a 
g 
; 
; 
K.—BOTANY 211 
metabolic changes ; so many are indiscernable, that a scientific inference 
is impossible; indeed, in a recent paper, Lubimenko remarks that our 
knowledge of the mechanism of carbon assimilation is as obscure as in the 
days of Ingen Housz! But the closer examination of the governing 
factors, the conditions of growth and the more detailed analyses of these 
_ activities have secured our knowledge, inadequate though it be, more 
firmly and also have disclosed certain relationships of first-rate importance, 
_ hitherto unsuspected—photo-periodism, in which Garner and Allard were 
; 
. 
i 
the pioneers ; the carbohydrate nitrogen ratio, to our knowledge of which 
Kraus and Kraybill have contributed much; and the principle of 
predetermination so clearly demonstrated by Ball. The application of 
the principle of the hydrogen ion concentration has given an instrument 
_of great precision capable of use in the investigation of a wide range of 
problems. The cell wall constituents have been the subject of intensive 
investigations, some dictated by the requirements of industry, and 
important discoveries and elucidations have been made, but this chemical 
side of physiology, highly important though it be, is rather too specialised 
for the present occasion. 
A survey of this period shows two well-defined tendencies: specialisa- 
tion and the obliteration of the artificial margins between botany and 
cognate studies. 
Specialisation, although regrettable, is inevitable: it is a duty in- 
cumbent on all those who can exercise control to co-ordinate specialisations 
lest Botany should degenerate into a series of narrow compartments. 
The study of physiology in particular and of many aspects of cecology 
require the application of the technique and conceptions of physics and 
especially of chemistry : this will increase in the future ; it illustrates a 
saying of Bayliss, ‘ There are no separate subjects in science: there is but 
one science and that is not a subject but a method.’ If the approach 
to such problems be made from the biological point of view, progress will 
be more assured. 
A consequence of specialisation is the often unnecessary multiplication 
of journals. In my introduction, the importance of the printing press in 
aiding investigation was indicated. Nowadays, contact with, and 
knowledge of the work of our fellow botanists through the press is becoming 
less and less, for very few libraries can afford to subscribe, bind and give 
shelf room to so many periodicals, and when they can so do, no one has 
time to read them. The help of the printing press is thus a diminishing 
quantity. A journal once started is difficult to end; there is but one 
immediate solution, a much wider distribution of separate copies and 
for this I do appeal. 
Here I end this slight sketch of the progress of botany during the last 
hundred years, and pass on to an introduction to present and future 
needs and policy. 
In 1914 came the war and we were not entirely prepared, with the 
result that there was a serious waste and misapplication of specialised 
knowledge. Our governors and masters had failed to realise that the 
sustenance and development and occasional co-ordination of science is a 
prime factor in the governance of the modern state and that its lack will 
be revealed in times of national stress. Nothing had been learnt from past 
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