2 A TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY [Ch. I 



curiosity of scientific men, nor is there any way of deter- 

 mining in advance which new facts will prove interesting to 

 them or important to mankind. 



The study of Botany is pursued for three purposes, — 

 pleasure, progress, and profit. First, as to pleasure, its 

 pursuit in any intellectual field is one of the most rational 

 and elevating of human activities. There are those who 

 take as much delight in a close personal acquaintance with 

 plants, or in a clear understanding of their construction and 

 processes, as others find in a knowledge of literature, history, 

 art, or the drama; and the one pursuit is entitled to the 

 same sympathetic approbation as the others. Second, as 

 to progress, all experience shows that an individual advances 

 precisely as a race does, — through constant intellectual ef- 

 fort \ and for such exercise there exists no more natural field 

 than the scientific investigation of the surrounding world, of 

 which plants comprise the most conspicuous part. Third, as 

 to profit, that is clear when one recalls the intimacy of man's 

 dependence upon plants for the very essentials of civilized 

 existence, — for food, shelter, raiment, and medicine, — in 

 conjunction with the fact that they are readily capable of 

 improvement under his hand, as attested by the magnificent 

 flowers, luscious fruits, and nutritious vegetables which he 

 has developed from insignificant wild ancestors. The fact 

 that man can make plants serve still better his material uses 

 would be reason enough, even were there no . others, why 

 he should study them thoroughly. 



Thus the science of Botany has a scope far too vast, and 

 a body of knowledge much too great, for any one mind to 

 grasp. Therefore it has become subdivided for purposes of 

 exact investigation. From this point of view, all Botany falls 

 into four divisions, and they into subdivisions, as follows. 



I. Systematic Botany, the oldest and most fundamental 

 of the divisions, now commonly called Taxonomy, is con- 

 cerned chiefly with the Classification of plants, that is, 

 their arrangement in groups in accordance with their relation- 



