216 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



weighs down the neck of the systematic botanist. The theme itself, 

 ' Taxonomic Botany ' in its widest sense, is full of charm and interest, but 

 it has been so obscured that many have failed to be attracted by the 

 grandeur and harmonies of its melody. It is to be hoped that as a result 

 of our recent International Conference at Cambridge, many of our nomen- 

 clatorial troubles will have been laid to rest, and that we shall now be able 

 to pursue our studies unhampered, being satisfied that the maximum of 

 stability with the minimum amount of change, compatible with progress, 

 is now assured. 



Much of our failure to attract disciples is due, I fear, to the misplaced 

 activities of those, whom I might call our Taxonomic ' Scribes and Phari- 

 sees,' who have burdened us with ' burdens grievous to be borne,' and 

 have thereby tended to substitute the shadow for the substance. 



Be that as it may, though times have changed and circumstances have 

 altered, the spirit of investigation and the interest in Natural History and 

 Natural Phenomena is, I believe, as much in evidence as ever it has been, 

 and it is for us to point the way and bring the labourers into the vineyard. 



It is by no means easy to say how this can be done. There have been 

 in the past many who have devoted their lives to scientific research, of 

 whom we are justly proud; to whom material gain counted little and 

 whose ' curiosity ' may be said to ' have got the better of their intelligence,' 

 for they consecrated themselves wholly to the search for knowledge. 



In these more straitened days, however, not only do we need to be 

 aflame with the same consuming fire, but we have to find the fuel to main- 

 tain it so that it may always burn brightly. 



To put the matter more directly, we are hampered to-day in our pursuit 

 of scientific research by the all important and interdependent problems 

 of recruitment and remuneration. 



With regard to recruitment, and naturally I am speaking only with 

 regard to Botanical Science, are we fully satisfied with the efiorts, laudable 

 as they are, that are being made in our schools and universities, for training 

 the rising generation in Biological Science ? 



A good deal has been said recently about the advantages and disad- 

 vantages of early specialisation in Science in the schools, at the expense 

 of a more ' liberal ' education. We realise that the last years at school 

 are the time for laying the foundations of a sound education, and it is 

 certainly a debatable matter whether the now prevalent severe competition, 

 I might almost say scramble, for scholarships at the universities among 

 the schools of all types throughout the country, is not after all detrimental 

 to the recruitment of those who should develop into the scientific natural- 

 ists for whom we are waiting to solve the problems that confront us both 

 at home and overseas. 



There is no question that the scientific training now given in many of 

 our Public and Secondary Schools is of a very high order, and that it is 

 given with the greatest devotion and most splendid enthusiasm. But 

 nevertheless may we not, through force of circumstances which have crept 

 in almost unnoticed, owing to competition between school and school,' 

 be unduly forcing the pace and producing a superficial scientific precocity 

 in our youth which will not stand the strain ? 



In the case of training for a medical career I understand that in at 



