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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 748 



of view that in exact proportion to such 

 diversification or specialization, does it be- 

 come of increasing importance that there 

 should be a strong, centralizing power 

 operating for breadth of view, coordination 

 of results and a symmetrical development. 



Under its present organization the So- 

 ciety of Naturalists is the coordinating and 

 centralizing force for eight other societies 

 which represent the work of specialists in 

 their several fields of activity. These are : 

 The American Anthropological Society, 

 The Physiological Society, The Psycholog- 

 ical Society, The American Society of 

 Vertebrate Paleontologists, The American 

 Society of Zoologists, The American So- 

 ciety of Anatomists, The Botanical Society 

 of America, The Society of American Bac- 

 teriologists. 



It would be a very fitting and natural 

 association if to this important group there 

 were added the Geological Society of Amer- 

 ica, whose deliberations involve so much in 

 common with some of the other societies, 

 and we may indulge the hope that such a 

 union may be realized in the near future 

 and be so extended as to embrace all of the 

 other specialists' societies not represented 

 at this time. With one or two exceptions 

 this group may very well be regarded as an 

 ideal division of activities without undue 

 subdivision or duplication of work. The 

 only ground for real criticism might be 

 found in the separation of the vertebrate 

 paleontologists from the zoologists, and of 

 the bacteriologists from the botanists. 

 With respect to the former I may reserve 

 my remarks for another connection. With 

 respect to the latter, it might seem better 

 on general grounds that the bacteriologists 

 should be merged with the botanists; but 

 when it is recalled that membership in- 

 cludes many who are not botanists in the 

 general acceptation of that term, that a 

 large number are physicians and zoologists, 

 and that bacteriology involves a peculiar 



and elaborate technique, almost exclusively 

 applicable to these minute plants in their 

 various economic relations, it must be con- 

 ceded that here, at least, there are special 

 reasons for a subdivision which, on other 

 grounds, would not be justified. 



It is obvious that specialization among 

 societies may readily be carried too far- 

 much beyond the bounds of scientific re- 

 quirements. Among botanists this view 

 has made great headway during the last 

 ten years. Thus it is now generally agreed 

 that a satisfactory knowledge and treat- 

 ment of the science demands familiarity 

 with the extinct forms of plant life, quite 

 as much as with existing types. The meth- 

 ods involved in the study of fossil plants 

 are essentially the same as those applied to 

 the anatomy of recent plants. It is true 

 that a certain and often detailed knowledge 

 of geology is essential in this connection, 

 but this does the botanist no harm and is 

 more likely to be beneficial. The more we 

 are called upon to deal with questions of 

 phylogeny and evolution, the more essential 

 does it become that fossil botany should be 

 as familiar as recent botany. The two are, 

 in fact, inseparable. It becomes clear, 

 therefore, that it is an utterly false concep- 

 tion which endeavors to perpetuate the idea 

 of a separate science of paleobotany. To 

 encourage such a division is to retard the 

 development of the science as a whole, and 

 I am of the opinion that the remarks which 

 apply to botany in this respect must also 

 apply with equal force to paleozoology. 

 No better service to the cause of consolida- 

 tion, unification of interests and coopera- 

 tion has been rendered in recent years, than 

 by the union of the Society of Plant Mor- 

 phology and Physiology and the Mycolog- 

 ical Society of America, with the Botanical 

 Society of America. These societies en- 

 joyed separate existence for several years 

 by reason of special circumstances which 

 no longer exist. That the Botanical So- 



