PKEFACK. ■> 



covery of some new speeics, I hope lor u kind rcccptii.ii hv iIk.x- 

 for whose benefit it is intcniled. 



My botanical friends will ai)pr('ciate the diflieMhics I had to 

 encounter, and I solicit contributions and corrections iVoni ihox- 

 who are favorably inclined towards its improvement. 



Parting I embrace the opportunity to ui-u:e a hi^rhcr appreci- 

 ation of the study of ]k)tany, and to sum up the present standing 

 of the science, and the advantages it enjoys in other vStates. 



American botany has made ra})id advances within the last 

 decade. The earlier periods i)assed over in engagement with sys- 

 tematic work, collecting and systematizing pliienogams and the 

 higher cryptogams. The general survey being very far advanced 

 and nearing completeness, by degrees a state of maturity for 

 studies of a higher order has been entered upon, which demands 

 greater proficiency in analysis and dexterity in the use of the 

 microscope. 



The intricate study of the life-history of plants of the lowest 

 orders engages now the attention of our more advanced botanists. 

 Detail in physiology and morphology and original work is also 

 fairly attempted. A number of our progressive American uni- 

 versities have attached laboratories to the botanical lecture-rooms, 

 and provided them with the necessary outfits, as powerful auxili- 

 aries to the study of botany. Harvard and Cornell since IST'J, 

 more recently the universities of Pennsylvania and Michigan, 

 Iowa Agricultural College, Wabash College, Purdue 1,'niversity, 

 the universities of Wisconsin and Nebraska, Shaw School of 

 Botany at St. Louis, etc. 



Why is it, that in our more than centennial State, so little 

 has been done for the improvement of natural knowledge ? \\'hat 

 object of teaching can conduce more to the material welfare and 

 and progress of the citizen than a practical informatic^i how to 

 disclose the concealed wealth, to collect and utilize wasting ener- 

 gies, to draw from the soil maintenance of life and means ol' com- 

 fort, without impairing its productiveness? And what can more 

 than the improvement of natural knowledge enlargen and ele- 

 vate the intellectual ethics of man, than the ever growing con- 

 ception of a definite and uninfringible order of nature? What 

 can add more to his personal dignity, inspire him with more self- 

 reliance, than the certainty of possessing means to test and verify 

 his conceptions, by bringing them in contact with Nature herself. 

 by experiment and observation ? 



Having inadvertently diverted from the proposed plan of 

 this address, I shall avoid to make further reflections tor the 

 same caution with which the astrav botanist avoids tlie treacher- 



