43 



mulated from a study of plants, and which illuminate not only 

 the dark places of botanical science, but also other aspects oi nature, 

 including an understanding ol ourselves. 



I sometimes wonder if, to those who make financial contribu- 

 tions to the work being done in laboratories of science, the ques- 

 tion does not often arise as to just what value the results are for 

 human life. Perhaps unsatisfactory answers to this question have 

 at times resulted in contributions of funds not being made. It is 

 germane to recall, in this connection, a statement of a former 

 president of Cornell University. Said President Farrand, " There 

 is risk of a crude attitude of expecting that whenever a laboratory 

 is established epochal discoveries are bound to result; such dis- 

 coveries are as rare as epochal minds." But all epochal discoveries 

 are made possible by the great body of new information continually 

 being produced by scientific workers, and which, while not epochal, 

 is absolutely indispensable to the advancement of science — to build- 

 ing up the ever-growing pyramid of useful knowledge. 



Since the Garden was established, an average of only about 22 

 per cent, of the annual budgets has been available for research. 

 In terms of statistics the work has resulted in the publication of 

 four scientific Memoirs with a total of 913 pages, and 92 scientific 

 Contributions, reprinted from journals of international circulation, 

 and comprising 1887 pages — a total of 2823 pages of published 

 research. 



Research Journals. — In addition to the above publications, the 

 Garden, in 1914, made possible the establishment of the monthly 

 magazine, American Journal of Botany, which was published in 

 collaboration with the Botanical Society of America for twenty- 

 two years when, in 1935, the Garden withdrew. 



In 1920, in response to an appeal from the Ecological Society 

 of America, the Garden made possible the establishment of the 

 quarterly journal, Ecology, still being published in collaboration 

 with the Society, and now in its twenty-first volume. 



In 1921 the Garden entered into an . It/rcement with the Edi- 

 torial Board of the bi-monthly journal Genetics for cooperation 

 in the publication of that journal, now in its twenty-filth volume. 

 The editorial board incorporated in June 1939, and the cooperation 

 is still continuing with " Genetics, Incorporated." 



