2gg BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



class to the Big-wigs) and the subscribers to botanical periodicals (use 

 understood) are interested in plants themselves, and not in their 'Latin 

 parts" — parenchyma, collenchyma, sclerenchyma and all the rest — 

 interested in their structural affinities as expressed in a methodical ar- 

 rangement, in their geographical distribution and antecedents, there 

 must be some reason for it. For ever since the day when some of 

 us pulled through the first two hundred pages of the earlier edition of 

 Gray's Text book (if the "term" had been longer we might have gone 

 further with our memorized recitations) down to the present era of 

 Summer Schools all given over to the study of protoplasm, we have 

 had class after class ground through this course of Histology, rarely 

 under the most efficient guidance, and oh! how abundantly under the 

 perfunctory charge of the average High School teacher, and as a pa- 

 tent commentary on the outcome of it all the editor of this delightful 

 Gazette of ours asking the "physiological botanistsof this country" to 

 take in a "hearty way" "half of its space," but they "are either few in 

 number" or else "do not record their investigations " Meanwhile sys- 

 tematic bolsiwy , practically ignored in our schools, (I measure my words 

 and speak from a tolerably extended observation) needs no noise of 

 the "recruiting sergeant" to keep its ranks full! Prof. Morse in his 

 charming preface to the "First Book of Zoology" says, — 'to collect in 

 the field, to make a cabinet, and then to examine and study the spec- 

 imens collected are the three stages that naturalists, with few excep- 

 tions, have passed through in their boyhood." "The way to com- 

 mence the study of Zoology (and Botany as well) is to follow the 

 course one naturally pursues when he is led to the study by predispo- 

 sition." I have not a word in disparagement of the importance of 

 histological siudies. nor of the interest that may be found therein by 

 persons who have an aptitude for such investigations. What I do pro- 

 test against is the way in which Histology is thrust upon students as 

 t/ie only foundation for a fair knowledge of systematic botany. It is 

 assumed that a course of nice, microscopical work in cell structure is 

 a capital preparation for the enjoyment which the average amateur 

 seeks to find in the study of plants. This I am willing to half admit 

 but, oh ! the unutterable stupidity of simply memorizing the account 

 of it all which is the fate of ninety-nine out of one hundred of the 

 students who will "take botany" in their course "next term."* 



■ After all, the choice is a matter of predilection. From the ama- 

 teurs like John Stuart Mill and Charles Kingsley — men of transcend- 

 ent ability, who seek in tiie amiable science recreation for a summer's 

 vacation, or an occasional holiday, down to the young man or young 

 woman of the obscure village, who is striving to keep mind and heart 

 sweet and pure by "considering the lilies of the field" (I concede my 

 physiological friend that the rest of the quotation is against me) it is a 

 noticeable fact that systematic botany has the preference There is a 

 hearty enthusiasm among field workers which is infectious ; a gener- 

 osity in sharing spoils which makes "a good find" half a disappoint- 



* "Tlie .'system I repudiate is that which allows teacliHis who liave not come 

 into direct contact with the leading facts ot a science to puss tiieir second-hand 

 information on." — Hi(.iky. 



