DR. A. C. SEWARD : HOOKER LECTURE, 1922. 219 
HOOKER LECTURE. 
A STUDY IN C'ONTRASTS : 
The Present and Past Distribution of certain Ferns. 
(With PLATES 16-19.) 
LI 
THURSDA Y, 1st JUNE, 1922. 
By A. C. SEWARD, Sc.D., E.R.S., F.L.S., Pres.G.s. 
A Boranist, especially one whose interest is not limited by the world of 
to-day, feels a certain kinship with the Archeologist who seeks information 
on the life and nature of the people who fashioned and used the materials 
discovered in the course of excavations. “For the Vegetable kingdom 
also," as Asa Gray said, “there is a veritable archeology.” In Central Asia 
Sir Aurel Stein traced for a considerable distance the foundations of a wall 
constructed in the second century B.C., and among the litter of the guard- 
rooms by the gates found fragments of letters, orders of the day, and other 
records which enabled experts not merely to reconstruct the wall, but to see 
the guards at their daily tasks and even to look into their minds, The 
discovery of a deposit rich in fossil plants throws light on some points 
interesting to the systematist or to the student of plant geography ; but our 
aim is more than this—it is to see in imaginationt he plants of other days 
as though they still lived, and, if data are available, to set in motion 
the mechanism of the organism and reproduce something at least of the 
conditions under which it grew. 
The impression made upon the mind by the first glimpse of some feature 
in the landscape rendered classic by historical or mythical association finds 
expression in a desire to give rein to the fancy ; the object seen, whether 
mountain, hill, or valley, is transported to dreamland and peopled by a 
vanished race. I would not go so far as to suggest that every man of science 
should take as his guide Sir Thomas Browne’s dictum “where I cannot 
satisfy my reason, I love to humor my fancy”; but there is gain rather than 
loss even in the treatmeat of scientific facts if some play, tempered by a 
becoming sense of proportion, is allowed to the imagination. 
LINN. JOURN.—BOTANY, VOL, XLVI. R 
