i] PRESENT-DAY BOTANY 7 



any sitting of the Botanical Section of the British 

 Association is certainly not such as is "commonly 

 understanded of the people." The practical effect 

 of this is an unhappy isolation, and the unconscious 

 ostracising of many .whose interests are already 

 engaged in kindred questions. Occasionally among 

 the exponents of the subject a brilliant exception 

 arises, who either from the nature of his investigation, 

 or from his power of conveying it, or better from the 

 combination of both, succeeds in touching the general 

 interest : and perhaps the most striking example was 

 Charles Darwin, whose use of technical expressions 

 in the Origin of Species was reduced to its lowest 

 terms, a fact which conduced in no small degree to 

 its effect upon the general reading public. 



Several distinct causes of the misunderstanding 

 between the modern botanist and the lay public 

 have now been recognised. They all arise more or 

 less directly from a common source. It is not generally 

 realised how far the science has progressed in its 

 differentiation. In the course of the last half century 

 there has been a vast increase in the number of those 

 who pursue it. Institutes in Universities and else- 

 where have multiplied greatly, each with its more or 

 less complete staff of workers. Most of these are 

 contributing to knowledge by practical enquiry of 

 some sort, and their observations and arguments are 

 published" in a continuously growing stream. Professor 



