204 Transactions British Mycological Society. 



SOME CONCEPTS IN MYCOLOGYAN 

 ATTEMPT AT SYNTHESIS. 



By William B. Brierley. 



In ev^ery branch of Science there are a number of observations 

 and ideas, which, sometimes in their original form, sometimes 

 modified or augmented, are handed on from one generation of 

 students to the next, from one writer of text-books to another 

 writer of text-books. In course of time many of these fade 

 into obhvion, but others are retained and become an integral 

 part of the Science. One learns them of one's early teachers, 

 imbibing them almost unquestioningly, and they form part of 

 one's ideational system. 



An example — not the best that could be given, but one 

 personally interesting — may perhaps serve to make this more 

 evident. Every student knows that growth in dicotyledons 

 takes place in the cambial layer. The nuclei of cambial cells 

 ought therefore to be in a constant state of division, and yet 

 how many botanists have ever seen a mitotic figure in a cambial 

 cell? For some time, when opportunity has permitted, an 

 inquiry has been made, and up to the present not one of many 

 well-known workers has answered in the afhrmative. Granted 

 that it is in the highest degree probable that dicotyledonary 

 growth does take place in a cambial layer, and that the nuclei 

 of these cells do shew mitotic figures: that the concept of 

 cambial dicotyledonary growth is a true one: nevertheless it 

 surely would be advantageous that such a fundamental process 

 should be more frequently observed, and that the published 

 figures should be more numerous and representative of modern 

 cytological technique. 



There is no reason to doubt that many concepts in biological 

 science correspond to reality ; but one may perhaps be forgiven 

 for wondering occasionally how many others gain continued 

 allegiance mainly by sheer conservatism and inertia. It could 

 only serve a useful purpose if, periodically, certain of these 

 concepts were revised in the light of more recent knowledge, 

 were weighed in the balance, and if found wanting, neither 



