339] B. E. Livingston 141 



been assigned or prescribed. He also learns that the plan- 

 ning and the interpretation of experimental work require far 

 more serious attention than does the work itself, for a poorly 

 planned or poorly interpreted piece of work can result in but 

 mediocre results. The actual operations of experimenta- 

 tion may be best learned by carrying out a well made plan, 

 and the interpretation and presentation of the results ob- 

 tained determine for the most part how valuable they shall 

 be in the development of the science. Thus as much em- 

 phasis is placed upon clear imagination,, clear thinking, and 

 clear presentation, as upon the many details of the manipu- 

 lation of apparatus, so frequently considered as constitu- 

 ting scientific knowledge. This department does not aim to 

 teach the subject, but it carries out investigations and tries 

 to help the workers to become independent in the planning, 

 prosecution, and interpretation of research. 



A single course of semi-formal lectures, lasting through the 

 year, with prescribed laboratory experiments, suffices to bring 

 the students into contact with the various phases of the sub- 

 ject, and instruction is thereafter mainly personal, in the 

 form of conferences upon the numerous matters that arise in 

 the prosecution of research. No attempt is made to stand- 

 ardize the students beyond the elementary phases of the 

 subject, but each one is encouraged to develop along line? 

 determined by its own natural bent. Consequently, problems 

 for research are not generally "assigned/' as the phrase goes 

 in many university laboratories, but the prospective investi- 

 gator is led and assisted to choose a problem according to his 

 own earlier training and present interest and enthusiasm. An 

 attempt is made, however, to discourage the taking up of 

 any problem that does not promise results of a definite nature 

 which, when they are obtained and interpreted, will surely 

 fit into the general structure of plant physiology. 



It appears probable that the majority of our students will 

 eventually enter the field of practically applied physiology, 

 as investigators in agricultural or forestry experiment sta- 

 tions, or in commercial establishments; but our point of 



