COLLEGE WORK IN PATHOLOGY 



311 



Washington University,' the latter now apparently discontinued. 

 Neither of these belong in the group of land grant colleges to 

 which reference was made previously. An outline has been pre- 

 sented^ of a third course, including three post-graduate years, as a 

 desirable preparation for professional work in plant pathology. 

 At Miami the work was definitel}^ planned for each exercise of the 

 year, and aimed to teach the student something about the habits 

 of the more important members of each important group of para- 

 sitic fungi. At Washington University a skeleton course formed 

 the basis of the work, but the developing interest of the students 

 was made use of to inaugurate experiments conducted by them- 

 selves, to answer queries raised in class work. This involved a 

 considerable use of plant houses, and a knowledge of plant propa- 

 gation not everj-iv^here at hand. In both courses work with 

 artificial cultures, as in bacteriology, was an integral part of the 

 work as reported. 



Each of these courses devotes most of the time to the study of 

 the causative organisms, and to the effect produced in ths host by 

 the parasite. Remedial measures receive scant attention, as 

 curing plant diseases is impracticable in most cases. But by 

 knowing the manner of invasion, rate of growth, and similar 

 details concerning the parasitic fungus protective measures can 

 be taken, and actually diseased parts removed with reasonable 

 confidence as to the health of the remaining portions. 



PEDAGOGICS 



As a principle in teaching, the use of horticultural work to in- 

 troduce the study of plant diseases, that is, the study of living 

 normal before that of djdng or diseased plants as parts of the same 

 course, has good precedence. In plant physiology the plant is 

 examined as to its activity under natural conditions, then in 

 modified condition. So the study of diseased plants would 

 naturally foUow the study of healthy ones, as integral parts of the 



'Herman Von Schrenk. On Teaching of Vegetable Pathology. Bull., Tor. 

 Bot. Club, 29: 1912. 



^L. R. Jones. Relations of Plant Pathology to Other Brnachesof Botanical 

 Science. Phytopathology, 1: 39, 1911. 



