VIII. ON SOME COMMON ERRORS PREJU- 

 DICIAL TO GOOD BOTANICAL TEACHING 



ONE of the chief obstacles to the advancement of 

 knowledge is the difficulty of securing the introduction 

 of the results of new researches into general circula- 

 tion. Errors once in possession of the field, especially 

 if backed by the authority of some great name, persist 

 long after they are disproven, particularly when easier 

 to understand, or pleasanter to believe than the newer 

 truths. I shall here point out some of the more preva- 

 lent errors in Botany, not including cases still in doubt, 

 but only those on which competent authorities agree. 



Very widely spread is one popular error about Bot- 

 any ; namely, that it is synonymous with the study of 

 flowers, and hence of no great value except as an 

 accomplishment of fashionable boarding-schools or an 

 appropriate hobby for elderly persons of leisure. This 

 belief is a natural one, for until lately it has consisted 

 in this country largely in the study of flowers, and still 

 does to far too great an extent. We cannot expect 

 the error to be corrected until botanical courses gener- 

 ally represent the real condition of the science. 



Another error, prevalent even among college teachers, 

 is, that Botany cannot be taught as a science in the 



