THE MILLARDETIAN PERIOD 77 



Like Hartig, he was a product of the Kiihnian period. 

 As a professor in the agricultural college at the national 

 capitol he was much in demand as lecturer before 

 agricultural societies (Landwirtschaf tUche Vereinen) . He 

 was vice-president of the Special Committee of the Im- 

 perial Government on plant protection. He was, on the 

 whole, a teacher rather than an investigator. He is the 

 author of no less than eleven text-books on botany, 

 plant physiology, and plant pathology. He was secretary 

 of the Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft from its 

 foundation. He gave much of his time to what we would 

 now designate as extension work. Frank's influence was 

 greatest during his lifetime and in his own country. 

 His work lacks that accuracy, finish, and touch of genius 

 so characteristic of his countryman and contemporary, 

 Robert Hartig. 



Oskar Kirchner, the third German pathogenetist who 

 belongs distinctly to the Millardetian period, still lives 

 and works at his post in the agricultural college at 

 Hohenheim in the hills to the south of Stuttgart in 

 Wurtemberg, south Germany. A day with him in his 

 laboratory and home during the winter of 1913 revealed 

 something of his character and relation to phytopatho- 

 logic science. A fine old man -of perhaps sixty-five, with 

 white hair and beard, he nevertheless exhibits every 

 evidence of vigor and energy. A personality at once 

 impressive and cordial, one sees in him the teacher 

 rather than the investigator, but he is both. Like 

 Frank, Kirchner emphasizes the practical appUcations 

 rather than the scientific aspects of the science. His 

 chief contributions to plant pathology are two: his 

 text-book on the diseases of cultivated plants; and an 



