492 Second European Journey 



divided-plate method and the agar-block method." Still another 

 method by Frankland and Ward was described. This author, 

 however, doubts whether it may be said that Smith made any 

 direct contribution to modern research in antibiotics. A recent 

 Handbook of Antibiotics, already cited, lists nearly two hundred 

 " antibiotic-producing organisms " and compiles and describes far 

 more than half that number of antibiotics. Among the earlier 

 substances announced, each discovery, like that of penicillin, either 

 post-dated his years of research or became known after his work 

 was mainly on crown gall. 



In December 1915, at the seventh annual meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Phytopathological Society," Dr. Smith was elected president 

 of the organization for the coming year. In 1916 he was made a 

 member of the American Philosophical Society. Plant pathologists, 

 and American scientists generally, recognized the importance of 

 his work on crown gall. 



In 1917, The Plant World a journal of general botany asked 

 " some fifty American botanists what they consider[ed] to be the 

 one or two most important botanical contributions of the last three 

 years." Within a month and a half, Smith's " work on crown gall 

 [had] received at least twice as many votes as any other important 

 work." ^" 



Dr. Thomas S. Cullen requested Smith to send copies of his 

 crown gall papers to President Nicholas Murray Butler of Colum- 

 bia University. This was done, and Dr. Butler thanked Smith by 

 a letter of May 17, 1915: 



My own interest in this particular subject is very great, not only because 

 we administer here a large fund for cancer research [George Crocker 

 Special Research Fund], but because, purely from a layman's point of 

 view, I suggested several years ago that comparative studies be made in 

 animal and plant pathology with a view to ascertaining whether some of 

 the parasitic growths, commonly observed in connection with plants, might 

 not throw light on cancer research. 



During the winter of 1915-1916, Dr. Smith discovered some 

 " further evidence " ^^ which he believed pointed to the cancerous 



^^ 7th ann. meeting, held in the Botany and Zoology building of the Ohio State 

 University, Columbus. 



^-Letters written by Forrest Shreve, managing editor, Feb. 23, Ap. 7; see also, 

 Plant World 20(8): 264-265, 1917. 



^'^ Further evidence that crown gall of plants is cancer, Science, n. s., 43(1121): 

 871-889, June 23, 1916, and reprint. 



