 prosperous; at one time all but a dozen of the tables in the spacious new 

 laboratory were in use. 



It is a. matter of deep concern that we part with such assistance as 

 Mr. Edwards has given through his long period of connection with this 

 department, still it is very commendable on his part to carry into exe- 

 cution what he has had in mind throughout his stay here. We have 

 been cognizant of this and he has kept us informed of his purposes. 

 Through his tactfulness, modesty, patience, and good cheer, we have 

 found not only a companion in scientific labors, an efficient instructor, 

 a responsible assistant, but a man of honest purposes, of sincere en- 

 deavor, and of high motives. In leaving us we trust he will meet with 

 even greater success in new fields. 



Since bacteriology is a comparatively new study in our curriculum, 

 some have doubted the wisdom of giving it so much importance. 

 Because it is new, this reason would be impertinent in our considera- 

 tion, for every science has been new in its development. It started 

 in a small way in medical schools, but what would be thought 

 of a medical school without its course in bacteriology at the pres- 

 ent time? If this is true of medical schools, it ought to be many 

 times more important in agricultural schools where have to be consid- 

 ered animal diseases and hygiene, bacterial plant diseases, dairy and soil 

 problems, food preservation, and fermentation industries, et cetera. As 

 it is to medicine, so it is to each of these various fields. Thus we find 

 it much more important in agr-icultural schools than in medical schools. 



Because of the apparent ignorance regarding the work, and a dis-. 



