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the universe was not ‘‘known" to be ‘expanding’; vitamins, 
which are now deliberately included in our diet and our medicines 
and purchased by name at the grocers and druggists, had only 
just been discovered —a few of them; growth-promoting sub- 
stances in plants were talked about but had not, as now, become 
familiar laboratory reagents; the science of Ecology was in the 
cradle, heredity was just beginning to be studied experimentally 
and quantitatively. 
Moreover, in 1910 there prevailed national standards of taste 
and conduct in literature, art, and morals that were deeply rooted 
in the past and whose validity was generally recognized. There 
is always change, but the period of 1910 seemed characterized 
by relative stability, that of 1941 by instability. We have 
passed from a period of cosmos to one bordering on chaos. 
Since the above paragraphs were penned the nation has been 
stunned by the perfidy of December 7, at Pearl Harbor, and we 
close the year with our country officially in a war against forces 
which are attempting ‘the greatest effort at universal disintegra- 
tion ever undertaken.” 
It should be gratifying to the trustees, as it is to the staff, that 
while a gigantic and ruthless effort is being made in one part of 
the world to disrupt and destroy what has gone before, the work 
of the Botanic Garden is a part of the constructive, enduring 
activities of mankind—of perpetuating and enriching a civiliza- 
tion having its roots in the past, but ever evolving into something 
better and nobler. 
EFFECT OF THE WAR ON BoTANIC GARDENS 
The effect of the war on botanic gardens, as on colleges, mu- 
secums, and scientific institutions generally, has been both direct 
and indirect. Some of them, like Kew, have been bombed: 
members of staff have been conscripted, killed, or driven into 
exile, or languish in concentration camps. Financial support has 
dwindled or ceased altogether. Research is hampered, publica- 
tions have terminated or have been greatly reduced. This is 
reflected in the marked decrease in the number of our foreign 
exchanges. The international exchange of seeds has almost 
come to a stand-still, and the publication of ‘Lists of Seeds 
