146 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



Control of insect life injurious to vegetation is 

 now understood and practiced to a very considerable 

 extent, and much precise information has been col- 

 lected in regard to it. The state of knowledge of this 

 subject in 1863 is reflected in this letter from Professor 

 Storer : 



My dear Johnson, I wish you would take the trouble to 

 look at a note by Letellier in Comptes Rendus, 1837, IV, 255, 

 on the destruction of insects (without detriment to plants) 

 by means of an impure alkaline cyanide prepared by calcin- 

 ing animal matters with lime or potash; and tell me whether 

 the idea has amounted to anything in practice. Experiments 

 go to show that plants are not easily hurt by the cyanides, 

 do they not? If this be true it would seem as if the thing 

 might readily be carried out in connection with that system 

 of cooking old shoes, woolen rags, etc. in order to activate 

 their nitrogen, which was so much in vogue in Germany a 

 few years since. 



That running riot of army-worms, etc., to say nothing of 

 our old Saxon friends the Maikafer, always aggravated me 

 consumedly, and it does seem weak that we can't circumvent 

 the scoundrels. N. B. The National Academy may like to 

 stick themselves in the mud by attempting to solve the above 

 question of circumvention? "We shall have some gay and 

 festive generalizations when the Museum of Comp. Zoology 

 comes foul of investigations of this sort. Yrs. F. H. S. 



In the letter following, Professor Storer recorded 

 some of the current chemical talk of the day: 



Boston, Jan. 10, 1864. 



Dear Johnson, Yours of the 24th ult. came to hand a day 

 or two since, "Frank S." being unknown to the contemned 

 fool at our P. 0. You know well enough how the Prophet 



