468 RODGERS III 



as to established truth. The historian is not the final arbiter. Scientists them- 

 selves should be. 



In even historical presentations the frailty of the human equation will be 

 present to greater or less degree; and for that reason, more often than not, 

 contributions to learning are first indicated. As in other areas of workman- 

 ship, principles of analysis and synthesis apply; and the full-stature history 

 may have to emerge from numerous earlier contributions. Years ago Dr. 

 George Sarton of Harvard University sanctioned the biographical method 

 as a valid organizing technique. Around central biographical figures, and with 

 thumbnail or more elaborate sketches of other scientific coworkers or sub- 

 ordinates of the periods concerned, the histories or stories of developmental 

 science may be organized and written in first instance. 



Research materials, depending upon the subject and period, may be found 

 in many quarters: from botanical and plant-science journals of the period, 

 including those since discontinued in publication; from interviews with, and 

 letters from, workers in the science; and from collected desiderata (letters, 

 manuscripts, memoirs, diaries, articles, etc.) — all gathered together, organized 

 chronologically or otherwise, and coordinated for purposes of writing con- 

 structive, restrained, impersonal, and truthful narratives. This author's experi- 

 ence has taught him that perseverance and a refusal to become discouraged 

 yield eventually the necessary source materials and documentation. He has 

 discovered that collections of utmost value may be found in unexpected places 

 ranging from attics to basements in homes and in, of course, offices, labora- 

 tories, old file cabinets, etc., of botanical departments and institutions. Letter 

 correspondence always has a sender and sendee; and, though the property 

 right remains in the sender, the whereabouts of permissibly usable materials 

 should be checked at both ends. Libraries and institutions maintaining manu- 

 script divisions are often the most effective starting points both for their own 

 collections and for leads to other collections. 



Plant-science research of the Americas, Europe (including the British 

 Isles), and other continents has many such institutions: to list a few in the 

 United States, Harvard University (Gray Herbarium, Farlow Herbarium, 

 Arnold Arboretum, etc.), the Boston Society of Natural History, Yale Uni- 

 versity (library. Botany department, Sheffield Scientific, and Yale Forest, 

 schools), the New York Botanical Garden, the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society (library), the National 

 Archives of Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress 

 (manuscript division), and the United States Department of Agriculture 

 (library and research centers), Cornell University (main library, departments, 

 and colleges), the Missouri Botanical Garden, and libraries and departments 

 of many universities and colleges from the Mississippi basin to the Pacific 

 coast. Frequently, furthermore, valuable collected materials may be found 

 in libraries or appropriate repositories of nearly all the various experiment 

 stations throughout the United States and the Dominion of Canada. In- 



