12 ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS. 



pittance he and his family have been able to save by skimping them- 

 selves. The man who spends the best part of his life in honorable 

 service of this sort ought to be able to retire, when his capacity for 

 good work begins to wane, decently, at peace with the world, and with 

 his self-respect unimpaired. He can not do this on a pension. He 

 should be paid a reasonably liberal salary while he is working at the 

 top of his bent for the public good. I have had this feature of the 

 provisions made for our work somewhat forcibly brought home to me 

 recently by a very severe attack of fever, during which there was a 

 good chance of my earthly labors closing abruptly. 



Neither scientists nor teachers receive adequate pay in this country, 

 for their services to the public. Artisans, farmers, tradesmen, physi- 

 cians, and lawyers are all in a better position as to remuneration. 



THE TEACHING OF ENTOMOLOGY IN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 



The value of a study of entomology either as training or for the 

 purpose of acquiring knowledge of practical value is far too gener- 

 ally underrated in what may be called our government schools of 

 science. The influence of educational tradition is still mighty 

 throughout the land. In spite of the teachings of the great minds 

 of all periods — of Socrates, Aristotle, Bacon, Comenius, John Locke, 

 Huxley, and Herbert Spencer — the pedagogy in many of our colleges 

 and high schools is not considered well founded unless based on the 

 study of languages, of which Greek and Latin are those of chief im- 

 portance. This persistent fallacy and prejudice often leads to a 

 croAvding out of instruction of much greater value as knowledge, and 

 of equal or superior value as a means of training the mind. Why 

 the study of the two languages named should train the mind better 

 than a study of German and French or English has never been satis- 

 factorily explained by advocates of the classical education. To my 

 mind it has just one advantage, namely, the excellent text-books that 

 have been developed in the long time during which these dead lan- 

 guages have been taught, and the large numbers of well-grounded 

 teachers available. They can be found in most good high schools 

 and colleges, whereas first-class teachers of modern languages are 

 much less common ; in fact, skilled teachers in these languages have 

 always seemed to me to be rather rare in our public schools. But if 

 the study of modern languages gives the same kind of training, and in 

 addition opens up a world of useful knowledge bearing on problems 

 of vital concern to us and not to be secured from Greek or Latin, why 

 should anyone hesitate a moment in choosing courses in which modern 

 languages instead of ancient languages are made the foundation of 

 an education? I am speaking here for a reading knowledge of mod- 

 ern lamruao-es and with the £>'ood of biological instruction in mind. 



