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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX, No. 1261 



so complicated (largely because they are chosen 

 to embrace too large a field in each case) that 

 special effort is required to find out what may 

 be the meanings of the data at hand. 



It appears that comparatively few writers 

 take the trouble to interpret their results in 

 any*thing like a logically complete manner. 

 Our interpretations are generally hurried and 

 are apt to be biased. Out of a large number 

 of logically possible conclusions we are apt to 

 state but one and to pretend that the facts 

 support this hypothesis more than the others. 

 Indeed, we usually write our discussion from 

 the standpoint of a single one out of several 

 or many logically possible hypotheses. The 

 general result is that our literature abounds in 

 published data which are either uninterpreted 

 or illogically or incompletely interpreted. 

 One of the greatest wastes in biological re- 

 search lies, to my mind, in the publication &± 

 so many uninterpreted observations. To the 

 beginner in research it may seem that a grate- 

 ful science should be willing to interpret these 

 data if the -(vriter will just present them, but 

 this is found not to occur in practise. As a 

 general rule, if an author does not interpret 

 his own results they remain uninterpreted and 

 are finally lost in the maze of the literature; 

 most active investigators do not like to at- 

 tempt the study of the logical possibilities sug- 

 gested by results obtained by some one else, 

 especially as the plan followed in obtaining such 

 results is apt to have been different from what 

 the second investigator might wish to employ. 

 It were better if we performed far fewer ex- 

 periments and devoted much more time and 

 energy and care to logical planning and thor- 

 ough interpretations of the results we secure. 



Just as in the case of choosing and plan- 

 ning an investigation, so in the case of inter- 

 preting observational and experimental data, 

 several brains are preferable to one, and co- 

 operation is greatly to be desired. It seems 

 highly desirable, indeed, that several com- 

 petent minds might be asked to make sugges- 

 tions regarding any research, at several times, 

 from its inception to the publication of the 

 resulting contribution. If some of our critics 

 might be asked to criticize our papers before 

 they are published, a great many mistakes and 



misunderstandings might be avoided and a 

 good deal of personal jealousy and righteous or 

 unrighteous indignation — both of which waste 

 energy and time and money — might be pre- 

 vented. Some of the standing committees of 

 the Ecological Society of America have ar- 

 ranged for this sort of pre-publication criti- 

 cism and it promises to be a valuable feature 

 in raising the standard of research publication. 



Responsibilities toward Applied Botanical 

 Science. — In working over the mass of botan- 

 ical knowledge that has already been obtained, 

 for the purpose of presenting it to others, and 

 also in selecting lines along which research is 

 to be undertaken, we shall fail very seriously 

 in the discharge of our responsibility unless 

 we give special attention to the scientific and 

 philosophical aspects of the application of our 

 science to all the various needs of man. In 

 a former publication- I have emphasized the 

 fact that what is now commonly called applied 

 science does not include nearly all of the ap- 

 plications of scientific knowledge. I take it 

 that the term applied botany means to most of 

 us practical applications in the arts, which 

 serve the physical, esthetic and even the spirit- 

 ual needs of mankind. Here belong agricul- 

 ture, forestry, pharmacognosy, floriculture, 

 such arts as dyeing, tanning, spinning, cook- 

 ing, brewing (I believe there are still breweries 

 somewhere in the world!), and many other im- 

 portant branches of human activity. These 

 may be called practical applications, because 

 they supply material things that are in demand 

 and consequently have pronounced commercial 

 value. 



But there is another kind of application that 

 is very important but that may not properly 

 be called practical. I mean those applications 

 that satisfy the intellectual or mental needs of 

 mankind. Thus, chemistry, physics and clima- 

 tology are applied in botanical science, and 

 this science is in turn applied in chemistry, 

 climatology, geology, psychology, philosophy, 

 and so forth. In default of a better term I 

 may call these philosophical applications. 

 Here also belong the applications of one 

 branch of our science to another branch, as 



~ Johns Hopkins University Circular, March, 

 1917. 



