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NA TURE 



{March 19, 1885 



FACILITIES FOR BOTANICAL RESEARCH 



THE botanical student who has successfully passed his 

 final examination at one of our universities or local 

 colleges will naturally begin to consider to what use he 

 can devote the knowledge of facts and methods which he 

 has acquired. To many it is unfortunately necessary to 

 turn at once to some employment which will bring in a 

 substantial return. Teaching pays ; research does not ; 

 so the latter is often out of the question. But the few to 

 whom earning money is not an immediate necessity 

 hardly realise the splendid possibilities which lie before 

 them. Of these men of more or less independent means 

 some, from pure inertness, may be content to move 

 within the narrow circle of their own university ; others, 

 following the example of their predecessors, will start on 

 the German pilgrimage and sit at the feet of one or other 

 of those teachers whose names they have long venerated 

 from a distance. The advantage of working under the 

 direction of one of these masters is no doubt very great, 

 but still Germany lies in the temperate zone ; the flora 

 approximates nearly to that of Great Britain, and the 

 gardens and hot-houses are in no way superior to our 

 own. It rarely enters into the calculations of a young 

 graduate that a journey to the tropics is a possible alter- 

 native to the German pilgrimage ; yet a circular recently 

 issued by Dr. Treub, the well-known Director of the 

 Botanical Garden at Buitenzorg, in Java, shows us that a 

 visit of six months to the island is well within the range 

 of any man who has 200/. to spend upon it. It is true 

 that this expense is decidedly greater than that of living 

 for six months in a German University town, but the 

 advantages are correspondingly greater. In the first place, 

 a tropical vegetation offers ample opportunities for re- 

 search, especially in the branches of morphology and 

 anatomy : in proof of this it is sufficient to turn over the 

 pages of the Annates du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg, 

 and note the valuable results there detailed, chiefly 

 from the pen of Dr. Treub himself ; secondly, the 

 Government of the Dutch Indies has recently placed 

 suitable buildings at the disposal of the Director, who 

 finds that he now has accommodation in his laboratory 

 for four foreign investigators to work simultaneously ; 

 again, in the person of Dr. Treub, who, it may be men- 

 tioned, is a proficient in the English language, there is 

 constantly present at Buitenzorg one of the first investi- 

 gators of our time. In his circular Dr. Treub combats 

 the idea which most of us would probably entertain, that 

 Buitenzorg, being in the tropics, is necessarily unhealthy : 

 he states that, though he will not pretend that a stranger 

 coming to stay for four or five months cannot possibly 

 fall ill, still the chances of contracting disease during that 

 time are not notably greater than if one stayed at home 

 or travelled on the continent of Europe. He recom- 

 mends the period between October and April as the best, 

 both as regards health, comfort, and the vegetation. 

 Here is an opportunity the like of which has perhaps 

 never before been offered to students, and one which can 

 best be embraced by those who have not yet assumed the 

 yoke of regular employment. 



These facilities for botanical research in a tropical 

 climate, thus offered freely to strangers by the Dutch, 

 naturally suggest to the English mind that with all our 

 colonies we have at present little of a like nature to offer : 

 we have in our gardens at Calcutta and Peradeniya as 

 good chances of establishing laboratories for botanical 

 research as the Dutch had at Buitenzorg Prof. Haeckel's 

 interesting account of his recent tour in Ceylon, and of 

 his visit to Peradeniya, gives some idea of the scope 

 there would be for a young botanist to carry on morpho- 

 logical and anatomical work In the sphere of thallo- 

 phytic botany Mr. H. M. Ward has already shown that a 

 lengthened stay in the tropics may lead to the attain- 

 ment of verv valuable results. 



But without going so far afield as the tropics, and at a 

 decidedly less cost than such a journey would entail, 

 plenty of scope may be found for satisfying the desire to 

 investigate. Thus at the well-known marine biological 

 station at Naples, the tables which are habitually occu- 

 pied by zoologists might well be applied for by botanists : 

 the numerous botanical memoirs issued from this institu- 

 tion by continental observers show that the institute of 

 Dr. Dohrn is well adapted for the investigation of marine 

 algae as well as of marine animals. 



A second marine station, devoted more particularly 

 to the study of botany, is that at Antibes, now in the 

 possession of the French Government ; it was formerly 

 the private residence of M. Thuret, to whose researches, 

 in conjunction with M. Bornet, we owe so much of our 

 knowledge of the reproductive processes of marine alga;. 

 Being compelled, for the sake of his health, to pass the 

 winter months in the south, M. Gustave Thuret chose 

 the beautiful promontory of Antibes for his residence. 

 He laid out the grounds surrounding his villa as a winter 

 garden, collecting together many rare and beautiful 

 plants ; at the same time, while attending to the collec- 

 tion and correct identification of terrestrial forms, he 

 availed himself of the opportunity presented by residence 

 on the coast to apply himself with vigour to those re- 

 searches on marine alga; with which his name will 

 always be connected. On his death in 1875, Mdme. 

 Henri Thuret, desiring that the valuable collections of 

 her brother-in-law should not be dispersed, bought the 

 property for a sum of 200,000 francs, and presented it to 

 the nation, the State undertaking the expenses of its 

 maintenance. M. Naudin was appointed as director of 

 the new institution. It is understood that on suitable 

 application being made, foreigners can obtain admission 

 to the laboratories of the Villa Thuret, which offer excep- 

 tional opportunities for the study both of marine and 

 terrestrial forms. 



However great the advantage may be of visiting 

 countries of a climate different from our own, it is far 

 from being necessary for an English student to leave his 

 own country in order to satisfy his desire for research : 

 the methods in use in the botanical laboratory are now 

 taught with precision in our Universities : any student 

 who has passed his final examination in the first class 

 should be in a position to conduct a research successfully, 

 if he has in him the necessary mental qualities. To such 

 a man the resources of the Royal Gardens at Kew are a 

 real mine which shows no sign of exhaustion. Not only 

 may an investigator obtain access to the unrivalled col- 

 lections, both living and dry, of the Royal Gardens, but, 

 since Kew is in constant communication with distant 

 countries, materials for completing a research may often 

 be obtained which could scarcely be accessible in any 

 other way. Through the munificence of the late Mr. 

 Jodrell, a well-appointed laboratory has been erected in 

 the Gardens, with the express object of encouraging 

 research. 



Lastly, it must be admitted that the poverty of our 

 efforts in recent years to investigate the marine alga; of 

 our coasts is little short of a disgrace to us as a maritime 

 nation. Even our commonest sea-weeds are so little 

 understood that they would well repay a careful investi- 

 gation. Work on the sea-coast must for the present 

 depend upon individual enterprise ; but we may hope 

 that shortly, when the Marine Biological Association has 

 a fixed abode, botanists may be found ready to make a 

 proper use of the opportunities which they will then 

 enjoy. 



In view of the constantly increasing bulk of botanical 

 publications, which may be taken as an index of a steady 

 increase in activity of research, it may be thought that it 

 is more difficult at the present day to strike out an 

 original line than at earlier periods in the development of 

 the science. But, against this great increase of our 



