370 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 168. 



real and intrinsic phases, and finally, by 

 the suppression of needed investigation in 

 regions of the subject less fully developed. 

 Furthermore, the distortion of the true 

 nature of any branch of biological science 

 is a misfortune which is bouud to confuse 

 thought and retard the progress of research- 

 Misconceptions as to the true nature of a 

 subject, on the part of workers engaged in 

 it, are all the more dangerous since their 

 expressions have the form and force of au- 

 thority.' 



A review of the courses of study, general 

 addresses and recent publications dealing 

 with the nature and limits of physiology, 

 presented by American botanists is not at 

 all reassuring. Many botanists harbor the 

 preposterous opinion that the chief work in 

 this subject has been accomplished in the 

 thirty years in which active and continuous 

 investigation within its limits have beeu in 

 progress in the laboratories of the world. 

 The persons in charge of botany in a num- 

 ber of institutions, in response to the demand 

 for instruction in this branch, have labeled 

 a course of section-cutting and reference 

 reading ' plant-physiology,' and give the stu- 

 dent no opportunity to acquire a knowledge 

 of plants by actual experimental methods. 

 If rarely he is aiforded the opportunity to 

 deal with the living plant under natural 

 conditions it is to repeat some chxssic dem- 

 onstration with a piece of stock apparatus 

 to ' confirm ' the results detailed in a text- 

 book. The worst misapprehension of the 

 subject is likely to occur in pure lecture 

 courses based upon the text and reference 

 books by ' readers ' who have no part or in- 

 terest in current investigations. Such 

 courses are necessarily devoid of even the 

 classic demonstrations, and the didactic 

 character of the work quite naturally leads 

 the student to the opinion that the subject 

 is a closed one, and that the principles re- 

 tailed him are not likely to be disturbed by 

 future happenings. 



That this state of aflfairs is by no mean 

 imaginary is to be seen by the following 

 quotation from a recent address by Dr. 

 George Stone, in which he says : " One in- 

 stitution that I have in mind has advertised 

 for years a thorough and complete equip- 

 ment for work in vegetable physiology, and 

 yet this same institution has scarcely had a 

 single piece of purely physiological appa- 

 ratus in its outfit in the whole time. The 

 institution I refer to by no means stands 

 alone in this matter." 



The agricultural institutions have almost 

 wholly neglected this subject of physiology, 

 although " it is that branch of botany which 

 has the closest relationship with all horti- 

 cultural and agricultural knowledge and 

 practice. In fact, it is the very foundation 

 of these branches." " At the same time, 

 we have been content to teach agricultural 

 botany in our colleges for years, without 

 considering it necessary to give the student 

 any more than an elementary course in 

 morphology, followed by flower analysis 

 and the gathering of a herbarium, with a 

 little histology thrown in." 



The inattention to the physiological fea- 

 tures of plant life is even more evident 

 among experiment station workers, in the 

 opinion of the author cited above : " There 

 is no class of publications which shows such 

 lack of physiological knowledge as from 

 these, and it is shown by botanists, horti- 

 culturists and chemists as well. Their ex- 

 periments frequently show that they know 

 nothing about the functions of a plant or 

 the factors which . determine variation." 

 The few exceptions to these statements are 

 so well and widely known that they need 

 no enumeration here. 



In view of the above conditions, it is evi- 

 dent that any discussion which will bring 

 the facts of the case into notice among 

 American students will be of value. 



Briefly stated, plant-physiology is con- 

 cerned with the fundamental properties of 



