February, '16] herrick: training economic entomologists 15 



PART II. PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 



THE NEED OF A BROAD, LIBERAL TRAINING FOR AN ECO- 

 NOMIC ENTOMOLOGIST 



By Glenn W. Herrick, Ithaca, N. Y. 



"The worst weed in corn may be corn," 



" So a too exclusive study of entomology is the poorest kind of preparation for an 

 entomologist." 



We are fortunate individuals in many respects. " We are fortunate 

 in living in an era of almost incredible progress in our knowledge of 

 the secrets of nature. The boldest imagination would hardly dare 

 to predict regarding the advances and discoveries that may be made in 

 the next ten years in the field of the natural sciences. No part of this 

 field of knowledge has been entirely exempt from this general advance; 

 and in no phase of the work has there been more amazing progress than 

 in that of the applied science of entomology. It has advanced aston- 

 ishingly in the number of persons engaged in the study of insects 

 for the ultimate purpose of preventing their ravages; in developing and 

 perfecting mixtm'es for repelhng and kiUing them; in devising effective 

 apparatus for applying insecticides; and in determining more exact 

 methods of preventing the losses caused by these persistent pests. 



We are also fortunate in being associated with a phase of scientific 

 work that is in accord with the modern trend of ideas and with the 

 demands of the age. That is, we are engaged in a practical, economic 

 and applied phase of the science. We shall not have to shift our ground 

 in this respect as some of the related sciences are being forced to do. 

 For example, one of our most distinguished botanists has said, "It can 

 scarcely be successfully denied that the most significant recent advances 



in American botany have been along economic lines It is 



scarcely to be supposed 4/hat economic botany is a passing fad and 

 that pure botany, as we call it, will once again come into a place of 

 dominance. The shifting emphasis in botany is but a part of a great 

 movement as broad as humanity itself." 



Others of the so-called pure sciences are feehng this pressure of the 

 economic or appUed influence and are slowly shifting their grounds. 

 We, however, are already alUed with a young and rapidly advancing 

 science that, from its applied nature, is in accord with the tendency 



