646 BACTERIAL DISEASES OF PLANTS 



a synopsis, or only some particular features of what is to follow, 

 is a matter depending on various contingencies. If you have 

 time, and are not likely to be forestalled, put it all into one com- 

 plete and convincing paper, and illustrate it as thoroughly as 

 possible. If, on the other hand, various other workers are in 

 the field and you have reason to believe that their eyes are quite 

 as sharp as your own, then it is important that you should get 

 your discoveries into print as quickly as possible, if you are to 

 receive due credit. You may then publish only a preliminary 

 note, stating clearly what j^ou have found and referring your 

 readers to your later full paper for details and supporting proofs. 

 Be sure of your facts, however, if you do this, since it is much 

 better to let the credit of a discovery go to another than to rush 

 into print only to discover later that you are wrong in places 

 where you might have been right by taking a little more time 

 for verification. In this connection it is well to recall the remark 

 of the great zoologist of Johns Hopkins University, the late 

 William Keith Brooks, when some one, alluding to an unpub- 

 lished research of his, asked him if he did not fear anticipation. 

 ''I long since ceased to be troubled by such thoughts, for if 

 another should publish on this or any other subject before I do, 

 his work would probably be better or worse than mine. If 

 it was better, I should be glad to be saved the mortification of 

 having published poorer work; if worse, it would only afford 

 additional material for my paper." 



This, I should say, is better advice for a mature worker 

 wdth a well-established reputation than for a young man with 

 his reputation to make, and yet it is worth the young man's 

 pondering. 



By complete presentation I do not mean extensive and tedious 

 presentation. Far from it! Many scientific papers, especially 

 in Germany, are spun out to great length simply, it would seem, 

 to increase the size of the honorarium. By all means avoid 

 such doings. I shall deal more at length with this in the next 

 section. 



ON BREVITY OF STATEMENT WHEN BREVITY IS NOT DESIRABLE 



A good rule is never to use two pages for a subject that 

 can be compressed by a little thinking into one. The generality 



