GENERAL MEETING. 11 
bon. The most advantageous and improved methods of utilizing 
each were indicated. Recent experiment showed that kerosene 
emulsions, such as had been recommended lately in the author’s 
official reports, are superior to bisulphide of carbon when used 
under ground against the Grape Phylloxera, and the discovery is 
deemed of great importance, especially to the French people and 
those on our Pacific slope. Contrary to general belief, pyrethrum 
powder was shown to have a peculiar and toxic effect on higher 
animals as well as on the lower forms of life. Its deadly influence 
on lower organisms led the author to strongly recommend its use 
as a disinfectant, and to express the belief that it will yet come to 
be used in medicine. Dr. H. A. Hagen’s recommendation of the 
use of yeast ferment was touched upon. It has proved of little or 
no practical avail, and some of the publications on the subject were 
characterized as unscientific. The use of malodorous substances 
as repellants, which was much relied on in the early days of econ- 
omic entomology and strongly recommended by the two Downings, 
has latcly been agitated as a new principle for the prevention of 
insect attack by Prof. J. A. Lintner. The principle can be applied 
in exceptional cases to advantage, but experiment gives little hope 
of its utility against most of our worst field insects. Prof. S. A. 
Forbes is engaged in interesting researches, having for object the 
utilization of micro-organisms, but with more promise for pure than 
applied science. 
Of recent progress in mechanical appliances, the paper dealt 
with those lately perfected under the author’s direction by Dr. W. 
S. Barnard, one of his assistants. This part of the subject was 
illustrated by models and by plates from the forthcoming fourth 
report of the United States Entomological Commission. 
The paper concluded with the following plea for applied science: 
“Matters of fact do not tend to provoke thought and discussion; 
and I must confess to some misgivings in bringing these practical 
considerations before a body which reflects some of the highest and 
purest science and philosophy of the nation. From the days of 
Archimedes down to the present day there has existed a disposition 
to decry applied science and to sneer at the practical man. Yet I 
often think that science, no matter in what fine-sounding name we 
clothe her, or how high above the average understanding we stilt 
her, is, after all, but common sense employed in discovering the 
