RECENT BOTANICAL PUBLICATIONS, ETC. 167 
In the nineteeth century systematic Botany became well es- 
tablished; preference was given to the natural system; the 
diagnostic part became extended by numerous morphological 
investigations, clearing up the formerly difficult problem of 
distinguishing between roots ahd subterranean stems, beside 
explaining the ramification of the shoot, and the floral struc- 
ture. 
Thus botanical activity has during the last two hundred 
years shown steady progress, and systematic botany especial- 
ly was well founded before the close of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Furthermore, in the nineteenth century botanical manu- 
als were published all over the world; the vegetation of the 
various countries became known through the ‘“Floras;” the 
geographical distribution and the descriptions of the plants 
received much attention. But of course it did take some time 
before the systematists became able to grasp the morpholo- 
gical improvements, so as to construe the diagnoses in perfect 
harmony with the results contributed by the morphologists. 
- Nevertheless long before the close of the nineteenth century 
most of the Floras and manuals were elaborated in conformi- 
ty with scientific Botany. Through all these years the aim of 
botanical teaching has been identically the same; to distri- 
bute knowledge of the past and of the present; tosencourage 
botanical research, and to guide the student in a progressive 
way. Any effort in the opposite direction would be unscien- 
tific; it would be so completely adverse to the spirit and labors 
of our. predecessors, that such effort could not possibly be 
effectual nor accounted for except by inexcusable ignorance. 
‘Nevertheless, we have some volumes before us of a very recent 
cate: 1919 and 1921, published under the auspices of Smith- 
sonian Institution, Washington, D. C., and these volumes tend 
to make the public believe that ‘four books on botany, instead 
of opening the path to knowledge, close it with a barrier of 
technical language.” It would be interesting to know what 
books are meant by “our books on botany ;’’ presumably those 
published in this country, by Torrey and Gray for instance. 
Furthermore the statement is made that ‘Botanical science is 
beginning to recognize the prohibitive effect of this barrier 
and to take steps to open the path to the public,” by using 
