2 54 THE PLANT WORLD. 



untrue — and such furniture as is there is very cheap in its con- 

 struction. 



But if the building and furniture are not of the best, there is 

 a good equipment in instruments and chemicals. The men of the 

 faculty and the advanced students are indefatigable workers and 

 offer an example of industry to the young men studying in the 

 department. True, the students need much encouragement be- 

 cause theirs is a hard path to travel. In America and Europe the 

 student finds it hard enough to become acquainted with a subject 

 so bound up in terminology and nomenclature, but it is much more 

 difficult for a native of Japan. 



To the Japanese boy all difficulties are increased on account of 

 the foreign tongue and foreign alphabet employed by botanists. 

 Gray's " Lessons in Botany " is much used by beginners, although 

 the more modern works are now gaining recognition. Nearly 

 all the species mentioned in the text-books are unknown to the 

 Japanese student. Usually he has almost no knowledge of Latin 

 or Greek. So the technical terms, partly self-explained to the 

 classical student, must be learned separately. Instruction is given 

 through the medium of the Japanese language, yet the lecturers 

 make continual use of English words, especially in describing 

 physiological processes. While the student takes his notes in 

 Japanese he must very often put down a word or phrase in this 

 other language written with different characters and having a 

 totally foreign appearance. 



Some very good morphological and physiological work has 

 been done in Tokyo, but it seems to be along taxonomic lines that 

 most energy is directed at present. An attempt is being made to 

 gain a good knowledge of the native plants of the empire, and 

 extensive herbarium collections have been made in recent years. 

 The marine algae have received most painstaking attention from 

 Mr. K. Yendo* and others. The seed plants have been studied 

 by Professor Matsumura and his associates. Although the Jap- 

 anese have not spent much time in hair-splitting discussions of 



* The writer wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. Yendo for 

 information on many points of interest concerning the botanical garden 

 and also many other things Japanese. 



