I. THE PLACE OF THE SCIENCES IN EDU- 

 CATION, AND OF BOTANY AMONG 

 THE SCIENCES 



IT is essential to the success of the teaching botanist 

 that he have as clear-cut and objective a conception 

 as possible of the place of his subject in Education. 

 This he must work out for himself through observa- 

 tion and much thought, but here follow some data 

 and ideas with a direct bearing upon it. 



What is the aim of Education ? Though so old, 

 this question is yet ever new, and there is no subject 

 of equal public importance still so little understood 

 by those whom it most concerns. Its value in the 

 abstract is everywhere granted, but there is still widely 

 prevalent the greatest confusion between Education, 

 Knowledge, Information, and Professional or Techni- 

 cal Training ; and it is a first duty of every educator 

 to acquire clear ideas upon these matters, and on all 

 proper occasions vigorously to set them forth. Now 

 the cosmic basis of Education seems to me this. Man 

 is an animal whose weak and weaponless body is 

 inferior to that of many of the brutes, but he has risen 

 to domination over them, and much more of Nature 

 besides, through the possession of one supreme char- 



