1896 | BOTANICAL OPPORTUNITY 199 
bodies, and the like, it is usually relieved of the necessity for 
purchasing and keeping up the long files of such serial publica- 
tions as the journals, proceedings of societies, etc., of mixed 
contents, which prove expensive alike in cost, binding, and 
space, which for a given subject are used but seldom, and which, 
nevertheless, are the most valuable part of a large reference 
library, since they are the hardest to duplicate. But where a 
botanical institution stands in absolute or comparative isolation, 
it must carry this burden in addition to that of maintaining a 
library of treatises on botany alone. And, moreover, no sooner 
is research begun in any direction, than the necessity of follow- 
ing up divergent threads running in many directions becomes 
evident; for so close and complex are the interrelations between 
things in organic nature, that no single subject can be pursued 
far without drawing in others at first sight having no possible 
bearing on it. After the serials, which from their expensiveness 
can be possessed by only the larger libraries, stand undoubtedly 
the general classics in the several subdivisions of botany, followed 
by the more restricted memoirs, and among these, for con- 
venience of use, should be found, whenever possible, separates 
and reprints from the journals and series of proceedings, even 
when the latter are complete on the shelves. 
Next to books, material preserving records, or available for 
Study, forms the great foundation in any research institution. A 
generation ago, or even less, this expression would have been 
taken as synonymous with an herbarium, perhaps associated with 
4 garden of greater or less extent; but today the most com- 
prehensive of museum possibilities must be added, so greatly has 
the subject broadened and increased the needs. For,a broadly 
planned institution, with ample means, no doubt the scope of the 
herbarium should be as great as that of the library, comprising 
every group of plants, representing a wide range of geographical 
distribution, the effects of cultivation, etc., and, however limited 
‘hey may be at first, such museum accessories as alcoholic 
material, large wood and_ fruit specimens, and sections for 
Microscopic study are sure to accumulate quite as rapidly as 
