SECTION K.— BOTANY. 



BOTANICAL RECORDS OF THE ROCKS 



WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE EARLY 

 GLOSSOPTERIS FLORA. 



ADDRESS BY 



PROF. A. C. SEWARD, Sc.D., LL.D., F.R.S., 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



Introductory. 

 It is reasonable to assume that when my fellow botanists invited me to 

 preside over Section K at the South African Meeting they were prepared 

 to take the risk of listening to an address which might fail to interest 

 students of other branches of Botany than that which makes a special 

 appeal to myself. It would be little short of an impertinence for me to 

 air my views on problems outside the domain of palseobotany : in these 

 days the average man cannot hope to keep in touch with new developments 

 within any one of the Natural Sciences unless he is prepared wholly to 

 devote himself to reading the contributions of others. For most of us it 

 is necessary to choose one of two courses : either to remain comparatively 

 ignorant of recent advances in most branches of a subject, and to employ 

 such leisure as we can command in concentrating attention upon one small 

 portion of a subject with the determination to make contributions to 

 knowledge, which in moments of elation may be called original ; or to 

 qualify ourselves for the title of botanists by doing our best to develop 

 the acquisitive spirit and the ability to assimilate innumerable facts, aims 

 familiar to students preparing for a final examination. One may succeed, 

 after many years of pleasant labour in a restricted field of work, in 

 reaching a stage at which the confidence of youth gives place to a maturer 

 and less optimistic frame of mind : the longer we question Nature the 

 more difiicult it seems to obtain clues which we are capable of interpreting 

 with an assured conviction. It is not that the pleasure of the search 

 diminishes : the pleasure persists unimpaired ; but it becomes associated 

 as time goes on with a growing sense of ignorance and of doubt. We 

 prefer to make suggestions rather than to indulge in prophetic utterances. 

 It is not my intention to-day to discuss in detail and in language 

 intelligible only to specialists some of the many problems familiar to 

 students of ancient floras ; my aim is to touch as lightly as possible on a 

 few topics which have stimulated my own imagination, in the hope that I 

 may succeed in persuading others that the records of the rocks, meagre 

 though they are, are well worthy of attention ; not only on the part of 

 professional botanists but of laymen who wish to cultivate a hobby rich 



