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JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 17 
since the time devoted to unnecessary effort along this line is lost for 
presumably more legitimate effort in mastering the secrets of nature? 
Is it not possible that a few more pages of generally understood words 
would in many cases convey the ideas with sufficient exactitude? If so, 
this would presumably mean more readers and more general appreciation 
of scientific activities. May we not purchase exactitude at too great a 
cost ? Does a man dying of thirst wish a discourse on hydrogen oxide ? 
Obituary 
Shirley Watson Foster 
Mr. Shirley Watson Foster passed away on October 23, 1923. About 
five days previous to that date, he was taken seriously ill and was oper¬ 
ated upon, when a growth was discovered on the lower intestine. The 
operation was well performed but gangrene spread so rapidly that there 
was little hope and he never rallied. He is survived by Mrs. Foster 
and two young children, who have their home at Diablo, California. 
Mr. Foster was born near Greensboro, North Carolina, April 8, 1884. 
He attended the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and later 
took a special course in Biological Science and Horticulture at Cornell 
University. In 1907 he entered the United States Department of 
Agriculture as field Entomologist, under the supervision of Doctor 
Quaintance and spent a great deal of his time in California, where he 
became widely known for his valuable discoveries in the control of Pear 
Thrips, Codling Moth and other orchard problems on the Pacific Coast. 
The latter part of 1912 he left the Government service to take the po¬ 
sition of Entomologist and Manager of the Insecticide Department of the 
General Chemical Company’s Pacific Coast Branch. 
Mr. Foster was a man of sterling character and high ideals and although 
connected with a commercial enterprise, his sincerity of purpose enabled 
him to give to the fruit growers the sort of advice which represented the 
most beneficial as well as economical methods; hence the confidence 
reposed in him by the growers and their district advisers, all of which is 
tangibly expressed by the many messages of condolence. 
