312 Recognition in America 



those of non-infectious nature. Specific agents of a few well 

 recognized ailments had been found, and in some both cause and 

 method of dissemination were known. Ways to combat serious 

 diseases of fowl, sheep, swine, cattle, and horses were being 

 discovered. Practical study of dietary troubles had been started.®"* 

 Dr. Moore's department of comparative pathology and bacteriology- 

 became at once important, and by 1899 Erwin Smith would say ^° 

 of his Laboratory Directions for Beginners in Bacteriology: " Dr. 

 Moore's courses in bacteriology in the veterinary school . . . are 

 among the very best in the country, and this book is to be wel- 

 comed as an extension of the influence of a conscientious teacher 

 who is at the same time a competent investigator." 



Both Moore and Theobald Smith supplied Erwin Smith with 

 materials for his laboratory, including cultures and criticisms of 

 work. Occasionally valuable suggestions and points of informa- 

 tion were received from others: for example, on January 7, 1895, 

 Dr. Vaughan told him how to prepare and use blue litmus solu- 

 tion diffused through gelatine as an indicator, and why litmus 

 paper should not be used for the purpose in mind. Dr. Welch 

 also supplied him with similar useful laboratory techniques. He 

 built his knowledge of laboratory practice from many sources. 



Not the least of his sources was his reading, much of it done 

 for his reviews of scientific literature in the American Naturalist. 

 Frequently he detailed the results of carefully wrought experi- 

 ments, summarized conclusions of constructive importance, added 

 his own criticisms, and sometimes described methods by which to 

 improve laboratory and field study. His review " of the " second 

 improved edition " of " Saccardo's Color Scale " might be so classi- 

 fied. He recommended that this work by the " learned author " of 

 the Sylloge Vungorum be possessed by every botanist and especially 

 by every mycologist. If descriptive color terms in natural history 

 were to be used, reference to " some particular scale or standard ' 

 was necessary. In this work was provided " a ready means of 



^° V. A. Moore, The influence of animal experimentation upon agriculture, op. 

 cit.\ D. E. Salmon, Some examples of the development of knowledge concerning 

 animal diseases, op. cit. ; T. Smith, Investigation of infectious diseases of domesti- 

 cated animals, Rep't of tloe Sec'y of Agric. for 1893: 140-160; E. A. de Schweinitz, 

 iJem, 161-168. 



''^ Af>:er. Nat. 33(385): 80, Jan. 1899. 



"Idem, 29: 1009-1010, Nov. 1895. 



