342 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1267 



takes up the life of publie service. He is drift- 

 ing away from botanical fellowsMp, for cir- 

 cumstances have given Mm little time for 

 mental adjustment, and for the throwing out 

 of adequate anchors. So we have at the pres- 

 en>t time, this large and rapid growing body of 

 botanical workers, remarkably homogeneous, 

 with unusual esprit de corps, closely in touch 

 with human life, which is drifting steadily 

 away from the botanical standards and ideals 

 of the past. Can either botanists or patholo- 

 gists permit the drift to continue? 



Pathologists are already losing much through 

 lack of close association with other botanists. 

 The demands upon pathologists have been 

 many this past year on account of increased 

 responsibilities, while their ranks have been 

 depleted by the call of many of thedr number 

 to military .service. Teaching, laboratory re- 

 search, field work, the ever-increasing demands 

 of the extension service, all combine to give the 

 harassed pathologist no respite. The future 

 promises little hope for greater leisure because 

 the world requires food. Although pathology 

 is receiving increased financial supiwrt and ad- 

 ditional helpers are rallying to her assistance, 

 these additions barely keep pace with the ever 

 mounting responsibilities. The pathologist 

 must look forward to a life harassed by the 

 multiplicity of problems insistently pressing 

 for attention. Oftentimes he will be forced 

 into print prematurely due to public and ad- 

 ministrative requirements. Therefore, he must 

 guard constantly against becoming hasty, 

 superficial and narrow. He will need the 

 broadening contaot with the classical and fun- 

 damental work of other botanical fields. He 

 will need the steadying influence of the greater 

 leisure and consequent independence of the 

 pure botanists. He will need their active as- 

 sistance in the solution of his problems. 



Botanists too have much to gain from close 

 association with their pathological colleagues. 

 Pathologists constitute the largest single group 

 of botanists. They are virile and alert. They 

 have the energy and spirit belonging to a 

 young science. They possess the lofty ideals 

 and contagious zeal of public service. They 

 are in close touch with the throbbing pulse of 



jhuman life and can furnish this valuable 

 contact to other botanical workers. Botanists 

 have watched the economic branches of their 

 science develop one after another and slip 

 away from their fellowship, while they them- 

 ;selves have stood by, either helpless or in- 

 different. This has gone on until many bot- 

 anists now appear to regard applied botany as 

 a thing apart, perhaps of a lower order, in 

 which they may proi)erly take only an aca- 

 demic interest. What an error ! How can the 

 virility of any subject be maintained except 

 by human contact? Is not service the highest 

 standard and the greatest activator? The 

 value of any discovered truth is in the end 

 determined by its usefulness, by its connection 

 with other facts already known or yet to be 

 discovered, and by its ultimate power for the 

 uplifting of the world, physically, intellectually 

 and morally. Scientific research for its own 

 sake gives but a selfish joy, and may lead in the 

 end to dry rot and to the scrap pile of human 

 progress. 



The progressive divergence of botanists and 

 pathologists may well cause concern, but it has 

 not yet become irremediable. The forces that 

 make for dissociation can be overcome and 

 closer union secured, but not by resolutions 

 nor by legislation. There must be a general 

 realization of the situation by both botanists 

 and pathologists, followed by persistent effort 

 at many points. I wish to suggest two impor- 

 tant lines along which we should work. 

 ; In the first place, we should broaden our 

 college courses in both botany and pathology. 

 There has been extensive discussion in the 

 English journals during the last few months 

 on the botany to be taught after the war, and 

 articles on the same subject are b^inning to 

 appear on this side of the water. It is urged 

 ^that the teaching of botany should be broad- 

 ened, that the elementary courses especially 

 should not aim to instruct the student in bo- 

 tanical science, but rather to interest him in 

 plants and in their manifold relations to his 

 daily life. I shall not enter into this discus- 

 sion except in so far as it concerns the subject 

 before us. 



I have listed the alma maters of 224 persons 



