107 
the tips of the branches. The accompanying illustrations, made 
from the same tree figured in last year’s JouRNAL, show the con- 
dition of the tree and its smaller branches on May 25, 1908. 
The fungus present in the small pustules on the dead twigs is 
Hymenula platani Lev. (Discula platani Peck), considered a mere 
form of the Gloeosporium nerviseguuim, which attacks the opening 
buds. 
W. A. Murritu. 
ADULTERANTS IN FOODS AND DRUGS AND 
HEIR DETECTION.* 
A very earnest and intelligent salesman for one of our largest 
wholesale grocery houses recently assured me that the most de- 
pressing feature connected with his business, namely, competition 
against grossly adulterated goods, has been largely eliminated 
y the pure food law, one of the most wholesome and beneficent 
acts of legislation that has been bestowed upon the American 
people since the abolition of slave 
I might remind you here that it is not necessary for all, or even 
a majority of those engaged in a business to act dishonestly, in 
order to bring about its demoralization. There is a strong tend- 
ency for the entire body to work down toward its lower stand- 
ards. The great body of those engaged in irregular practices are 
themselves disgusted with their conditions, and perhaps, after all, 
the most important effect of the purification process now going 
on is the relief of a great body of honest and honorable young 
employees from the sickening and deadly influence of being com- 
pelled, day after day, year in and year out, to do things against 
which their consciences revolt. 
* From a lecture delivered June 6, 1908, at the New York Botanical Garden. The 
lecturer, after quoting numerous publications on the subject of food and drug adulter- 
e, fi 
of it to demand systematic, sustained and powerful measures a its repression and 
control, 
