December 11, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



853 



poison is cyanide of potassium, yet they use 

 chlorate of potash and sulfate of iron " to give 

 the trees chlorine, sulfur, iron and potash." 

 They make wonderful claims for the destruc- 

 tion of the scale and invigoration of trees, and 

 commenced by charging fifty cents per tree 

 for the so-called "vaccination." The price is 

 now reduced to fifteen cents, but they are tak- 

 ing thousands of dollars from the confiding 

 public. 



The important scientific point is that I have 

 examined hundreds of trees treated by them, 

 and have in some instances found no evidences 

 that scale insects were ever present, while in 

 others I have found the San Jose scale alive 

 on the trees some time after treatment. What 

 is much worse is that I have found it is true 

 that some one or more of these chemicals is 

 evidently taken up in the sap of the tree, and 

 that to a considerable extent. While the mate- 

 rial was placed under the bark about three feet 

 from the ground, it blackened the cambium 

 layer as high as I could reach and remove the 

 bark, and started blight or death of tissue at 

 the place where inserted. I have the names 

 of scores of persons whose trees or orchards 

 were finally killed by this treatment. One 

 man, whose name and address I can give, 

 thought that it benefited his trees, and had it 

 applied the second year, and the trees then died 

 quickly. He is now disgusted with the treat- 

 ment. 



In company with Professor I. C. Williams, 

 Deputy Forestry Commissioner of Pennsyl- 

 vania, I visited an orchard in Lebanon County 

 that had been treated a few weeks previously. 

 The San Jose scale was found alive on the 

 trees, but blight or death of tissue had com- 

 menced at the place of treatment and had 

 worked downward slightly and upward con- 

 siderably, and in fact, as high as one could 

 reach. During the present week I have learned 

 of another orchard, in Cumberland County, 

 Pennsylvania, that was blighted and destroyed 

 by the cyanide treatment. Therefore, while it 

 is evident that some chemicals may be taken 

 up in the trees and may even destroy some in- 

 sects, it is further evident that they may be 



injurious to the trees, and should be applied 

 with great care and only after considerable 

 experimentation, and should be recommended 

 by scientists only after great deliberation. I 

 shall send to interested persons printed articles 

 on this subject from the office of the State 

 Zoologist, Harrisburg, giving names and ad- 

 dresses of persons whose trees have been killed 

 by the cyanide " vaccination," as the fakirs 

 call it. These may be published. 



H. A. Surface, 

 State Zoologist 

 Department op Agriculture, 

 Harrisburo, Pa. 



QUOTATIONS 



research and teaching 

 There are at least three different concep- 

 tions of a university. To some men it means 

 a group of technical schools which prepare for 

 many distinct vocations; a place of universal 

 study, as contrasted with one that pursues a 

 single line only. To some men it means a 

 place which is widely known for its teachers 

 of science and literature and the discoveries 

 that they are making; a school of universal 

 reputation, as distinct from one whose fame 

 is merely local. Still others think of it as a 

 place where students can get wide range of 

 knowledge and fit themselves for their duties 

 as citizens of a self-governing community; a 

 school with ideals of universal culture, rather 

 than of narrow specialization. 



The German university emphasizes the first 

 and second of these conceptions; the French, 

 the first and third; the English, the second 

 and third. The American college in its early 

 days devoted itself almost exclusively to the 

 third. In attempting to become universities 

 instead of colleges, our schools of higher learn- 

 ing in America have in recent years tried to 

 combine all three aims; but often under such 

 adverse conditions or with such inadequate 

 resources that they have failed of actually 

 attaining any one of them. 



Under these circumstances a widespread 

 belief has arisen that the three things should 

 be separated rather than combined; that we 



