July 8, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



57 



last twenty-five years the study of plant pathol- 

 ogy has been prosecuted in this country as it 

 has been perhaps in no other country in the 

 world, owing to the simultaneous founding of 

 agricultural experiment stations in all of the 

 states, and the devotion of a good deal of time 

 and energy to the same subject in the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. This is the first 

 book on the subject that has appeared in the 

 United States, if we except a little brochure 

 by Professor Scribner, now many years old, 

 and the recent book on " Minnesota Plant Dis- 

 eases " by Freeman, which contains many good 

 illustrations but a somewhat slighter frame- 

 work of text. The study of plant pathology 

 being older in Europe, they have a correspond- 

 ingly larger literature and this includes a 

 number of well-recognized and useful manuals. 

 The appearance of Dr. Duggar's book invites 

 comparison with these standard works, e. g., 

 those of Marshall Ward in England; Tubeuf, 

 Sorauer, Kirehner and Frank, in Germany; 

 Prillieux and Delacroix in France, and of 

 Comes in Italy. The book stands such a com- 

 parison very well indeed. It is less volumi- 

 nous than the continental works cited, but 

 what it lacks in volume it more than makes 

 up in general accuracy of statement. It is 

 also a matter of unfeigned pleasure that the 

 book deals chiefly with American diseases, and 

 is illustrated almost altogether with photo- 

 graphs and drawings from American material. 

 The illustrations and the letter-press are al- 

 most all that could be desired. Indeed, con- 

 sidering the technical character of the book, it 

 is remarkably free from typographical errors. 

 Earely is there any obscurity. On the other 

 hand, there is usually great perspicacity of 

 statement and freedom from speculation. The 

 relative amount of space devoted to the various 

 diseases also seems on the whole good. . The 

 introductory chapters dealing with technie 

 appear to be in the main sufficient, there is a 

 useful host index as well as a general index, 

 and the first impression that one gets of the 

 book outside and in is one of delight. How 

 well the book will wear can be told only by 

 those who have occasion to use it daily in the 

 class room and elsewhere. The writer has read 



it entirely through without finding many seri- 

 ous errors. There are occasional slips in state- 

 ment, and omissions in bibliography which 

 will naturally be corrected in a second edition. 

 One looks here and there in vain for reference 

 to certain diseases, and an account of these 

 might also well appear in such a second edi- 

 tion, where more space should be devoted to 

 diseases of forest trees. With addition of a 

 hundred more diseases having special refer- 

 ence to the needs of the British colonies, the 

 book might answer very well as a hand-book 

 of plant pathology for the whole English- 

 speaking world. The book is designed not 

 only for the special student, but also for the 

 intelligent layman whose curiosity has been 

 excited, or whose financial losses lead him to 

 desire information on plant diseases. To the 

 writer the book appears to be not quite en- 

 cyclopsedic enough, i. e., whoever consults such 

 a book would be glad to find at least a little 

 about the particular disease he searches for,, 

 and in this book he will sometimes be disap- 

 pointed. If the reader is also a physiologist 

 he might be led to wonder why Dr. Duggar, 

 who holds the chair of physiology in one of 

 our leading universities, should write a text- 

 book of plant pathology dealing with the sub- 

 ject chiefly from the standpoint of the para- 

 site, and only incidentally from that of the 

 host plant. This is the older view of the 

 whole subject, and this aspect has received 

 more consideration than the physiological one. 

 The explanation may be that Dr. Duggar pre- 

 ferred to reserve the physiological side of the 

 question for a second text-book, or that he 

 felt incompetent to deal with the multitude of 

 problems, many of them unsettled, which one 

 has to face when plant diseases are regarded 

 from the aspect of the plant rather than from 

 the aspect of the parasite. The newness of 

 this latter view and the impossibility of find- 

 ing at the present time any man anywhere in 

 the world who is competent to write such a 

 book seem to me sufficiently valid excuses if 

 any need be offered. In what I have said I 

 do not mean it to be understood that some- 

 body could not be found who might be able to 

 treat a particular disease or a little group of 

 diseases from a purely physiological stand- 



