Vol. xiv. No. 1 — Botanical Gazette- J an., 1889^ 



Botmy in the University of Pennsylvania. 



(WITH PLATES I-V.) 



The year i860 saw the United States without a single bo- 

 tanical laboratory. It is true that in Philadelphia there was the 

 herbarium of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences,. 



and that in New York 

 City the Torrey herba- 

 rium stood open to all 

 properly accredited stu- 

 dents ; and also in Cam- 

 bridge the greatest of all 

 American herbaria and 

 greatest of all our sys- 

 tematists and best of 

 men, Asa Gray, wel- 

 comed students who 

 came with serious inten- 

 tions. But there was 

 nothing 



corresponding 

 to the laboratories of the 

 old world, where the 

 whole science of botany 

 could be studied under 

 thoroughly trained men. 



Twenty-five years lat- 

 er, the condition of af- 

 fairs had so changed 

 that we had a number of fairly appointed laboratories. Iir 

 earlier times, if one desired to become proficient in tracing 

 the life histories of the lower forms of plant-life, if he wished 

 to follow the development and evolution of tissues, or to study 

 vegetable physiology, there was nothing for him to do save- 

 to go abroad. Such a condition of affairs, in a country whose 

 growth and material prosperity was the marvel of the cen- 

 tury, was not only lamentable, but it was disgraceful. 



We now have not only laboratories, but we have Ameri- 

 can students, trained abroad, to direct them. One thing yet 

 we lack. It is the full recognitor >f the fact that the high- 

 est function of a laboratory is to increase knowledge, and 



Corner of the Herbarium. 



that to do this th 



>fessors should have ample time and be 



