556 Crown Gall-Animal Cancer Analogy 



the exception. Dr. Smith was well along in years now and pre- 

 eminently a plant bacteriologist. But he read everything he could 

 find, and among the last articles studied by him was one on the 

 cytology of tobacco mosaic.^® That " the x-bodies " were found 

 " constantly present in the cells and not in normal cells " was the 

 fact interesting to him. The year before, Miss Eckerson had 

 described and figLired " small flagellate protozoans as the cause of 

 tomato mosaic." ®^ His reading on the " ultra-microscopic viruses 

 of animals " extended to the British journal of Experimental Path- 

 ology.^^ Later, we shall see that in 1926 he especially examined 

 at Cornell University scientific exhibits on the point of protozoa 

 and viruses in plant diseases. 



In December of 1921 President M. L. Burton of the University 

 of Michigan had advised Smith that on June 19, 1922, his alma 

 mater wished to confer on him the honorary degree of Doctor 

 of Laws. On the journey to this happy event, he planned to com- 

 plete his final study of the unfinished points of his manuscript 

 on "Appositional Growth in Crown-Gall Tumors and in Cancers." 

 The ceremonies took place at the annual spring commencement, 

 the graduating address being given by the Secretary of State, the 

 Honorable Charles Evans Hughes. When Smith replied to Presi- 

 dent Burton's letter and accepted the " great honor," he modestly 

 qualified his acceptance by saying, " it seems to me that I am 

 hardly worthy of it. I believe I could have written acceptable 

 literature if I could have devoted myself to it rather than to science. 

 How much I have accomplished in science is for others to judge. 

 To myself it seems very little for the years I have put upon it." 



The University of Michigan had an unbroken tradition against 

 degrees conferred in absentia. Dr. and Mrs. Smith journeyed to 

 Ann Arbor, and on June 19 he received his second honorary 

 doctorate. Professor Arthur Lyon Cross of the Department of 

 History read the characterization, a copy of which was sent after 

 the ceremonies by President Burton to Smith. He was charac- 

 terized as an 



^^ Bessie Goldstein, A cytological study of the leaves and growing points of healthy 

 and mosaic diseased tobacco plants, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 53(8): 499-599, 29 pis., 

 with bibliography. Smith found the plates "' interesting." 



*" Sophie H. Eckerson, An organism of tomato mosaic, Botanical Gazette 81: 204- 

 209, pi. 19-22, Apr. 1926. 



^® Fifty years of pathology, op. cit., 36, fn. 4. 



