7o6 The Smithsonian Institution 



stitLition. The Report for 1889 has a reprint of the address 

 of W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F. R, S., on " Botanical Biology," 

 delivered at the meeting of the British Association in 1888, 

 and in 1890 there is a translation of a paper by Professor M. 

 Treub, "A Tropical Botanic Garden," giving an account of 

 the Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, Java, of which he was the 

 director. The Report for 1891 contains a paper by Professor 

 G. L. Goodale, " Some Possibilities of Economic Botany," an 

 address delivered before the American Association in 1891, 

 and a paper by James Rodway, "The Struggle for Life in the 

 Forest," reprinted from the "Journal of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of British Guiana." We may also mention the 

 account of " Progress in Botany " in various Reports : the ac- 

 counts from 1879-83 by William G. Farlow and those of 

 i887-'88 by Frank H. Knowlton. 



The first step taken by the Institution toward the forma- 

 tion of a national herbarium was the arrangement made 

 with Charles Wright, mentioned in the Report for 1849, 

 to which we have previously referred. In consideration of 

 the $150 subscribed toward defraying the expenses of Mr. 

 Wright on his botanical trip to El Paso, the Institution was 

 to be entitled to a full set of all the plants he collected. At 

 about the same date, a set of the plants collected by Fendler 

 in 1847 i'"* ^^ vicinity of Santa Fe was purchased, and it was 

 proposed, further, to assist him by the purchase of a set of the 

 collections he might make in the future. The policy of the 

 Institution in regard to giving aid to collectors and receiving 

 in return sets of the plants collected was expressed in the 

 Report for 1849 in the following words: " By cooperating in 

 this way with individuals and institutions, we are enabled, at 

 a small expense, materially to advance the cause of science." ^ 

 The Report for 1851, referring again to the sets of Wright 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1849, page 6. 



