PEEFACE 



The writing of any book, and particularly one 

 in a new and special field, should, in these days of 

 stress and in the presence of an already stagger- 

 ing plethora of publication, be a matter for very 

 serious consideration. Books are written to be 

 read, and unless one has at least a potential public 

 one should hesitate long and seriously about bring- 

 ing out a new volume. Yet the history of Science 

 has been from the first a history of methods, either 

 experimental methods or methods of thought. 

 When, therefore, a new method or a new applica- 

 tion of older methods is developed, it behooves 

 those who are responsible for its development to 

 consider carefully when it has progressed far 

 enough beyond adolescence to warrant a formal 

 introduction in society. 



Tissue Culture as a branch of animal biology 

 has long since passed that stage and has received 

 extended attention in the handbooks of Fischer, 

 Erdmann, Willmer, Ephrussi, Parker, and others. 

 Many of these handbooks carry titles conveying 

 the impression that they treat the subject in its 

 entirety. Yet it is in vain that one searches their 

 pages for any but the briefest possible treatment 

 of the cultivation of plant tissues. One might 



