PrI^PARATORV to Ri-SHARCH CARlUiR 65 



Berlin and a few months of practice at Frankfurt, he gave up 

 active participation in this profession to devote himself to research 

 in botany, hi December of his graduation year he began as an 

 instructor, or privat doccnt, at the University of Tubingen. He 

 published his classic work, Die Brafid Pilze (1853), in which, 

 though only twenty-two years of age, he "established beyond 

 doubt the causal nature of the fungi found associated with rust 

 and smut diseases." '" Two years later he became Karl Wilhelm 

 von Niigeli's successor at the University of Freiburg, and there, as 

 a professor, he remained until 1867 when, after refusing a call to 

 ^the University- of Leipzig, he accepted a professorship at the 

 University of Halle formerly held by D. F. L. von Schlectendal. 

 From 1872 until his death in 1888 he occupied the chair of botany 

 at the University of Strassburg.^''- 



Gifted with brilliance and the instincts of a cautious experi- 

 mental scientist, one who refused to admit or advance any truth 

 as fact until proved by exact, technical procedures, he studied the 

 lower plant forms. In 1861 he published "his investigations on 

 the cause and nature of the late blight of potatoes in which he 

 proved the causal relation of Phytophthora infestans. In 1865 he 

 published his work, establishing the relation of the aecidium on 

 barberry to the rust fungus on wheat." ^^^ These were studies on 

 which many predicate their belief that he was " the father of 

 modern plant pathology," but, whether or not, no one denies that 

 he supplied a foundation for future work in mycology and plant 

 pathology. Smith said: " DeBary's work cleared the way for all 

 that has followed in plant pathology, and we must ever think 

 and speak of him with that reverence due to a great master." In 

 his series of monographs on algae, fungi, myxomycetes, bacteria, 

 and higher plants, Smith saw that "biological adaptations were 

 always kept in mind " and that " his work and that of his students 

 . . . had much influence on human and animal pathology, since 

 his very successful infection experiments with fungi on plants sug- 

 gested many things to those who were trying to determine the 

 cause of human and animal plagues." ^" 



In 1865, the same year DeBary demonstrated heteroecism 



^" Idem, 45. 



*** Erwin F. Smith, Anton de Bary, Phytopathology 1 (1): 1-2, Feb. 1911 



^♦^'H. H. Whctzel, op. cit., 45. 



*♦* Anton de Bary, op. cit., 1-2. 



