14 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



and some of the publications on the subject were characterized as unscientific. 

 The use of malodorous substances as repellents which had been much relied on 

 in the early days of economic entomology and strongly recommended by the two 

 Downings, had lately been agitated as a new principle for the prevention of 

 insect attack by Professor John Lintner. The principle could be appHed in ex- 

 ceptional cases to advantage, but experiment gave but little hope of its utility 

 against most of our worst field insects. Professor S. A. Forbes is engaged in 

 interesting researches having for object the utilization of micro-organisms, but 

 with more promise for pure than applied science. 



Of recent progress in mechanical appHances the paper dealt with those lately 

 perfected under the author's direction of Dr. W. S. Barnard, one of his assistants. 

 This part of the subject was illustrated by models and by plates from the forth- 

 coming Fourth Report of the U. S. Entomological Commission. 



The paper concluded with the following plea for applied science : " Matters 

 of fact do not tend to provoke thought and discussion, and I must confess to 

 some misgivings in bringing these practical considerations before a body which 

 reflects some of the highest and purest science and philosophy of the nation. 

 From the days of Archimedes down to the present day there has existed a dis- 

 position to decry applied science and to sneer at the practical man. Yet I often 

 think that science — no matter in what fine sounding name we clothe her, or how 

 high above the average understanding we stilt her — is, after all, but common 

 sense employed in discovering the hidden secrets of the universe and in turning 

 them to man's wants, whether sensual or intellectual. Between the unbalanced 

 vaporings of the pseudo-scientific theorizer and the uninformed empiric who stum- 

 bles upon a discovery, there is the firm middle-ground of logical induction and 

 deduction, and true science can neither be exalted by its inapplicability nor de- 

 graded by its subserviency to man's material welfare. The best results follow 

 when the pure and the applied go hand in hand; when theory and practice are 

 wedded. Erstwhile the naturalist was honored in proportion as he dealt with the 

 dry bones of his science. Pedantry and taxonomy overshadowed biologic re- 

 search. To-day — largely through Charles Darwin's influence — we recognize the 

 necessity of drawing our inspiration more directly from the vital manifestations 

 of Nature in our attempt to solve some of the many far-reaching problems which 

 modern science presents. The fields of biology, morphology, physiology and 

 psychology are more inviting than formerly. Nor is the lustre that glorifies the 

 names of Stevenson, Watts, Faraday, Franklin, Morse, Henry, Siemens, and a 

 host of yet living investigators dimmed because they made science useful. Goethe 

 makes Wagner say : 



" Ach wenn man so in sein Museum gebannt ist 

 Und sieht die Weltkaum einen Feiertag, 

 Kaum durch ein Fernglas, eur von Weiten, 

 Wie soil man sie durch ' Uberredung leiten ? ' " 



If to-day, right here in Washington, there is great activity in the field of 



