Deoembee 2, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



775 



criticism is to be made of the training that 

 economic zoologists are receiving in our in- 

 stitiitions it is that sufficient stress is not 

 laid upon the necessity of learning the 

 methods of field work. A young man 

 coming from a university or an agricul- 

 tural college knowing his insects well and 

 weU fitted to teach, is at a great disadvan- 

 tage in going into practical work if he has 

 had no field experience, and also if he does 

 not understand agriculture, horticulture 

 and the most important art of meeting and 

 handling men. 



It will appear from what has been said 

 that the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 

 lege has borne her full share, and the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College in this 

 connection means Professor Charles H. 

 Femald, later with his son Henry. He 

 came here in 1886, just before the founding 

 of the agricultural experiment stations. 

 His published works, both in purely scien- 

 tific and economic directions, have stamped 

 him as of the first rank. His work in con- 

 nection with the magnificent efforts of the 

 state of Massachusetts to control the gipsy 

 moth and the brown-tail moth has been of 

 the soundest character. The affection and 

 respect sho'mi for him by his students is 

 indicated almost daily by those who have 

 come to Washington, and is easily under- 

 stood by one who, like myself, has been 

 more or less closely associated with him for 

 thirty years. I shall never forget the sum- 

 mer of 1880, when he and ilrs. Femald 

 spent some time in Washington working 

 with Professor Comstock, who was at that 

 time chief of the Division of Entomology', 

 I myself being his assistant. Professor 

 Fernald was a constant inspiration and he 

 was also a constant delight on account of 

 his overflowing humor. At that time ped- 

 lars and mendicants of different kinds were 

 allowed access to the rooms, and it was a 

 standing joke of the professor's, when the 



door opened and one of these men came in, 

 to jump to his feet, to appear to recognize 

 him, shake his hand cordially, ask after his 

 wife and children and the old folks at 

 home, which almost invariably so confused 

 the incomer that he turned around ab- 

 ruptly and left the room. 



I understand that he is to retire now, 

 I know of no one who has made quite so 

 good a record, viewed from every point. 

 A number of years ago I was riding with 

 him along a country road in eastern Massa- 

 chusetts, and he said to me, "Howard, I 

 have been thinking about myself and of the 

 little I have done, and I wonder whether 

 after I shall have gone people will think of 

 me as a systematic entomologist or rather 

 as an economic entomologist." And I re- 

 plied instantly, "You forget probably the 

 biggest work you have done and the best 

 work, and that is as a teacher. ' ' And is it 

 not true? The memory of Professor Fer- 

 nald will live after he goes, both as a sys- 

 tematist and as a strong economic entomol- 

 ogist, but, greater than either, as a teacher j 

 and this building will be a visible monu- 

 ment to his work as long as it shall stand. 

 May he live many more years to know and 

 to enjoy the reputations which are being 

 made and which shall surely continue to be 

 made by the men he has taught. 



L. 0. Howard 



U. S. DEPAKTilENT OF AGBICCXTTJBE 



THE STATUS OF MODER^^ METEOROLOGY 

 INTRODUCTION 



I AM transferring my work in meteorol- 

 ogy from the U. S. Weather Bureau to 

 other countries, after a continuous service 

 for the government of twenty-one years, 

 two in the Nautical Almanac and nineteen 

 in the Weather Bureau, for reasons not re- 

 lating to mj' official or professional duties. 

 During this time numerous more or less; 

 detached researches have been published^ 



