196 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [SEPTEMBER 
promoted, and we have before our eyes the spectacle of a gradu- 
ally unfolding class of institutions in which investigation is not 
only tolerated but expected, either as an adjunct to instruction, 
as in the greater number of colleges, as a concomitant of educa 
tional displays, as in botanical museums and gardens, or, at least 
nominally, as a basis for technical or economic research, as in 
several of the larger drug houses, and, notably, in various agti- 
cultural experiment stations and the national Department of 
Agriculture. Perhaps the time has not yet come when labore 
tories of botanical research can stand out quite alone and justify 
their existence without reference to other ends, the utility of 
which is more generally understood and conceded, but it seems 
safe to predict that the next decade will see their complete evolu- 
tion. 
Opportunity for institutions lies primarily in equipment, 
and secondarily in its use. The problem of equipment io 
research is a complicated and difficult one. So long as ier 
were no laboratories especially designed for this purpose, wit . 
natural that the instructional laboratory should be furnished with ag 
appliances for demonstration, and that these should be ampli . 
as far as possible, for the repetition of experiments, in the fist 
place, and afterwards for their extension ; and it is no doubt tre : 
that a number of the smaller educational laboratories ate send : : 
Over-equipped when account istaken of the possible use to oe 
they can be put. With a specialization such as we NOW son 2 
progress, it may be questioned whether the ordinary college 
equipment cannot be reduced in scope in many instances, is 
benefit to the institution, by releasing money often badly 2 Se 
in other directions, either in the same or different er dq 
On the other hand, it is certain that the equipment of the te 
research laboratories, whether connected with univers 
independent, must be made much more comprehensive than 
which today exists in this country. : 
Under the stimulus of the last two decades, botan 
to the front in most colleges as a study well calculated to% 
the powers of observation and the reasoning faculties. 
ities we 
y has come 
it 
