192 ECOLOGY 



Lewis and Clark, the first effective explorers of the original Louis- 

 iana. Every botanist may recall on this occasion with pleasure the 

 fact that Captains Lewis and Clark gave much attention to the 

 strange and varied vegetation of the regions traversed during their 

 intrepid journey into the pathless wilderness, which will always form 

 one of the most thrilling and dramatic incidents of our national 

 history. What is more remarkable, they brought back with them 

 a considerable number of plants. It is pathetic to think under what 

 difficulties and with what devotion to science these plants were 

 collected, prepared as scientific specimens, labeled, securely packed, 

 and transported thousands of miles overland under circumstances 

 which made each pound of baggage a source of untold labor and 

 peril. It was through these specimens, so heroically obtained, that 

 the floras of the vast and varied valleys of the Missouri and Upper 

 Columbia first became known to science. 



At the time of Lewis and Clark the study of plants had but two 

 important branches. These were classification and economic botany. 

 A plant was investigated solely with the objects, first of determining 

 its place in a rather arbitrary system, and second of discovering its 

 uses. At the beginning of the twentieth century, on the other hand, 

 botany, now become one of the richest sciences in carefully observed 

 and accurately recorded facts, is divided into many highly special- 

 ized fields of research. While the extent to which this subdivision 

 has now been carried is often a surprise to the non-botanical, such 

 terms as plant classification, plant anatomy, vegetable histology, 

 physiology of plants, vegetable pathology, paleo-botany, and the 

 like, are readily comprehensible to the intelligent layman. He may 

 derive from them a considerable idea of the nature and import- 

 ance of the subjects they designate, even though he may be igno- 

 rant of their extent and details. The word ecology, however, is too 

 recent and technical in its application to be familiar to many who 

 have not been professionally engaged in some phase of botanical 

 work. The term, although equally applicable to plants and animals, 

 has been used far more freely by botanists than zoologists, and it is 

 solely in its botanical sense that it is here employed. Of the various 

 definitions of ecology I believe none surpasses in terseness and 

 excellence that suggested by Professor Barnes. "Ecology is that 

 portion of botanical science which treats of the relations of the 

 plant to the forces and beings of the world about it." 



The scope, significance, and probable future of ecology can only 

 be understood after some examination of its origin and history. 

 The subject, although older than its name, is still a relatively new 

 one, and it is worth while to examine its position with regard to the 

 older branches of botany. The relation of ecology to plant geo- 

 graphy is especially complicated and difficult to state. Discussions 



