WHAT BOTANY IS OF MOST WORTH? 39 



a subject so important that it is treated fully in a 

 later chapter. It is in this connection that descrip- 

 tive work in Botany, including the use of exact termi- 

 nology, is held, and I think rightly, to be of great 

 value. On this ground many teachers make much 

 use of blank forms for description, lists of descriptive 

 terms, etc. Unhappily, however, instead of being kept 

 in its proper subordinate position, this kind of disci- 

 pline is too often given the leading place, and this is 

 at present the greatest defect in botanical teaching 

 in this country. It places instruction in description 

 of a particular phase of plant-structure before the 

 study of the leading facts of plant-life. It is not that 

 this work is not valuable, but simply that it is not 

 the most valuable way in which the student's time 

 and labor may be spent ; nor is it at all representative 

 of the present state of botanical science. 



Among other advantages inculcated by scientific, 

 and hence botanical, study may be mentioned : intel- 

 lectual honesty, without which no real scientific work 

 can be done, involving impatience of affectations and 

 genuineness of character; the habit of objectivity and 

 elimination of anthropomorphism, essential to a true 

 understanding of humanity as well as of the remain- 

 der of nature ; intellectual independence needful to 

 all higher mental work. 



If these conclusions as to the worth of the differ- 

 ent phases of Botany in the training of the scientific 



