A BRIEF REVIEW OF BACTERIOLOGICAL 

 RESEARCH IN PHYTOPATHOLOGY 



By M. C. potter, Sc.D., M.A. 



Professor of Botany in the University of Durham. 



The subject of plant-disease in general has attracted attention 

 from very early times, owing to the disastrous effects consequent 

 upon the failure of cereals and other important crops. Thus 

 references to Rust of Wheat are found in very ancient writings ; 

 allusions to the ^' Aspera robigo" are known in several classical 

 authors, including Horace and Ovid, the latter introducing 

 a prayer for preservation against this murrain in connection 

 with the festival of the Robigalia instituted in honour of Robigo, 

 the goddess of rust. The loss occasioned by various diseases of 

 a parasitic origin has for centuries been truly appalling, yet only 

 in comparatively recent times has any systematic study of such 

 epidemics been possible. It was not until de Bary, in 1865, had 

 observed the actual entrance of the germ-tube of a parasitic 

 fungus into the host and its growth in the tissues that any correct 

 appreciation of the pathogenic nature of the attacks could be 

 made; these invaluable researches established a new epoch 

 in the study of plant pathology. 



Enormous advances have since been made in the astiology of 

 plant-diseases and for those of fungoid origin the importance 

 of the results of physiological and pathological researches have 

 met with universal recognition. It is, however, somewhat strange 

 that the study of bacteria in relation to plant pathology occupies 

 only a small place in the estimation of English botanists. Of 

 late years there has been much activity in America in this field 

 of research. France, Italy, Holland and Germany have also 

 yielded contributions of note to the mass of literature which is 

 rapidly accumulating, and every year adds to the number of 

 important papers bearing on this subject. In spite of this fact 

 the ordinary English text-books continue to give very inadequate 

 descriptions of the diseases of plants which are due to bacteria, 

 so that some brief historical review of the work which has been 

 accomplished in this direction may not be without interest. 



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