STUDiiis ON Crown Gali oi Plants 403 



croix has a bacterial disease of potato stems which lie thinks may 

 not Lx^ the same as your B[acillus} solanacearum( ?), for he finds 

 some important dilfercnccs as to the form of the organism in the 

 plant. He will write you concerning it, and if possible I will get 

 some material before leaving Paris. Delacroix," he added, " was 

 able to help me greatly with Rhizoctonia. In all I secured about 

 ten specimens from him, representing two species and about six 

 host plants." 



Smith, tiierefore, had reasons of his own for visiting France 

 and possibly also England. On July 12, 1902, M. C. Potter of the 

 Durham College of- Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, had thanked 

 him for a copy of his " most interesting review " of " Plant 

 Patholog)-: a Retrospect and Prospect." He had promised to send 

 soon his " paper extending [his] w^ork on the action of Pseudo- 

 viouas on living cells," and at that time said that he regarded 

 his study of bacteria as his more important work. Smith knew 

 other scientists in England, too. 



England was not included on Smith's proposed itinerary when 

 on the morning of June 13 he left his " wife miserably ill with 

 intercostal rheumatism in the Albergo del Europa at Varese and 

 started for Berlin. " It was hard to tear myself away," he wrote 

 in his journal, " and only necessity forced me to it. She has now 

 been confined to the hotel for two and one-half weeks and the 

 prospect of an early release is poor indeed, although I am hoping 

 for the best." 



What was to have been one of the high points of their journey — 

 the trip through the Alps — turned out to be a lonely, heart- 

 breaking experience. Delight was found in the landscapes of 

 Switzerland, along the valley of the Rhine from Basel to Frank- 

 furt-am-Main. Early in May, he himself had been ill for a week. 

 His worry and anxiety, his sadness and, indeed, moments of frenzy, 

 over his wife's condition had not helped to restore his usual vigor. 

 Since 1904 her strength had been declining, from childhood having 

 courageously fought the effects of an illness from arthritis. To 

 look on her delicate beauty, one could scarcely realize the full 

 extent of her valiant struggle against a weakened heart and 

 stiffening joints. She was always gentle and kind, ever resolute 

 and sensitive to goodness, never complaining, and never prone 

 to affectations. 



