34 JOURNAL OF THE 



iu animals, but in the case of animals and human beings the 

 phenomena are so complex as to be quite beyond the poNver of* 

 comprehension of the beginner. The person who has studied 

 the laws of nutrition, growth, reproduction, degeneration and 

 extinction as exhibited in the vegetable kingdom will be well 

 prepared to profit at a later period when he takes up the subject of 

 animal and human physiology. 



4. Plants can be studied far more thorouohly than is practi- 

 cable with minerals and animals — in the case, at least, of young 

 persons and those who have not at hand complex and costly 

 apparatus and chemical re-agents often dangerous to handle. The 

 lack of thoroughness in everything is the bane and scandal of our 

 American schools, and the direct cause of the superficial charac- 

 ter of so much of our literature, morality and laws. Concern- 

 ing thoroughness in mental acquirements, Professor DeMorgan, 

 of London University, gave the following advice to his 

 students: "Whatever else you may do, some one subject you 

 should thoroughly master for the purpose of giving the proper 

 tone to the mind upon its regard to the use, province and limits 

 of knowledge in general." 



5. The study of plants furnishes an unequal h'd recreation and 

 tonic for the mind subject to the strain of exacting business or 

 professional life. Some of the most enthusiastic and accom- 

 plished botanists that this country has produced were practical 

 and successful physicians, bankers, merchants and housewives. 

 This study is especially valuable for invalids and persons of 

 delicate physical organization and those of sedentary employ- 

 ment. When conducted in a rational manner the study is car- 

 ried on principally iu the health-giving atmosphere of the grove 

 and meadow. 



6. The study of i)lant-life, by exhibiting a j)ractically inex- 

 haustible field for research, acts as a preventive of the surfeit and 

 disgust with the world which too often overwhelms highly but 

 nnsvmmetricallv developed minds. The wholesome restraint 

 which the habitual exercise of the observing faculty — a faculty 

 powerfully stimulated by this study — places upon the imagina- 



