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EDITORIAL. 



At the beginning of a new year and a new century, it is perhaps 

 appropriate that we should discuss the outlook for that particular 

 ])ranch of natural science to which The Plant World is devoted. At 

 no time in the world's history has botanical activity been so great as 

 now, and a very large proportion of this activity has been developed 

 during the last quarter of a century. Within this i)eriod we have seen 

 botany take its place in our educational institutions, side by side with 

 sister sciences, and we have noted the increase in facilities from a few 

 hours perfunctorily spent on "analyzing" plants, to elaborate courses 

 maintained with the aid of perfectly equipped laboratories. But we 

 are also witnessing, it would seem, the passing of the old-time natural- 

 ist, and are becoming simply a race of pronounced specialists. Many 

 students of the present generation are apparently content to spend 

 their lives in the orientation of the " spindles " in a single cell, and 

 liave, or profess to have, a profound contempt for the plant as a whole. 

 While not for a moment underestimating the value of a knowledge of 

 all vital phenomena, and the importance of even minute investigation, 

 we question whether it is wise to pursue this narrow line of research 

 to the exclusion of more general stud3\ Equally unwise is the course 

 of the systematist who carves out new species to order from any col- 

 lection submitted to him, and who ignores all tlie problems of plant 

 growth and plant physiology. Yet it should not be forgotten that the 

 study of taxonomy is, or theoretically should be, the highest type of 

 botanical research, for it is the systematist who seizes upon the iso- 

 lated facts of cytology, morphology, ecology, ontology and a dozen 

 other "ologies," building them into a more and more complete and 

 compact- presentation of scientific knowledge. Each of these branches 

 is, of course, of great importance, but let us not confuse the indi\ddua.] 

 wlieels of a machine with the connected whole. It has come to pass 

 that in the majority of cases, botanists having a speaking acquaintance 

 with the i)lants of their resi)ective regions are almost entirely amateurs, 

 so-c;dled. This should not be. The latter-day scientist of the twen- 



