PROGRESS OF BOTANY IN SCOTLAND 225 



deposits, has been investigated with excellent results by Mr. 

 Clement Reid and others ; yet their researches have neces- 

 sarily been confined to a few localities, and there must be 

 much yet to be done in this difficult pursuit. 



The still more specialised study of the fossil plants of 

 the earlier formations has been pursued with much success 

 by Mr. Kidston and Professor Bower ; but such study re- 

 quires special equipment and facilities that restrict it to 

 the few. 



Investigations into the structure of the tissues and 

 organs of our native plants are often required to complete 

 those undertaken in the field, and in this respect there is 

 much to be done before an accurate natural history of the 

 plants of Scotland could be issued as the product of study 

 within this country. Such a volume as Raunkiaer's " De 

 Danske Blomsterplanters Naturhistorie " raises the desire 

 for a similar aid in the study of British plants. 



But while there is very much to be done to bring our 

 knowledge of the flora of Scotland abreast of the many- 

 sided results achieved in certain countries of Europe, there 

 is good reason to hope for more rapid progress in future, 

 especially when we look to the place now given to the 

 study of nature in education and to the equipment and 

 facilities provided for such study in schools and universities. 



The time is not long past when even the universities 

 did not possess means for giving practical instruction in any 

 part of biology, and when students were taught by lectures 

 alone. Only in Edinburgh in 1800 was there a garden 

 where persons interested in botany could see the living 

 plants. Now there is a garden in each university town ; 

 and small gardens are being formed in connection with a 

 good many schools in which instruction about plants is 

 given. The universities have been efficiently equipped in 

 recent years with laboratories and museums in which 

 students can learn the methods and results o." botanical 

 study, and can obtain guidance and aid in new researches. 

 Recently the Scottish Education Department has encouraged 

 teachers in elementary schools to give instruction in nature- 

 knowledge, and to make themselves efficient teachers by 

 attending courses specially adapted to assist them in acquiring 

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