February, '19] BALL: ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 29 



foundation for exhaustive research. Is it not possible that if every 

 special entomological course in this country were abolished and aspir- 

 ants for entomological honors were required to take a general science 

 course, with broad requirements, that the entomology of the future 

 would be the gainer thereby? 



Our mad scramble to turn out nursery inspectors and extension 

 specialists, walking encyclopedias of miscellaneous information, some 

 of which is false and more of which is doubtful, may tend to popularize 

 entomological science, but will never ground it. The extension slogan, 

 ^'that it will take ten years to carry the researches already made to the 

 people," is the most pernicious doctrine of our generation. Granting 

 that it is true, and it probably is, there still remains the fact that much 

 of that which is now being carried will have to be corrected or con- 

 tradicted, when the truth is known, and that the whole trend of educa- 

 tion and extension is away from that serious and fundamental re- 

 search, which alone can reveal the truth for which we strive. One of 

 the leading directors of Agricultural Research recently announced that 

 he would prefer to select his men from a university where no agricul- 

 ture as such, had been taught, than from an agricultural college where 

 too much time had been devoted to the art, and too little to the sci- 

 ence; arguing, and no doubt justly, that the research man with the 

 broad foundation could easily acquire the art of a particular agricul- 

 tural problem, while a narrowly trained man would never acquire the 

 broad scientific foundation, necessary for its solution. 



In this connection, it would be well for us to consider that the science 

 of entomology is so tremendously broad and intricate, that it is impos- 

 sible for any man to longer attempt to master all the details. If we 

 recognize this, we shall hereafter give broader fundamental training 

 in entomology, in order to meet the general requirements and then 

 encourage group speciahzation. In such a limited field, one may still 

 hope to obtain a mastery. Under past methods, a single experiment 

 station worker has undertaken problems involving practically all 

 orders of insects, with the result that it has been impossible for him to 

 master the literature of any one. Many times his so-called researches 

 have only carried the investigation of problems to the same position 

 that had been reached by previous workers, there to be dropped and 

 another taken up. On the other hand, some of the most fruitful 

 workers in the past have been able to confine themselves to one or at 

 the most, two or three fields, have mastered the literature and the 

 methods of procedure, in their restricted groups, and have contributed 

 greatly to the sum total of human knowledge. 



In the olden days, we had the savant that knew all things, the 

 philosopher that reasoned all things, and even later, the scientist that 



