Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-04-25
EUROPEAN BORER'
MAY KILL OUR CORN
Whole Harvest in United States
Threatened by It, PhiIoso-
piers Hear
AIRPLANE AS DETECTOR

The entire corn crop OF the nited
States is threatened with destruction
by the European corn borer' unless
Congress provides funds Immediately
to fight the pest. according to DIR. l..
q. Howard. chief of the Bureau of
Entomology Of the Department of Agri-
culture. DR.. Howard spoke at the gen
cial meeting of the American philo-
soplical Society today at 10l South
Fifth street
AT the present time the corn bOrpr
is in 600 square miles of Massachusetts
and has attacked corn in over 400 square
miles Of New York" he said. '''rhe
pest has not reached the great corn
areas of the west and middle west. but
crop will be ruined
II don't know what is going to be
come of the crop if this insect is not
"XtcrIhinated or checked. The insect
attacks the ear aud stalk. 1t lays its
eggs ON til" leaves and between twenty
and thirty Of the insects work through
tit" corn at one time.
'During the last Congress an appro e.
priation of $500. 900 was sought to fight
tn" evil. but the Senate hlibuster killed
the bill which contained the appropri
alton Efforts to obtain similar ap
preparation will be made Immediately on
th" ""nv"ning of the new Congress.
.\irplanes spot" Cotton
Speaking of the pink bollworm which
attacks cotton Mr.. Howard declared the
department used airplanes in the
stricken areas in Texas to locate cotton
patches hidden by woods. Ten thou
sand acres of cotton We're destroyed IL
get rid of the pest and the ground was
burned over by flame throwers to make
tn" eradication complete. The pink boil =
worm. he said, was brought from Egypt
via Mcxir" and crossed into Texas
He expressed the hope that air
planes would be used shortly to detect
forest fires and diseased trees in tn,
great forests of the United States.
DR. William ID. Matthew, curator ot
the American Museum of Natural His
tory. in New York. told of his
"D"IvingS in West Indian Islands.
before the second session of the con.
ference.
Doctor Matthew has concluded tina
= the West Indies were never united Will
North or South America.
"rhe characters of .the fauna are
believed to prove that the islands have
been isolated for II long time and have
never had a direct connection will
North Amrrica.' declared Doctor Mat
thew. "1'hey indicate that they prob
ably never had any land connection
with Central and South America
According to Doctor Matthew. tn,
largest fossils found are those of tn
ground sloth which is about the sz
of the black bear. This would iudirat
that there has never been a connection
between Cuba and Porto Rico and th
American continents.
At the morning meeting DR.. Williar
B. Scott presided.
Admitted TO membership in the 50
cirty this morning were DR.. ID. II. Mae
Dougal. director of the department {
botanical research at Carnegie Insti
tutc. and DIR. George ii. Shull. profes
sor of botany and genetirs at Prince
ton.
Other speakers at the morning ses
sion were DR.. Henry f. Osborn. re
search professor OF zoology at Colum
bia University. and DIR. William Nj
, Wheeler. professor OF economic en-
tom"Iogy at Harvard.
New Tuberculosis Cure
Safety pins. eight penny nail'
electric lamps. glass eyes. uphOls
tcrers' tacks. umbrella tips aud leg
of alarm clocks can be removed in tw
minutes from the lungs without an on
: Grafton or aEesthetics. under the di
rect guidance Of the eye. and with
very low rate of mortality. said ID
. ChpvaIier Jackson. attending laryn
, googist. jefferson Medical College.
his paper on "Bloodless Removal I
Foreign Bodies from the l.un,
Through the Mouth by Bronchoscopy.
at the meeting of the society. The Sc
ciety this morning opened the secon
: days session of it's annual meeting.
."Vntil quite recently said Doct'
Jackson. "foreign bodies were remove
from the lungs by cutting throue
the wall of the chest. This method WI
A attended with very high mortality. al
n in each case the question as to wheth
u not an operation should be pei
. formed was dabatable. But with Il
f bronchoscope. which is put through Il
$ month into the lungs, foreign bod
= can be removed in two minutes, will
e ont anesthetics. and with mortali