Botany as a School-Subject 



catch them. We notice, however, that when the flowers are pollin- 

 ated and begin to wither, the flower-stalk straightens out, and all 

 the seed vessels stand in an upright position. The seeds now, 

 instead of dropping out by themselves, cannot get out at all, unless 

 the seed vessels are violently shaken by the wind ; in other words, 

 when a seed becomes free there is the wind to carry it along. Now, 

 our Flora abounds with similar adaptations to external agencies, and 

 once shown to intelligent children, there is no difficulty in interesting 

 them in the different kinds of seed vessels and the mode they open. 

 They will then perhaps even remember what a " loculicidal capsule " 

 is. 



The study of Botany in this country should have a special attrac- 

 tion, because it gives boundless enjoyment to its votaries, and is 

 especially calculated to relieve the dullness of life on isolated farms ; 

 but it does more, it gives everybody who has even an elementary 

 knowledge of it a chance of contributing to the development of the 

 Science. Of course, there are, in the first place, numerous unde- 

 scribed species to be discovered ; but we know very little yet about 

 the exact distribution of even our common plants, and everybody can 

 assist in filling up that gap, and if we come to the Ecology of 

 plants, their adaptations to their surroundings, everybody who has 

 the requisite training and leisure can make a name for himself or 

 herself by studying our native plants in that respect. It is an 

 almost untrodden field, in which a rich harvest awaits the honest 

 worker. There is a chance here especially for our teachers, because 

 we can scarcely expect the ordinary pupil to carry on original 

 investigations. 



In all Sciences, the most far-reaching discoveries, from a 

 practical point of view, have, generally speaking, been obtained as 

 by-products of studies in pure Science. I need only remind you of 

 the history of the Science of Electricity or to the history of the 

 development of the coal-tar industry, or, to take an example from 

 more recent times, the Rontgen rays were not discovered by a man who 

 intended to place a most powerful aid into the hands of our surgeons, 

 and yet he actually did so. But the point I would bring out is this, 

 that their discovery has been quietly brought about, simply with a 

 view of extending our knowledge. The results which made them 

 famous were simply by-products of the main work. In a similar 

 manner, many important advances in the practical application of a 

 knowledge of Botany have been made by men quietly pursuing their 

 studies from a purely theoretical point of view. Thus, the practical 

 application and the development of Bacteriology had only become 

 possible when a German Botanist, Prof. Cohn, had quietlv studied 

 Bacteria, and classified them from a purely morphological point of 

 view, and when one of his pupils, the now well-known Prof. Koch, 

 had devised methods to separate these very minute organisms and 

 to grow them separately. Bacteriology can, therefore, be claimed to 

 a large extent as a branch of applied Botany. In health and in 

 sickness Bacteriology concerns everybody more than is usually 

 believed, and a rudimentary knowledge of this Science, which, after 



