HISTORY AND SCOPE OF PLANT PATHOLOGY 151 



between immediate and remote causes, and to write learnedly upon 

 many pertinent topics. But the amount of real knowledge of facts 

 is small and inconsequential. Seven substances are listed as all 

 that the author had found serviceable in the treatment of diseased 

 plants during eighteen years of experience. They are: Lime, acids, 

 alkalies, balsams, honey, corrosive sublimate, and mineral water. 

 From perusal of his account one is forced to conclude that not much 

 good was accomplished by the application of these remedies. 



One more work should be brought forward in this connection. In 

 1795 J. M. Ritter von Ehrenfels, living not far from Vienna, pub- 

 lished a work on the diseases of fruit-trees, which he addressed to 

 the horticulturists among the middle classes. It was written with 

 enthusiasm and inspired by patriotism and love of nature. Scholastic 

 terms are largely discarded and a familiar but dignified style adopted. 

 A work on the same lines at the present time would find place in 

 the "Rural Science Series" or the "Nature Library." However, as 

 in the other works mentioned, it is very evident that the science of 

 pathology and therapeutics was in its helpless infancy. 



There is no need to pursue the examination of the works of the begin- 

 ners further. Enough has been displayed to show that, for the most 

 part, in trying to systematize what little was known regarding the 

 subject, they made a brave showing w r ith borrowed finery of words. 

 Nevertheless, an efficient terminology is not only attractive at any 

 stage of a science, but in its later development nearly indispensable, 

 in order to express exactly and concisely what has been definitely 

 established. Its need is much felt even at the present time. At the 

 Madison Botanical Congress in 1893, the matter was discussed in 

 detail, and it was agreed that "it is desirable for vegetable patho- 

 logists to unite upon an international and purely scientific classifica- 

 tion of plant diseases," which should be provided, for the most part, 

 with a nomenclature based upon Greek and Latin roots, and that 

 the common names, used by people in general, should be codified, 

 and so far as feasible restricted in application to definite phenomena. 

 The remarks of Professor Bessey at that time are still pertinent, and 

 still deserve to be put into action. "We have two problems before 

 us," he said. "One is the scientific classification of diseases or patho- 

 logical phenomena; the other the determination of what are the 

 corresponding vernacular terms used by the people. The first of these, 

 the scientific classification, should be international; the work of 

 deciding upon the ordinary vernacular terms need not be interna- 

 tional." Nothing was done at the Madison meeting but outline the 

 subject, and the committee * appointed at the time to continue the 



den Werth des Beitrags jedes einzelnen Bestandtheils zum Ganzen kennen. Aber 

 die Unvollkommenheit unserer Kenntnisse vom Pflanzen-Korper macht auch diese 

 Bestimmung der einzelnen Ursachen unmoglich (p. 11). 



1 This " Committee on the Nomenclature of Plant Diseases" was composed of 



