August 29, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



295 



end, there has been evolved through the 

 ages a nerve mechanism of such infinite 

 delicacy and precision that in some un- 

 known manner it can register permanently 

 within itself every impression received in 

 the phylogenetic and ontogenetic experi- 

 ence of the individual; that each of these 

 nerve mechanisms or brain patterns has its 

 own connection with the external world, 

 and that each is attuned to receive impres- 

 sions of but one kind, as in the apparatus 

 of wireless telegraphy each instrument can 

 receive and interpret waves of a certain 

 rate of intensity only; that thought, will, 

 ego, personality, perception, imagination, 

 reason, emotion, choice, memory, are to be 

 interpreted in terms of these brain pat- 

 terns; that these so-called phenomena of 

 human life depend upon the stimuli which 

 can secure the final common path, this in 

 turn having been determined by the fre- 

 quency and the strength of the environ- 

 mental stimuli of the past and of the 

 present. 



Finally, as for life's origin and life's 

 ultimate end, we are content to say that 

 they are unknown, perhaps unknowable. 

 "We know only that living matter, like life- 

 less matter, has its own place in the cosmic 

 processes; that the gigantic forces which 

 operated to produce a world upon which 

 life could exist, as a logical sequence, when 

 the time was ripe, evolved life; and finally 

 that these cosmic forces are still active, 

 though none can tell what worlds and what 

 races may be the result of their coming 

 activities. G. W. Ckile 



Western Eeserve Medical School, 

 Cleveland, Ohio 



THE CHESTNUT-BLIGHT PASASITE (EN- 

 DOTHIA PARASITICA) FEOM CHINA 



In common with Dr. Metcalf and some 

 other pathologists the writers have believed in 



'Bur. Plant Ind., U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 121, 

 pt. 6, 1908; also Trans. Mass. Hort. Soc, 1912, 

 pt. 1, pp. 69-95. 



the foreign origin of the chestnut-blight and 

 its causal organism. 



Having first proved by thorough investiga- 

 tion" that the species of Endothia (E. radicalis 

 (Schw.) De Not.) common on the chestnut in 

 southern Europe is not an active parasite and 

 is morphologically distinct from E. parasitica 

 our attention was again turned to the orient. 

 Previous efforts to get Endothia by corre- 

 spondence from China and Japan have been 

 fruitless. 



Knowing Mr. Meyer's keenness of observa- 

 tion and facilities for examining chestnuts in 

 China, it occurred to us to try to enlist his 

 services in the search for the fungus. We 

 took up the matter with Mr. Fairchild early in 

 February, 1913. He heartily approved of the 

 proposition and data were prepared and sent 

 to Mr. Meyer. On June 28, as Mr. Fairchild 

 has related, a letter was received from Mr. 

 Meyer enclosing a small specimen of diseased 

 chestnut bark collected June 3, 1913, near 

 San tun ying, Chili Province, China. This 

 specimen showed the characteristic mycelial 

 " fans " in the bark and a few pycnidia which 

 agreed exactly in macroscopic and micro- 

 scopic characters with Endothia parasitica. 

 Meyer's description of the disease on these 

 Chinese chestnut trees (whose specific deter- 

 mination is stiU under investigation) also 

 agreed with the behavior of the disease on 

 some oriental chestnut trees in this country. 



Cultures on cornmeal were made June 30 

 from the mycelium and from pycnospores 

 from Meyer's specimen. The cultures from 

 mycelium did not grow, but three of the four 

 cultures made from pycnospores developed 

 normally and api)eared pure. Cultures of 

 Endothia parasitica from American material 

 were also made at the same time on the same 

 medium for comparison. The development of 

 the Chinese fungus was in all cases indistin- 

 guishable from that of American origin. The 

 amount of grovrtb, the color and character of 

 the mycelium, time of appearance, abundance 

 and distribution of pycnidia were so similar 

 that it was impossible to tell the cultures 



' C. L. Shear, "Endothia radicalis (Schw.)," 

 Phytopathology, 3: 61, February, 1913. 



