EDITORIALS. 
IT HAS SEEMED to the writer that two lines of botanical research, 
much cultivated at the present time, are in danger of sterility. The 
two lines referred to are the conventional cytology and 
Cytology and physiology. The danger lies not in these great subjects, 
Physiology but in the narrow lines along which they are being culti- 
vated. In the cytological field, by the use of various 
killing fluids and stains, investigators are obtaining various appear- 
ances. Aside from those well authenticated cell structures which have 
long been matters of common observation, these appearances are 
remarkably diverse, judging from the records of competent observers. 
Each investigator sees in his own facts a sequence of events, every step 
of which js necessarily an inference, no matter how reasonable it may 
seem to him. Enough has been observed to indicate that the maze of 
appearances that may be obtained from cell manipulation may not 
represent normal and constant phases of cell activity. It is certainly 
evident that the testimony obtained is ambiguous, for very numerous 
theories of cell operations may find support from observation, and in 
no field of investigation is it more true that one may find what he 
seeks. It is possible, therefore, that the mechanical cataloguing of 
these appearances may not be the most important direction of cyto- 
logical investigation. 
THERE IS NO THOUGHT to minify work that has been done, but 
rather to magnify the larger field that awaits cultivation. It seems 
reasonable to suppose that the fundamental principles of cell opera- 
tions are comparatively few and simple. This would accord with all 
that has yet been discovered of fundamental principles. These same 
Principles, however, may express themselves with a vast variety of 
detail, dependent upon conditions. Cytology is now concerning itself 
with this vast variety of detail, which of itself would seem to indicate 
that it is anot fundamental, but dependent upon conditions. It 
would seem logical, therefore, with the details at hand, to direct investi- 
gation towards the conditions which determine these results. The 
1897 | 
