Ch. I] THE VALUE OF BOTANICAL STUDY 5 



These divisions, and subdivisions, of Botany are pri- 

 marily determined by convenience of study, especially with 

 reference to the methods and instruments employed. Hav- 

 ing really no natural boundaries, they intergrade and inter- 

 lock very closely, on which account the progress of one 

 depends upon progress of the others. Thus, most phases 

 of Economic Botany are so dependent upon Physiology in 

 particular, that the greater Experiment Stations, main- 

 tained primarily for economic research, are well-nigh as 

 active in Physiology as are the Universities. This case 

 is typical of the relation which exists everywhere between 

 economically useful and scientifically abstract knowledge. 

 The history of civilization has shown that the greater ap- 

 plications of science to human welfare, as exemplified in 

 electricity, wireless telegraphy, or the control of germ diseases, 

 have arisen not from researches directed to secure useful 

 results, but incidentally as by-products of purely abstract 

 investigations made in the pursuit of knowledge without 

 thought of material returns. All experience shows that 

 knowledge is a unit, of which economically useful knowledge 

 is only an ill-defined and changing part ; and the surest way to 

 gain new useful knowledge is first to win new general knowl- 

 edge, which is possible only through scientific research. 

 For this reason the student who aspires to become a leader 

 in any economic pursuit must first make himself master 

 of its general or abstract knowledge. Such is likewise the 

 reason for the emphasis laid in education as a whole upon 

 subjects having no apparent economic utility. 



The facts known about plants being so multitudinous, 

 amounting it must be to millions, and far beyond com- 

 prehension by any one person, the student may well ask 

 how it is possible to acquire that general understanding of 

 plants implied in an introductory course, and textbook, of 

 Botany. It is simply thus. The diversity of plants, so 

 extensive and obvious, is really superficial, and rests upon 

 foundations of similarity, which, deep, obscure, and dis- 



