FOREST POLICY. 5 



The functions of the State are dealt with in the science of 

 sociology; and it would be folly for scientific forestry, as a public 

 function, to overlap sociology. Thus it seems that is the claim 

 that there is no such thing as the science of forestry, on the 

 one hand owing to a lack of really specific contents, on the other 

 hand, owing to a lack of a systematized knowledge covering the 

 interdependence of man and forest. It must be admitted that the 

 condition of scientific affairs in other branches of technical acti- 

 vity and of scientific development are far ahead of those at hand 

 to-day in forestry. 



In chemistry, mechanics, physics, and so on, the practitioner 

 works not according to a set of rules empirically developed, but 

 according to actual laws, exploiting nature's powers on the basis 

 of a systematic knowledge of those powers, and on the basis of 

 a thorough understanding of the inter-relation existing between 

 cause and effect. 



