122 



LOWER PLANTS, DISEASES, AND MEDICINE 



Johann Christian Fabricius 



Attempt at a Dissertation on the 

 Diseases of Plants 



Reprinted by permission of the American 

 Phytopathological Society from Phytopatho- 

 logical Classic, No. 1, 1926. 



Knowledge of the diseases both of 

 animals and plants forms an important 

 part of our rural economy, but it is still 

 too much neglected. We see our cattle 

 fall and our plants wither away with- 

 out being able to render them assist- 

 ance, lacking as we do understanding of 

 their condition. Doctors have disdained 

 to condescend to dumb brutes and have 

 delegated them to the mercies of horse- 

 doctors and quacksalvers who are ac- 

 customed to use certain mixtures for 

 all diseases without insight and without 

 method. They are acquainted neither 

 with the construction of the body nor 

 the effects of cures, and are therefore 

 unable to adapt or modify the treat- 

 ment to the conditions or to the ob- 

 servations of the causes of disease. That 

 is why our knowledge of the diseases 

 of cattle is still very incomplete and 

 limited. It is true that of late this sci- 

 ence has been studied with great eager- 

 ness. 



At present, however, we remain in 



expectation of the many improvements 

 to result therefrom, and which we at 

 least hope for and desire. 



With plants the condition is far 

 worse; rural economy contains no com- 

 plete description of their diseases. To 

 be sure from time to time agricultural 

 publications note the best known, 

 though totally without system, and 

 practically no two writers agree as to 

 the causes of these diseases. 



Many have attributed the damaged 

 growth of their plants to the earth, the 

 sky, and the unsound air; this common 

 refuge for the ignorance of doctors has 

 not been forgotten in the case of plants. 

 However the diseases of plants like 

 those of animals seem to be due to in- 

 ternal causes, though indeed I recog- 

 nize that the conditions of the air can 

 sometimes aggravate the same. 



I will therefore essav in this attempt 

 to treat the diseases of plants and their 

 causes, briefly but systematically. 



It is only an attempt, and far from 



