BOTANICAL GARDENS 945 



of wealth and influence fostered this taste and became, through the employ- 

 ment of men skilled in botany and horticulture, generous patrons of science. 

 The world was searched for new and rare plants, which were brought home 

 to Europe for cultivation, and many sumptuous volumes, describing and 

 delineating them, were published, mainly through the same patronage. 

 The older gardens were essentially private institutions, but as the rights 

 of the people became more and more recognized, many existing establish- 

 ments and an increasingly number of newly founded ones became, to a 

 greater or less extent, open to the public, either through an admittance fee 

 or without charge. The four main elements of the modern botanical garden 

 have thus been brought into it successively: (i) the utilitarian or economic; 

 (2) the aesthetic; (3) the scientific or biologic; (4) the philanthropic. 



These four elements have been given different degrees of prominence, 

 depending mainly upon local conditions, some gardens being essentially 

 aesthetic, some mainly scientific, while in our public parks we find the 

 philanthropic function as the underlying feature, usually accompanied by 

 more or less of the aesthetic and scientific. " 



Dr. John Merle Coulter, in an address delivered at the dedication of 

 the laboratory building and plant houses of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, 

 1917, discussed the human service values of botanical gardens under the 

 heads of their social contribution, educational contribution and scientific 

 contribution to human welfare. With respect to the botanic garden as a 

 social service institution, he says in part: 



"A botanic garden is a social contribution because it is one answer to 

 the problem of congestion. It is not sufficient to have open spaces, even 

 when those spaces are beautified as parks. There cannot be too many of 

 these, but something more is needed. I wonder if you all appreciate what 

 the touch of nature means. It is something more than open space for breath- 

 ing. It is a kind of elixir that helps men to be men. The garden is a museum 

 of nature, not merely an area left to nature. In it there are assembled the 

 representatives of many regions, so that it gives a world contact. It is a 

 great service to give any community the opportunity of such a contact. 



The contact with nature presently develops the contact of interest, and 

 interest outside the routine of living, when these interests are worth while, 

 are both curative and stimulating. Then when interest is awakened, and 

 plants are examined as individuals, and not merely as a general population, 

 the wonders of plant life begin to appear. I wonder how many know why 

 leaves are green and flowers colored; why some plants are trees and others 

 herbs; why some trail and climb, and others stand erect. All this vegeta- 

 tion is the natural covering of the earth, which cities have eliminated. It 

 is the covering which makes your life and all life possible. I should say, 

 therefore, that the mere presence of a botanic garden in a city is like having 

 the spirit of nature as a guest, and all who become acquainted with this 

 spirit are the better for it. 



There is nothing more artificial than city life, and therefore, nothing 

 more abnormal. Some are able now and then to renew their contact with 



