106 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1205 



it may be pointed out that the compara- 

 tively new blister rust of white pines is 

 threatening with destruction trees esti- 

 mated to have a total value of about 

 $400,000,000. Measures for combating this 

 disease were discussed at the International 

 Forestry Conference, at Washington, D. C, 

 in January, 1917. It is common knowl- 

 edge among botanists that the annual loss 

 in this country from imported plant pests 

 amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. 

 Would an expenditure of a million doUars 

 a year be too much to promote botanical 

 research that might reduce this loss by 50 

 per cent, or even by 25 per cent. 



(e) Pharmaceutical experiment stations, 

 for the promotion of investigations, of 

 drug plants and poisonous plants. So far 

 as the speaker knows, the Wisconsin Phar- 

 maceutical Experiment Station, established 

 four years ago, is the only state institution 

 of the kind in the United States, though 

 generous provision is made for pharmaceu- 

 tical research by several commercial firms, 

 including experimental gardens, labora- 

 tories, and investigators. 



2. EDUCATION 



(a) The publication of books and maga- 

 zines of reliable popular, as well as tech- 

 nical information about plant life, and the 

 history, scope, aims, methods, results, and 

 value of botanical science. A general 

 knowledge of "first aid" for poison-ivy 

 and poison-sumach, and a knowledge of 

 poisonous and edible mushrooms might, 

 under easily imagined circumstances, be of 

 inestimable value to an army in the field. 



( b ) Botanical exhibits in museums, show- 

 ing the economic value of the fruits of 

 botanical research. According to the Of- 

 ficial Bulletin of the National Committee 

 on Public Information (July 25, 1917), the 

 Smithsonian Institution has announced 

 that the Division of Mineral Technology, 



of the United States National Museum, in 

 keeping with its policy of interpreting the 

 technical aspects of the mineral industry 

 to an ever-widening public, has prepared a 

 graphic and striking set of exhibits de- 

 signed to present in true perspective the 

 significant features of the fertilizer situ- 

 ation. 



Why do we not read of graphic and strik- 

 ing exhibits demonstrating to an ever- widen- 

 ing public the value to society of applied 

 botany ? Surely the materials for such an 

 exhibit are abundant and of genuine popu- 

 lar interest. 



(c) Promotion of the study of botany 

 in high schools and colleges, involving 



(d) A more serious consideration of such 

 educational topics as the content of the 

 high-school and coUege courses. Should 

 the introductery course in the agricultural 

 college differ from that in the coUege of 

 liberal arts? What revision, if any, of 

 the present high-school and coUege courses 

 will probably be necessary or desirable 

 after the war in order that botany may 

 hold its own and keep properly adjusted 

 to the changes that will surely come in 

 education in general? It is not desirable 

 that every botanist give attention to such 

 problems, but they are important; their 

 solution one way rather than another may 

 make a great deal of difference in the 

 number and caliber of the young men who 

 decide to devote themselves to botany ; and 

 there is every reason why their solution 

 should not be left entirely to pedagogues. 



3. EXPLOEATION 



The director of a large museum once 

 remarked to the speaker at a scientific 

 meeting where an enthusiastic explorer, 

 just returned, reported the discovery of 

 ten species new to science, ' ' What a pity ! ' ' 

 Notwithstanding the large element of truth 

 in that remark, the discovery of new spe- 



