INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 81 



Many colleges offer courses of instruction for undergrad- 

 uates and for graduate students that we may profitably copy 

 to a greater or less degree in planning our work. In not a 

 few, the value of original research on the part of both stu- 

 dents and teachers is fully recognized. But the chair of bot- 

 any in most American colleges is combined with some other 

 department — frequently more than one — and, under the 

 pressure of other and imperative calls for money, it is 

 usually but feebly supported, and is developed only to the 

 extent to which it is useful in the undergraduate courses. 

 This renders the training of advanced students possible in 

 few instances, while the opportunities for original work are 

 often meager. Thanks to the far-sighted liberality of Mr. 

 Shaw, we shall be able to provide the library, material, and 

 laboratory appliances for work of this nature as they are 

 needed. 



Popular judgment of the new school must, of necessity, 

 be based largely upon the success of its popular classes. 

 Even with abundant resources, securing the necessary facili- 

 ties for advanced work is a matter of time; and, if meas- 

 ured by their quantity alone, the results are not striking. 

 No one who has not himself done original work can appre- 

 ciate the slowness with which results are reached ; — the 

 amount of time consumed in preparing for a series of exam- 

 inations or experiments, in tracing back the literature of the 

 subject, and in controlling and verifying results ; — all of 

 which must of necessity be done, although not the investiga- 

 tion proper. To do this presupposes the possession of a 

 more than good library, and of extensive collections — liv- 

 ing, pressed, and preserved in alcohol. These must usually 

 be accumulated gradually, as opportunity offers, without re- 

 ference to present needs, or they are not available when the 

 occasion for their use comes. It is the possession of these 

 facilities, quite as much as the instruction of leaders in 

 science, that tempts the American graduate abroad if he 

 has the ambition to do work in some special direction after 

 loavinsf collegre. 



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