232 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



harmonious relations with his environment, then a knowledge of plant life 

 is manifestly essential to that end. I should almost feel that an apology was 

 necessary for expressing sentiments so trite were I not sure that whatever 

 agreement there may be in theory, our educational curricula bear witness 

 to the neglect of these principles in practice. 



As a branch of knowledge we botanists have been fortunate in successful 

 avoidance of the process of fission that other subjects have suffered but, 

 in maintaining our integrity, we have by no means remained immune 

 from cell division and, if one may push the simile further, the proto- 

 plasmic connections between cell and cell have in certain directions 

 become very much attenuated. It is neither in the interests of our sub- 

 ject as a whole nor of its individual parts, still less does it contribute to 

 its cultural value, that after a six months' abstinence from perusal of a 

 particular branch one returns to find oneself out of touch, not with the 

 principles involved but with the terminology in which those principles 

 are couched. Even in the matter of plant names themselves we suffer 

 from the antiquarian researches of those who, clinging to the letter of the 

 law of priority, forgo the spirit of mutual understanding it was intended 

 to serve. Whilst in every branch highly technical expression is sometimes 

 warranted by the necessity for precision, it may easily become the cloak 

 of mental laziness and is almost invariably the sign of either immaturity 

 of conception or stagnation of ideas. 



The increasing diversity of pursuits in a progressive science is only too 

 liable to be accompanied by an increasing detachment of interests and 

 divergence of expression. Specialisation, which should be accompanied 

 by greater co-ordination, is only too frequently the begetter of dis- 

 integration rather than synthesis and the mutual interdependence of one 

 branch on another is lost sight of. 



One of the main purposes which the British Association should serve 

 is to promote the co-operation between workers in different fields. But 

 we only come together for a short week in each year, and so it is to the 

 Universities that we must look mainly for the continuous fostering of a 

 liberal outlook both on science as a whole and within the domains of each 

 particular subject. 



In its earlier phases Botany was naturally concerned largely with 

 description, and in such branches as Taxonomy, Morphology, Anatomy, 

 Cytology, Mycology, Paljeobotany and Plant Geography the descriptive 

 aspect must necessarily play an important role just as in Ecology, 

 Physiology, Bacteriology, and Genetics the experimental aspects should 

 predominate. But in all, the cultural value can only be maintained if 

 form and function are closely integrated. Each branch has its own con- 

 tribution to make in this respect not only to the pure science but to its 

 applied aspects in Agriculture, Horticulture, Pomology, Sylviculture and 

 Plant Pathology. The mere enumeration of these branches, whether 

 pure or applied, envisages the richness of the field we cultivate and the 

 extensive contribution that Botany can make towards both the enrichment 

 of the human mind and the well-being of the race. But the accumulation 

 of data in these varied directions of enquiry will only fulfil its full purpose 

 if the many threads are continually woven into the warp and woof of a 

 single fabric. 



