Placi-d on a Nation-widii Basis 219 



87 



a problem until Russell conferred with Welch after some pre 

 Hminary correspondence. Russell has told what he told Welch: 



I proposed to undertake a study of the bacterial diseases of plants, laying 

 down as my basic thesis, the idea that here was a relatively new field, one 

 wIulIi was then not recoi^nized as of any importance. 



Bacteria in uentr.il live preferably on neutral or sliqhtly alkaline food; 

 funs^i, on the other hand, prefer acid substrata. It is for this fundamental 

 reason, that wc find many more diseases of man and animals caused by 

 bacterial parasites, while plant diseases are i;enerally caused by fungi. At 

 this time there were scarcely any workers in bacteriology who had paid 

 attention as to whether plants could become infected with bacteria. I 

 hoped that this point of view would appeal to the broad-minded Welch 

 who readily saw the relationship which existed between healthy and 

 diseased cells in the animal body. Much to my gratification Welch 

 instantly grasped the situation, saying he knew nothing about the pathology 

 of plants, but he saw no good reason why the same general basic principles 

 would not obtain with plant life as obtained with animal life. If I could 

 paddle my own canoe, i. e., develop the necessary technique that applied to 

 plant diseases, he would give me all the aid he could, which however he 

 said would not be much. . . . 



No greenhouses were available in which plant experiments could be 

 carried on. The laboratory was reeking with the fumes of burning gas 

 making it impossible even to grow plants. Obviously I was handicapped 

 from the outset through lack of proper facilities. My laboratory colleagues, 

 all headed for M. D. degrees, wondered why I should hang around a place 

 like this. They thought I was wasting my time, after having the experience 

 I had had in the leading European medical laboratories. They advised me 

 to go into medicine and specialize if I wanted to on the side of animal 

 diseases. But it was worth much to me to have the opportunity of con- 

 tacting " Popsy," as he was lovingly called by all of his student worshippers. 



Something, however, had to be done to make good the lack of reasonable 

 facilities where plants could be grown. Doubtless I could have turned to 

 the Botany department of the University, but even here the facilities for 

 greenhouse work were most meager, and the department was located on 

 the other side of Baltimore in the downtown district. 



Russell turned to Secretary Rusk of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and was allotted space for his plants in the 

 Department's greenhouses. Commuting between Baltimore and 

 Washington, he began work on his thesis subject, "Bacteria in 

 their Relation to Vegetable Tissue," and thus became acquainted 

 with Galloway, Waite, Smith, Swingle, Fairchild, and others of 

 the Department. For the first time in American literature, all of 



*^ Getting started in Bacteriology, op. at., and another unpublished manuscript 

 by Dean Russell telling of his work at the Naples Marine Biological Station. 



