ABSTRACT
The use of chemicals to control insect pests is an accepted practice today, a product of our social structure, intensified agricultural system, and technological capabilities. It is easy to forget, however, that this is a comparatively recent phase of economic entomology, based on precedents barely 100 years old. Historians cite insect problems back to the times of ancient cultures, but the struggle seems to have begun in earnest only during the last century. The unparalleled expansion of American agriculture from 1820-1860 brought with it a greatly increased incidence of damage to crops by insect pests and a search for more effective ways of preventing it. This effort would not have been possible without the fruits of a concurrent emphasis being exhibited, particularly in Europe, on insect bionomics and systematics [1].
