BOTANY: 

 PRINCIPLES AND PROBLEMS 



CHAPTER I 

 THE SCIENCE OF BOTANY 



Botany may be defined as that field of precise and classified 

 knowledge— that science, in other words— which deals with 

 plants. 



Together with the members of the animal kingdom, plants are 

 distinguished from all other objects by the fact that they are 

 alive. Botany and Zoology, the sciences which treat of these two 

 great groups of living things, are therefore closely related to 

 one another, dealing with many facts and facing many problems 

 in common; and together they constitute the broader scientific 

 field of Biology, which is concerned with the study of Life in its 

 various manifestations. Of all branches of human knowledge, 

 this science of life is perhaps the least understood and the most 

 important. Between lifeless things and living things exists a 

 great gap which, despite our advances in knowledge, we are as 

 yet unable to bridge. Intricate machines and complex chemical 

 substances are familiar products of manufacture, but never have 

 we succeeded in constructing anything alive out of non-living 

 material. Plants and animals thrive, multiply and die before 

 our eyes, but as to many of the processes which lie behind these 

 outward activities we are still in almost complete ignorance. We 

 may describe, but often cannot explain. Moreover, living things 

 are not fixed and constant in their characteristics but have under- 

 gone profound changes, from simpler beginnings in ages long past 

 to the enormous variety and complexity which they exhibit 

 today; but what has been their origin, or how and why they have 

 progressed to their present condition, are questions for the future 

 to answer. It is this baffling and unexplained quality in life 

 which always has keenly stimulated the curiosity of man; and 



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