Notes and Comment. 257 



in its recent establishment of a department of plant physiology 

 the head of which is expected to devote himself to this one thing, 

 and has not been loaded down with so many other duties as to 

 make creditable progress impossible. Such a condition of af- 

 fairs does not encourage us to look forward to a creditable de- 

 velopment of this most important subject in any reasonable time 

 and to the extent which ought to be aimed at. 



If we attempt to analyze the cause of this untoward state of 

 affairs there appear to be two chief reasons. In the first place 

 it is evident that the university authorities in general have no 

 adequate conception of what it is all about, and doubtless con- 

 sider that if provision is made for a department of botany in 

 which plant physiology shall be taught in connection with other 

 branches of the subject they have fulfilled their duty. For this 

 they are probably less to blame than are the botanists who ac- 

 cept such positions on such an understanding. The subject is 

 too broad, too difficult, and too important to be treated in this 

 way. 



And here lies the crux of the whole situation. Young men 

 who become interested in botany during their college course 

 seldom realize until it is too late the extent and nature of the pre- 

 liminary training that is imperatively required to make any real 

 contribution to the science of plant physiology This has been 

 aptly designated as "applied physics and chemistry," and it is 

 self-evident that anyone who is not thoroughly grounded in these 

 sciences need not hope for proficiency in the science in which 

 they are the indispensable groundwork. The remedy seems 

 simple, though it may not be easy of application. It involves 

 on the part of botanical teachers faithful and continued reitera- 

 tion of the conditions of success in this great and difficult field, 

 and a realization on the part of the student of the price of high 

 attainment in it, coupled with a determination and persistence 

 such as is seldom exhibited, even by botanists, at the present day. 

 There is crying need in the United vStates at the present time of a 

 considerable number of trained plant physiologists. There is 

 absolutely no danger that the thing will be over done. The 

 subject is commended to the attention of earnest and competent 

 students, who instead of putting in two or three years of graduate 

 work, or even less, and then dropping into an experiment station 



