May 7, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



417 



It seems to the writer tbat almost every one con- 

 nected with Cornell misconstrues the fundamental 

 law. President Adams says, "It includes not sim- 

 ply agriculture and the mechanic arts, but, " etc. 

 President White speaks of the efforts of the trustees 

 being " devoted to agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts alone." When, some years ago, a committee of 

 the legislature was appointed to investigate Cornell, 

 and report as to the way in which the provisions of 

 the law and the charter were being carried out, that 

 committee was shown the machine-shops and farm, 

 and the work of the professor of agriculture and of 

 the professor of mechanic arts, as though these de- 

 partments comprised the whole of the provision 

 made at Cornell for fulfilling the requirements of 

 the law. The law says, to teach such branches of 

 learning as relate to agriculture and the mechanic 

 arts. Does that mean that boys shall be taught to 

 hoe corn, or plant potatoes, or shove a jack-plane, 

 or swing a hammer ? What are those ' branches of 

 learning that relate to agriculture ' ? 



Mathematics, the physical and natural sciences, 

 drawing, mechanics, and the characteristic studies 

 of mechanical and civil engineering. — all these 

 * relate to ' agriculture, or the mechanic arts, or both. 

 The law requires that the leading object of the insti- 

 tution founded under it shall be to give instruction 

 in such branches. Will this be the 'leading object' 

 if, as suggested by President Adams, only six hun- 

 dred thousand dollars of the endowment should be 

 devoted to this purpose ? To the writer nothing can 

 be plainer than that, to fulfil the law, whatever other 

 endowment is accepted, whatever other branches 

 are taught, the institutions founded upon the land- 

 grant must make " such branches of learning as re- 

 late to agriculture -and mechanic arts " (not agri- 

 culture and mechanic arts themselves) the leading 

 object of instruction. 



President Adams says the instruction contemplated 

 by the law includes not simply agriculture and the 

 mechanic arts, but other scientific and classical 

 studies, military tactics, and the several pursuits 

 and professions of life. This last is made to appear 

 by quoting the last paragraph of the much- quoted 

 passage first. 



The meaning of that whole passage seems so plain, 

 that it is strange that such diverse interpretations 

 should be put upon it. It requires the founding of 

 an institution whose branches of learning relating 

 to agriculture and the mechanic arts shall be the 

 leading object of instruction, and where other 

 sciences and the classics may have a place, in order 

 that the industrial classes in the several pursuits and 

 professions of life may there receive a ^liberal and 

 practical education.' 



Can any thing be plainer than that the institution 

 contemplated by the land-grant act should have for 

 its leading object, whatever else it does, to provide 

 for the instruction of the industrial class in such 

 branches of learning as they most need in their 

 pursuits ? 



Now, have the branches of learning that relate to 

 agriculture and the mechanic arts been so well pro- 

 vided for that it is time to reduce expenditures in 

 those directions for the purpose of establishing law 

 and medical school? and what not ? Large additions 

 have been made to the material equipment of some 

 of the departments ; but not one of them can be 

 considered fully equipped, and some have suffered in 

 •usefulness the last year from the cutting-off of ap- 



propriations. Some important branches are suffer- 

 ing for want of instructing-force. This is notably 

 the case in chemistry and physics, where the number 

 of instructors is less than for the same branches at 

 some of the classical colleges, and much less than at 

 some of the technical schools. 



The proposition to multiply departments at Cor- 

 nell seems to the writer most unwise. It is far bet- 

 ter to take the highest rank in a few departments, 

 if those are in the direction of the object contem- 

 plated in the foundation, than to take a lower rank 

 in a wider field ; and it is certain that the income of 

 Cornell will need to be much larger than at present 

 before she can take first rank in all the depart- 

 ments now established. A. W. 



Phylloxera. 



The following answers were suggested by the 

 questions relating to the phylloxera, asked by 

 1 A. M. D.' in the issue of Science for April 2, 1886. 



1. Was it known as a pest in this country before 

 its introduction abroad ? The gall- type of the 

 phylloxera was first known and described by the 

 state entomologist of New York in 1856, seven years 

 before the same form was known in any European 

 country. Unmistakable evidences of its existence 

 reach much farther back, even to 1843. In later 

 years more or less injury was done, but the true 

 cause of the trouble was not known until the dis- 

 covery of the root-type in 1868. 



2. When and how did it reach Europe ? The effect 

 of the pest was first noticed in France, by M. Pina- 

 rum, in 1863 ; the gall-type was described by West- 

 wood, in England, in the same year ; and the first 

 statement of the disease in Germany followed two 

 years later ; but it remained for Prof. J. E. Plouchon 

 to first announce, in 1868, the discovery of the root- 

 type, and to give to it the name it now bears. Dur- 

 ing the same year the winged form was discovered, 

 and the following year the root-type was asserted to 

 be of the same species as the gall-type of the United 

 States. The vineyards were noticeably diseased 

 some time before, particularly those near some Amer- 

 ican vines which were a part of a heavy importation 

 made in 1860, — the probable time of the introduc- 

 tion of the pest. Undoubtedly the pest reached 

 France through these cuttings or stocks. The fact 

 of transporting by cuttings is further evidenced by 

 later experience in Germany, Switzerland, and other 

 countries where infection began among American 

 stocks. 



3. Why is it more injurious in Europe than in its 

 native habitat ? Four reasons may be given : 1. In- 

 sects indigenous to a country are frequently kept in 

 subjection by its enemies. Such is the case to a great 

 extent in the Mississippi valley, where the galls of 

 the phylloxera are often cleared of its inhabitants 

 by depredating enemies. This restriction is removed 

 in the new country, and the pest has full chance for 

 development. 2. The predominating varieties of 

 vines of Europe, and also of California, are of the 

 kind most attractive to the root louse, while Missis- 

 sippi valley produces largely gall-bearing varieties of 

 vines, which to a greater or less extent resist the 

 attacks of the root-louse. 3. The predominance in 

 Europe of the most destructive type, the root-louse, 

 against the gall-louse in the Mississippi valley, — the 

 one attacking the roots, and affecting the vine per- 

 manently ; the other attacking the foliage, and pro- 



