Problems of Plant Physiology 37 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

 SOME PROBLEMS OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGY. 



F. M. Andrews, Indiana University. 



In the present paper only a few of the many interesting and im- 

 portant problems of plant physiology can be mentioned. The time at 

 my disposal forbids, for the most part, even the briefest outline of these 

 much-needed investigations, and permits me to make little more than 

 a mere enumeration. To be sure, many of these problems have been 

 objects of research on different occasions and they have been investigated 

 carefully from various points of view. The writer has studied and 

 written contributions on many of these problems some of which will be 

 referred to later. 



As one attacks a problem he must cautiously feel his way as if 

 in the dark, for that is his status for the most part, at the beginning. 

 Step by step he can move forward if all goes well. Frequently he finds 

 himself completely baffled from the very first and is compelled to 

 retreat. This retreat, however, should not deter him but rather should 

 act as a stimulus which will cause him to recharge the next time with 

 more foresight and determination. After one such failure he must 

 often adopt an entirely different line and point of attack, and marshal 

 his forces in a new formation. Very often a difficult problem must be 

 approached first from one angle and then from another in order to see 

 where an entering wedge may be driven. Finally, after persistent, well 

 generaled, and conscientious attacks an impression will finally begin to 

 be made and when the first wall has crumbled, and the fii'st trenches 

 have been crossed the remainder of the resistances of the problem will 

 often surrender more easily. Other problems, however, will only suc- 

 cumb or be conquered by a state of siege and this the writer declares 

 after many attempts in the research field. It is therefore for the 

 earnest research man a declaration of war in the cause of science. In 

 this worthy procedure the physiologist as well as other scientists should 

 ask no quarter and should give none. In some investigations he can 

 bide his time, but often the nature of the problem surrounds him with 

 conditions over which he has no control. He therefore may not be able 

 to complete a problem at once or by continuous prosecution, but, like 

 many an artist, must await the return of proper scenery or conditions 

 from day to day or even sometimes from year to year with its sunlight, 

 shadows, and colors in order that the advance may be made under the 

 proper conditions. 



The writer's aim and efforts have been to elucidate wherever and 

 whenever possible those truths of nature which of themselves consti- 

 tute sufficient reward. In many lines of research, no absolutely con- 

 tinuous line of attack on a problem can be predetermined. Therefore 

 the investigation must proceed according to the manner in which the 

 problem behaves and the way in which it reacts to the conditions that 

 surround it. As none of the many problems have been exhausted all 



"Proc. 38th Meeting, 1922 (1923)." 



