14 BURTON EDWARD LIVINGSTON 



scientia amabilis, so that ecological papers now occupy a rather 

 large portion of the jifrograms of our botanical meetings. This 

 vigorous child has introduced into the house of botany a sym- 

 pathy for the problems of agriculture and forestry that was not 

 prominent before, for it has not held itself so completely aloof 

 from agriculture and forestry, there having been a close relation 

 between ecology and these almost from the very start. 



Plant physiology has felt the ecological movement very 

 strongly, and many workers in this subject have turned a good 

 portion of their attention to field interpretations. With this 

 awakening our science has come into close connection with agri- 

 culture and forestry, and it seems unlikely that this connection 

 will ever be seriously weakened. Our university laboratories 

 of plant physiology still teach teachers to teach, but the hope- 

 less cycle is frequently broken when some of the teachers that 

 have been taught do not teach, but enter into investigation, in 

 experiment stations and other research institutions. 



The arts of plant production have shown us problems that 

 were worth our serious attention, both scientifically and finan- 

 cially, and they have furnished the facilities for the solution of 

 these problems. . I am sure they will continue to do this more 

 and more, as time goes on, so that the future of plant physiology 

 promises to be as closely linked with the practical questions of 

 agriculture and forestry as is the present of animal physiology 

 with the practical questions of medicine, surgery and hygiene. 

 As rapidly as those who are deeply familiar with plant physiology 

 become able to see the possible applications of their science, 

 new fields will be opened, which will mean much to human wel- 

 fare as well as to the pure science itself. 



Not only do governmental and endowed research institutions, 

 interested in agriculture and forestry, offer facilities, opportu- 

 nities and money for the prosecution of physiological research 

 on plants, but private corporations and farmers' associations 

 are also entering this field. Perhaps the best example I can 

 give of what pure science can do for the art of plant production, 

 is found in the work of one of our own number, of the doctors 

 of this Department of Botany, who has actually created, out 



