TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 1025 



like any instantaneous pliotograpli of life in motion, it has fixed and perpetuated 

 •awkward positions. The moi-pholoo:ical system of the time was stifl" and unpro- 

 mising ; the text-book accurately depicted this, but it did not suggest or anticipate 

 future developments ; it did not bear the softened image of a longer exposure ; it 

 presents to us the angular attitude of a moment. 



The powers of Sachs as a writer found their best scope in his ' History of 

 Botany,' a work which will always retain its value as a masterly exposition of the 

 results of very wide reading, arranged with a literary skill which is unfortunately 

 rare among scientific men. 1 lay stress upon this power of Sachs as a writer, apart 

 from his record as an investigator, because he was strong where so many of us are 

 weak. The truth is that little effort is made by men of science to use a concise 

 and transparent style ; for the most part we write by the aid of such instincts as 

 Nature has given us ; few cultivate composition. But it should, I think, be 

 impressed upon the young aspirant that, when he writes, it is one of his first duties 

 to consider his readers' convenience ; he must use all endeavours to convey forcibly 

 the result of his inquiry, but to make tbe least possible demand upon the patience of 

 his readers. I should like to see certain papers selected as models of construction, 

 to be studied as such by all candidates for our higher degrees ; we should naturally 

 include in the list those of the best masters of style in foreign languages, and 

 among them would rank the late Julius von Sachs. 



Three Phases of Morphological Study. 



It will be in your memory that the Address of last year's Sectional President 

 was largely devoted to branches of our science which touch the material and 

 ■economic interests of man. It was pointed out to us how certain fungal diseases 

 ■diminish agricultural profits to an extent which may be estimated ia millions of 

 pounds yearly. Beneficent microbes were also mentioned, such as those which 

 ■govern the aroma and maturing of butter and cheese ; these and many others, the 

 study of which lies properly within the province of botany, affect not only the 

 health, but, at the most varied points, the comfort and prosperity of mankind. 



It is unnecessary for me to dwell further upon these points, or to urge again 

 the utilitarian argument for the proper support of botany. I propose, on the other 

 liand, to invite your attention this morning to the Morphology of Plants. This is 

 a department of science pure and simple. The results which it brings have not, 

 and cannot be expected to have, any money value in the markets of the world. 

 The present time is one of unusual bustle and change in morphology, consequent upon 

 the discovery of new facts and the introduction of new methods. The development 

 of the study may be divided into three periods, we ourselves standing upon the 

 threshold of the third. The earliest phase was that of description and delineation of 

 what might be observed of the mature form of plants ; this includes the work of the 

 herbalists and of the earlier systematists, who thus furnished the basis for classi- 

 fication. It is true that the mere description was enriched at times by comparisons 

 made, but these often took a capricious form, as is shown by the many curious 

 allusions which still survive in the nomenclature. Erasmus Darwin satirised 

 the imaginative comparisons indulged in by early writers in his ' Loves of the 

 Plants ; ' an instance of this is seen in his lines referring to the legendary organism, 

 half animal, half plant, suggested by the peculiar form of Dicksonia {Cibotium) 

 Barometz : — 



' Cradled in snow and fann'd by arctic air 

 Shines, gentle Barometz, thy golden hair. 

 Booted in earth each cloven hoof descends, 

 And round and round her flexile neck she bends ; 

 Crops the gray coral moss, and hoary thyme, 

 Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime. 

 Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam, 

 Or seems to bleat, a Vegetable Zanib.' 



The tendency to comparison thus already perceptible asserted itself strongly in 

 1898. 3 u 



