BEPORT OF THE SOCIETY 15 



agriculture, much of which in its broadest sense is applied botany and which is 

 becoming more and more dependent on plant pathology. Furthermore, it 

 is an international subject and therefore, we will consider North America for 

 the time being as the unit. Certainly the greater part of North America is a 

 unit from the standpoint of race, language, and problems of public welfare. 



Botanj', the parent of plant pathology, is a very old science, possibly the 

 very oldest of the sciences, although this statement will depend somewhat 

 on our definition of a science and our ideas as to what may be looked upon as a 

 beginning. Certainly it must have been the first science if the early efforts of 

 the human race to protect and later to cultivate plants in order to maintain its 

 existence or to contribute to its welfare and happiness may be called the begin- 

 ning of a science. The very early written records of the human race contain 

 reference to plants and to agriculture, but possibly the first great period in the 

 development of botany began in Greece. Certainly it was the first great move- 

 ment connected with our civilization. The early Greek and Roman scholars 

 and philosophers studied plants with reference to both medicine and agricul- 

 ture. Although confused with mvths and superstitions of the age, manvimpor- 

 tant ideas and facts were brought to light, such as Pliny's discovery of the value 

 of legumes as soil improvers. In this connection, it should be remembered that 

 the early Chinese literature also contains reference to the value of legumes for 

 this purpose, but had no bearing on our own civilization. 



Following this period of activity, there was little progress in botany until 

 the last part of the 15th and early part of the 16th centuries, when there was a 

 general revival throughout all western Europe. Lack of time prohibits a re- 

 view of the Italian, French, German and English schools of this period ; suffice to 

 say that the prevailing idea was almost entirely utilitarian, — the study of plants 

 as remedies for the ailments of the human flesh. Of course, a large percentage 

 of these early students of botan}- were trained in the art of healing and from that 

 time until comparatively recently, the men of the medical profession have been 

 the patrons of botany. In fact the early history of botany in both the old and 

 new worlds is interwoven with the early history of medicine. 



The first efforts of this second period of activity in the study of plants were 

 directed towards the identification of plants from the descriptions given by the 

 Greek philosophers of the first period,, but it was finally learned that the ancient 

 workers were not familiar with and had not described all European plants; and 

 also that many plants were not valuable in the practice of medicine. Therefore, 

 the efforts of this second period were very soon directed towards describing and 

 classifying plants. Out of this work came taxonomy, the alpha and omega of 



