PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, 735 



From this rough sketch we see that the prevailing' school of Botany has arisen 

 very independently of that which preceded it. The discontinuity between them 

 you might almost call abrupt. All through the middle parts of the last century 

 we were so busy amassing and classifying plants that the great questions of 

 botanical policy were left to solve themselves. Great herbaria became of the 

 order of things : they received Government recognition, and they continue theu" 

 work apart. Those who built up these great collections neglected to convince 

 the schools of the importance of training a generation of botanists that would use 

 them. The schools were free, and they have gone their own way, and that way 

 does not lie in the direction of the systematic botany of the herbarium. So long 

 as this tendency prevails the herbaria must languish. When I say languish, 

 I do not mean that they will suffer from inefhcient administration — their efficiency 

 probably has never been greater than at the present time. But the effort involved 

 in their construction and upkeep is altogether disproportionate to any service to 

 which they are put. Work, of course, comes out of them ; it is no question of 

 the devotion or ability of individuals. It is the general position, the isolation 

 of systematic botany, to which attention should be directed with a view to its 

 alleviation. 



If things are left to take their course there is the fear of atrophy through dis- 

 use. The operation of the ordinary economic laws will no doubt serve to till 

 vacancies on the staff as they arise, but the best men will be reluctant to enter. 

 Of course the pendulum may begin to swing the other way, though no indication 

 of such a change is yet apparent. 



Let us now attempt an analysis of some of the causes which contribute to this 

 condition of affairs. 



In the first place, our two national herbaria (Kew and the British Museum) 

 stand apart from the ordinary botanical current. They are administered, the one 

 as a portion of the Kew establishment under the Board of Agriculture, the other 

 as a department of the British Museum under a Board of Trustees. Neither has 

 any connection, direct or indirect, with any university organisation. The Keepers 

 and Assistants as such have no educational functions allotted them ; I mean posi- 

 tions in these herbaria carry no teaching duties with them. There are no facilities 

 for teaching ; there are no students. No machinery exists for training recruits or 

 for interesting anybody in the ideals and methods of systematic botany, A recent 

 event illustrates my meaning better than any words. My friend Dr. Rendle 

 accepted the Keepership of the Botanical Department at the British Museum a few 

 months ago. Previously, as Assistant, he had held a lectureship at a London 

 college. One of the first consequences of his new appointment was his retirement 

 from the teaching post. Now that was bad. Under the conditions which one 

 would like to see there would have been no resignation. On the contrary, the 

 Keepership should have entitled Dr. Rendle to promotion to a full professorship. 

 I do not mean a great post, with elementary classes, organisation, and so on, but one 

 in which he would be occupied with his own branch, giving a course for advanced 

 students, let us say, once a year during the summer mouths. Nor is that all. 

 Such are the vagaries of our university organisation in London that we run some 

 risk of losing Dr, Rendle from the Board of Studies in Botany, Automatically 

 he ceases to be a ' recognised teacher,' and unless some loophole can be found the 

 connection will be severed. 



Next we come to the question of routine duties. These are heavy in herbaria, 

 and must include a great many that could be satisfactorily discharged by handy 

 attendants. As in the case of those who work in laboratories, half a man's time 

 should be at his own disposal for original investigations. It is important, for a 

 variety of reasons, that the members of the staff should take a leading part in 

 advancing systematic botany. 



Then there is another way in which a great economy could be effected in effort, 

 time, and money. This is the transfer of the collections and staff of the Botanical 

 Department from the Museum to Kew. This is a very old proposal, first 

 seriously entertained some fifty years ago after the death of Robert Brown, There 

 must be endless files of reports and Blue Books in official pigeon-holes dealing with 



