286 B. M. DTJGGAR 



not less than fifteen journals or periodicals of high grade, in which 

 material of this type finds ready publication — and this is exclu- 

 sive of the sources of publication already referred to. In addi- 

 tion there are the technical bulletins of the various experiment 

 stations and several chemical journals to some of which plant 

 physiological material at least finds ready access. That the 

 establishment of these journals indicates extraordinary progress, 

 and that their maintenance on a high plane tends constantly to 

 stimulate the best grade of work and to discourage unfaithful 

 work, scarcely needs argument. Possibly though we have already 

 gone too far in this matter of number of periodicals. American 

 chemists — although perhaps quite ten times as numerous as all 

 botanists— have only five or six distinctively chemical and bio- 

 chemical periodicals. We need data, especially quantitative 

 data, but diffuse publication does not foster research. The num- 

 ber of physiological titles which appear in American literature in 

 1900 — gathered from various abstract journals, and from a care- 

 ful study of American journals — was scarcely a baker's dozen, 

 while the number for 1918, in spite of war conditions, is estimated 

 to be not less than one hundred and fifty. In spite of this prog- 

 ress, however, and of the integrity of present day motives, we 

 realize more than ever that we are on examination before the world, 

 and that the quality of the work should rise with the responsi- 

 bilities which confront us. I believe that ultimately no factor 

 will contribute more to the confidence and success of American 

 botanical research than a well-edited world-circulated abstract 

 journal, and to my mind it is the first duty of every American 

 botanist to support this enterprise. We have not as yet made 

 more than a beginning towards an adequate expression of Ameri- 

 can research work in the form of monographs, or topical hand- 

 books, and once our abstract journal is well established, I antici- 

 pate relatively little difficulty in the publication of such scientific 

 memoirs. 



In bringing this discussion towards a conclusion I wish to treat 

 one phase of research more specifically. I am so impressed with 

 the desirability of joint effort that I wish to mention four prob- 

 lems in which I am interested that seem to offer special oppor- 



