7 
Who could not ‘‘ when his summons comes * * * wrap the drapery 
of his couch about him and lie down to pleasant dreams” if he could 
know he had brought such a blessing to his countrymen as the intro- 
duction of the Vedalia to the relief of disheartened fruit growers, or 
if he had made possible the successful culture of so valuable an article 
of food as the fig through the establishment of blastophaga grossorum 
in American orchards, or if he were certain of having done anything 
during his lifetime of service that would be a sure and perpetual 
source of blessing to mankind ? 
You will recall that Dr. Fernald, in his presidential address, put the 
making of new discoveries first in importance in our work. In all 
science and in every industry it is the new discoveries that make fur- ° 
ther advance possible. They are the sure stepping-stones by which 
man ascends to greater heights and gets a broader view of the great 
world in which he labors. There are thousands to make use of a good 
thing when it has been discovered and made known to the world, but 
there is scarcely more than one in a thousand who can claim the dis- 
tinction of really making a new discovery by which succeeding genera- 
tions become his debtors. 
Whether or not we have done all that might reasonably be expected 
of us in this regard I will not attempt to assert. I do believe we have 
lived up to this clause of our constitution as well as any. From 
infancy to old age, wherever a human being is found, it is as natural for 
him to announce to his fellows a discovery of something new to him 
in vision, in hearing, or in the realm of thought as it is for him to 
defend his person from an unfriendly blow or to take food when 
hungry. Galileo could no more refrain from telling the world that 
the earth moves than he could help breathing into his lungs the free 
air of heaven. Servetus, who first announced the continuous circula- 
tion of the blood, was not checked in the least in his determination to 
publish to the world what he believed he could demonstrate to be the 
truth, though he was fully warned of his probable fate. 
All science is but a search after truth, and every fact established is 
a signboard for the guidance of all others that come that way. 
It is no surprise, then, that many new discoveries have been made by 
the members of this Association, and that they have been promptly 
reported at these annual meetings or through station bulletins’ and 
entomological magazines. 
The speaker believes it would be difficult to find so small a body of 
workers, with so meager an amount of time to be devoted to original 
research, in any other science, who can show larger results in the 
way of new discoveries in so short a time. So, while we endeavor 
to emphasize the importance of new discoveries, we believe there is 
reason to congratulate ourselves upon past achievements. Let these 
facts spur us on to greater endeavor, but let them not be to anyone a 
cause for resting upon his laurels. 
