January 3, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



There must always be place provided for 

 the few seers who see to-day what is now 

 hidden from mankind in general, and may 

 continue to be so hidden for generations, 

 or centuries. All honor to these prophets 

 who prepare the way for the oncoming of 

 scientific truth, but it is true, nevertheless, 

 that it is only when such truth has per- 

 meated contemporary society that science 

 thrives. 



Its Content. — Looking forward, then, let 

 us try to see the trend of that branch of 

 science which deals with plants, the science 

 which I have the honor of representing on 

 this platform this evening. And my first 

 inquiry may well concern itself with the 

 content of botanical science in the imme- 

 diate future. As we become better ac- 

 quainted with it and recognize more clearly 

 its relations to the activities of the com- 

 munity we shall be able to define its proper 

 content with more accuracy. And let no 

 man attempt to belittle the importance of 

 such an undertaking. It is not useless to 

 attempt to fix the boundaries of any field 

 of human endeavor, especially in such a 

 • one as this which deals with so vast a num- 

 ber of individual objects, each having 

 many possible relations to one another and 

 to ourselves. I am well aware of the im- 

 possibility of absolutely delimiting botany 

 from every other science, and especially of 

 doing so with reference to many of its 

 applications, and I am fuly aware of the 

 fact that the limits of any science are sub- 

 ject to change with the progress of human 

 knowledge. Now and then there must be a 

 "rectification of the frontier" in respect 

 to the boundaries of a science, as with the 

 boundaries of a great empire, as its farther 

 provinces and the exact location of rivers 

 and mountain ranges become better known. 

 So without doubt we shall have to add to 

 or subtract from the area now allotted to 

 botany ; and yet I feel that it is worth our 



while to spend a little time in indicating 

 its present boundaries and content. 



With all the details that may be insisted 

 upon by some specialists it still is true that 

 the field of botany may be considered in 

 three parts, structure, physiology and tax- 

 onomy. Beginning with such structures 

 as are obvious to our unaided eyes we have 

 carried our studies to the minute structure 

 of the tissues, and the cells which compose 

 them. We are able now to peer into the 

 protoplasmic recesses of the living cell, and 

 while we can not say that we have seen life, 

 we have seen where life is, and what it does. 

 Cytology, histology and morphology in our 

 modern laboratories have greatly changed 

 our conception of the structure of the 

 plant. It is no longer made up of forms 

 to be compared because of their general 

 similarity of outline, or of position in the 

 plant body. The plant as a whole is a com- 

 munity of variously differentiated living 

 units, just as is each of its organs. It is a 

 complex community in which there is a 

 measure of individual independence of the 

 units, along with much of mutual depend- 

 ence. 



This leads me easily to that portion of 

 the field of botany that has to do with the 

 activities of plants and their organs — phys- 

 iology — whose scope has been so greatly 

 extended in these later years. Here such 

 inquiries as those pertaining to nutrition, 

 growth, sensibility, reproduction are of pri- 

 mary importance. The introduction of the 

 experimental method of inquiry has made 

 this a favorite department of the science. 

 Who does not enjoy catching a plant, tying 

 it up in a corner and compelling it to do 

 something, while we watch for the result? 

 This kind of study appeals especially to 

 those who are looking for demonstrations, 

 and for this reason plant physiology has 

 been increasingly popular. Some botanists 

 indeed have gone so far as to insist upon 



