CONTRIBUTIONS OF BOTANY TO MILITARY EFFICIENCY. 
R. M. HoLtMAN, Wabash College. 
Certainly no science seems, at first thought, to be more remotely 
related to military pursuits than does the science which deals with 
plants. In chemistry we recognize at once one of Mars’ chief servitors; 
for even in the days before men fought with deadly gases, the products 
of chemical research, leaders in military affairs were indebted to the 
science of chemistry for the development of more and more destructive 
explosives and for a great number of other essential though minor war 
materials. In physics, too, we recognize a science whose contributions 
to the business of warfare are scarcely to be enumerated. But so many 
and varied are the factors which play their part in the successful 
pursuit of modern warfare, and so extensive are the applications of the 
sciences today to practical problems, that every science has been called 
upon to make its contributions to military efficiency. Thus the science 
of botany has come to play a by no means inconsiderable part in the 
organization, equipment and operation of an army. In the time allotted 
to me it would not be possible to consider all the particulars in which 
this science has aided directly or indirectly in the pursuit of war, but 
I shall call to your attention two or three phases of botanical work 
which have been of rather direct assistance. 
The very considerable shortage of cotton which existed during the 
greater part of the war period, and the great demand for this material 
for civilian and military clothing and for the manufacture of explosives, 
suggested late in 1914 a search for a suitable substitute for the cotton 
so extensively used in surgical dressings. The material which proved 
best fitted to this use was sphagnum moss, which grows so abundantly 
in peat bogs and by its accumulation has built up very largely the great 
deposits of peat which are utilized as sources of fuel in some parts of 
the world. This moss, which was in fact employed to a limited extent 
for surgical dressings in the Russo-Japanese War, has the two great 
virtues of being very abundant and of possessing a remarkable power 
of absorbing liquids. In this latter respect it is many times as efficient as 
cotton. By no means all species of the genus Sphagnum are suitable 
for use in the preparation of surgical dressings. The species which can 
be used for this purpose, and which are found in the United States, 
are: Sphagnum imbricatum, S. palustre, S. papillosum, and S. magil- 
lanicum. These species are not found in the numerous bogs in the region 
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