24 
radio, as well as for those who come to the Garden in person for 
information, The details of these “long arm” activities will be 
found recorded in the appended departmental reports. 
Ture PRERBARIUM 
ve , 
Ifacts must be collected,” said Agassiz, “ but their mere ac- 
cumulation will never advance the sum of human knowledge by 
one step; it is the comparison of facts and their transformation 
into ideas that lead to a deeper insight into the significance of 
Nature. 
A herbarium is not merely a collection of p 
cel 
ants; it is a collec- 
tion Of botanical facts, easily accessible for study—for comparison 
and for transformation into ideas. Many of the fertilizing gen- 
eralizations of botanical science were made possible or facilitated 
by the study of herbarium = specimens, collected from the four 
corners of the earth and made available to the botanist who could, 
by no possibility, have found money and time sufficient to observe 
these specimens as living plants in their native countries and 
habitats, 
he fact that there 1s no 
ae 
In earher reports we have stressed 
special virtue in large numbers. This is true of such a scientific 
collection as a herbarium, [ts size depends primarily upon the 
geographic range it is intended to cover; its value depends always 
upon the quality of the specimens, the completeness and accuracy 
of the data accompanying them, the care with which they are 
selected by collector and curator, the degree of completeness with 
which they cover a specified geographical area or a systematic 
group, and their ready accessibility. 
The herbarium of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is being devoted 
to groups of plants that have been 
oe. 
largely to the local flora ane 
the object of special study by members of staff and registered 
students. It aims also to include enough representative specimens 
to become an epitome of the plant world. Special attention is also 
given to plants grown in this Botanie Garden. It will never be 
one of the larger herbariums, but it 1s yearly becoming more 
jaar 
effective for the purposes intended as above indicated. Dr. Sven- 
son, in his appended report (p. 86) calls attention to its richness 
in certain items, and to its increasing use. 
