82 BURTON EDWARD LIVINGSTON 



which, in, and for itself, interests the greatest number of people. 

 Ground for this statement lies partly in this very interest, and 

 partly in the greater possibility that certain by-products of the pro- 

 posed research may give rise to practical application in agriculture, 

 horticulture, forestry et cetera. If purely practical aims are to be 

 decried in a scientist (and, as such, they are surely incompatible 

 with science), the active avoidance of any studies which might 

 be applied is as egregious an error in the opposite direction. Had 

 more doctors' theses in the past been based upon work with ordi- 

 nary cultivated plants there might now be more sympathy mani- 

 fested between pure scientists and students of agricultural opera- 

 tions. The science of plant physiology is now greatly in need of 

 the general interest and facilities for work which come to a science 

 through its practical application, and the art of plant-produc- 

 tion needs the pure science to as high a degree. 



