102 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Mr. W. B. Brierley (head of the Department of Mycology at Rothamsted) on 

 " Personal Impressions of American Biological Research." 



Mr. Brierley opened by explaining that his visit to America was made 

 primarily to attend the Phyto-pathological Conference, which was peripatetic, 

 ending at Lancaster, Ohio. By means of a sketch-map Mr, Brieriey showed a 

 complicated personal itinerary, from Quebec as a point of arrival, reaching 

 to the southern limits of the United States, and including all the principal 

 universities and biological stations. 



He then indicated the most striking and individual feature of American 

 agriculture, which he described as the main source of wealth of the country. 

 This was the almost complete concentration in wide areas of a single crop, so 

 that there were 500 miles together of maize, of cotton, or of rice, and not much 

 smaller areas of fruit or vegetables for preserving. One consequence of this 

 was that a plant disease ran riot through a whole area, and the field problems 

 confronting the Americal agricultural biologist were so vast and menacing as 

 almost to destroy the possibility of academic research, except in the eastern 

 industrial regions, and to force the whole available scientific personnel into 

 the field to stem a tide of disaster. In the industrial area, containing the older 

 universities, the biological work approximated closely to that done in this 

 country in subject and mode of attack, but in the State Universities in the 

 newer agricultural regions — each with its own single crop presenting urgent 

 problems for solution — certain features were noticeable : 



(i) An early and extreme specialisation, subjects which were here studied 

 after a degree course in botany (such as plant pathology), being themselves 

 degree courses, and the graduates, almost all of whom, from economic pressure 

 on individuals and the crying need in the field, were unable to take post- 

 graduate training, immediately devoting themselves exclusively to the study 

 of a single type of disease. 



(ii) There was almost no gradation between the academic biologist of real 

 eminence and national or international reputation and the ordinary worker 

 dealing with a limited field of applied science. For this reason the science 

 on which their speciaUsed practice was founded was apt to be too much in 

 the background. Of these giants of American biology, Mr. Brierley gave 

 arresting word -pictures. 



Coming back, he felt Europe and England to be somewhat old, sophisti- 

 cated, and contemptuous of youth. America is young, and has all the 

 boundless energy of adolescence and its unique fervour. 



Sir D. Hall, before opening the discussion, pointed out that America was 

 not a country of farmers, but of industriahsts working upon the land. Conse- 

 quently they were less tied by tradition, and more ready to look to science 

 for help. On the other hand, the State legislatures, which supported the 

 biological work, were very apt to demand immediate results, and some promis- 

 ing work was spoiled by premature publication . We, in this country, should 

 take warning of the danger of allowing the legislature to get direct control of 

 scientific research. He welcomed such a visit as Mr. Brierley's as a help 

 towards counteracting the tendency in all civiUsed countries to erect quaran- 

 tine walls against the entry of plants from abroad, for fear of disease. This 

 fear was easily exploited by commercial firms for their own ends. The only 

 way to get over the difficulty was to establish such mutual confidence between 

 biologists in different countries as to render a guarantee of health given by the 

 experts in any country absolutely trustworthy. 



Dr. R. R. Gates said that the tendency in the past had been for American 

 advanced biology students to go to Germany to study. It was beginning to 

 be realised that this was not necessary, and their own universities could and 

 should provide such training. He hoped to see far more interchanges of 

 visits between England and America. 



Mr. S. J. Duly spoke of the very careful grading of cereals in America 



