Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-27
Capital Sideligghts
BY WILL r. KENNEDY.

With the world celebrating Lights
Golden Jubilee" under the leadership
of President Hoover, julius H. Barnes.
who heads the organized business men
of the country. has given us some in
teresting sidelights on Americas fifty
years of Aladdin
In weekly paper in 1879 there was
an insignificant news item recording
a patent granted to Thomas A. Edi-
son for electric lighting apparatus.
We measure the practical unit OF
electrical resistance today In the name
of the German scientist. Ohm; the flow
Of electric current along wire in the
name of a French mathematician, Am
pere; the force required to cause cur
rent to flow against resistance in the
name of the Italian physicist, Volta;
the unit of electrical power in the name
of a Scotch engineer, Watt-but
throughout the world every shade and
variety of electrical service. the finest
OF subtle pulsationS and the most re-
mendous physical forces, are expressed
to every understanding with the single
name of-Edison.
Edison's electric light first shone III
a still pioneer country, only three years
behind the last great tragedy of Amer
ica's receding frontier In the Indian
country. CuSGST y ldSI oI<aAAO, thC AII1nI
tragic resistance Of the Red Indian to
the oncoming wave of American settle
ment, was made in 1876.
It still comes as a shock to many OF
us that our own lives have spanned the
period between the Indian frontier and
today's complex civilization.
Oil lamps originated with the sperm
oil from the whale fisheries a century
and half after the landing at Plym-
outh Rock.
SO good a mind as Napoleon's con-
demned the whole effort to substitute
gas in the place of candles as grand
folly"
Sir Walter Scott ridiculed the mad
man" who proposed to light the streets
of London with smoke.
Less than century ago the Phlladel-
phia Common Council received q petit
ton against the use of gas, stating that
its immense destruction of property
was nearly as fatal as gunpowder."
~ ~
When Thomas A. Edison fifty years
ago established his first lighting station
in New York City, with 750 horsepower
and SO customers, acting as meter read
er and bill collector, he answered a
complaint Of overcharge at % Wall
street, and convinced the senior J. p.
Morgan of the correctness of his light
ing bill.
That first years modest service
showed an operating loss Of $4,000, and
now, fifty years later, the annual net
revenue Of that single city for electric
current reaches almost billion dollars.
n N%
DR.. r. J. Haskell, who is in charge Of
plant disease survey of the United States
Department of Agriculture, is president
of the national organization OF plant
Psychologists of America, known as the
Phytopathological Society, which pub
fishes an international journal called
journal in the entire world on that sub
ject He was secretary-treasurer of the
society for five years before being elect
ed president.
The annual meeting Of this society
will be held in DeS Moines, Iowa, at
Christmas time, in conjunction with the
American Association for the Advance
ment Of Science.
Under DR.. Haskell's leadership an
endowment fund for phytopathologica
publications by the American society
the late DR.. G.. r. Lyman, who was for
is years in the department Of botany Of
Dartmouth College, later carried on i'm
portant work for the Federal Depart
ment Of Agriculture, and was president
of the national organization Of plant
pathologistS.
AT the time Of his death, in 1925, Dr.
Lyman was dean Of the College Of
Agriculture at Morgantown, w. Va. He
had been for many years engaged in
plant disease work, both as a teacher
q n fanAfN{n0
career started in 1894 "a superintendent
Of schools at Amboy. ILL.,, and later he
became instructor of botany at Radcliffe
College. In January, 1915, he retired
from the faculty of Dartmouth to enter
the service of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture, where he divided
his time between the once Of forest
pathology and the then Federal Horti-
cultural Board, until In 1917 he was
Plant Disease Survey. Under his lead
ership the survey became recognized as
the principal agency for the systematic
collection and distribution of 1nforma-
ton on plant diseases, and especially
their extent and damage caused.
The principal beneficiary under the
DIR. Lyman endowment fund will be the
society's journal, Phytopathology, the
foremost international publication on
the diseases OF plants, WneCner from the
standpoint of control or the cause. This
journal Is now in its nineteenth annual
volume, and is one Of the main outlets
for the literature being prepared day
by day in 48 State experiment stations,
numerous colleges and universities and
the United States Department Of Agri-
culture.
Three years ago there was started by
the society series Of papers known as
the "Phytopathological Classics" which
would present in English the older and
classic publications In plant pathology,
SO that those worthy pioneer efforts
might be more readily available to the
English reading scientist. This series
will also benefit from the endowment
fund. Several worthy SUCCESSORS to
Havn'S pioneer work on the classification
of plant diseases have been prepared by
eminent specialists, DR.. Haskell reports,
but lack Of funds prevents their pub
lication.
F. G. Meier, Harvard. 1915, Bureau Of
Plant Industry, Washington, d. c., IL
sAcretary-treasurer OF the society, and
is in charge OF the financial aspects OF
the fund.