14 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 470. 



think, will question the value of a division 

 of labor in science as well as in other pur- 

 suits, but the danger comes from carrying 

 this division too far. The specialist is 

 likely to be a dreamer, and a dreamer is 

 dangerous. He is apt to see things of his 

 own creation and not as they actually exist. 

 I have been fortunate in being placed where 

 I could study the specialist, and while I 

 can not help but admire and encourage the 

 patience and persistency with which a spe- 

 cial problem is pursued, I am confronted 

 every day with the fact that a concentra- 

 tion of mind on one subject is apt to distort 

 the vision and bring on a sort of neuras- 

 thenia, difflcidt to combat and wholly unaf- 

 fected by argument. Now there is danger 

 in this sort of thing, not so much where the 

 specialist is surrounded by other specialists, 

 for here each will have a tendency to de- 

 hypnotize the other, if I may use such an 

 expression. The difficulty comes where the 

 specialist is necessarily much alone, where 

 he will not be subject to rude awakenings 

 which will come if his work is under the 

 eye of others. Just as the present tend- 

 ency in political economy is toward a tem- 

 porary division of labor rather than a per- 

 manent division, so it must be with special- 

 ization in botany. From all the signs spe- 

 cialization has reached its extreme develop- 

 ment, as is evidenced by the fact that we 

 are beginning to realize something of its 

 dangers. In the near future, therefore, we 

 may expect to see a movement toward bet- 

 ter unification of the many special lines 

 of botanical work. Rather than division 

 there will be integration where imaginary 

 lines which have been built up will come 

 down and unification will follow. 



When we come to consider carefully some 

 of the effects of specialization during the 

 past few years, we are led to the conclusion 

 that it has had more or less of a tendency 

 to cause working botanists to group them- 

 selves into castes. Like other castes, these 



sometimes look upon each other with more 

 or less respect, and again with more or less 

 disdain. In other words, the tendency to 

 concentrate one's effort on a special subject 

 naturally has a tendency to develop more 

 or less egotistical and conceited ideas as to 

 the importance and value of such subjects. 

 Hence, there is produced a sort of aristoc- 

 racy which prevails more pronouncedly in 

 some cases than in others. , For example, 

 the cytologist is pretty apt to look with 

 more or less commiseration on what he con- 

 siders his less fortunate brother who may 

 be working just outside the range of the 

 plant cell. Then again, the ■worker who 

 has branched off into some special morpho- 

 logical line, systematic line or physiological 

 line, even though these may be broad 

 branches of botanical science, considers 

 that his particular field is naturally pre- 

 eminent, and that in handling his prob- 

 lems he must do so without full regard for 

 the consideration of all the questions in- 

 volved in the other problems. No one can 

 question the fact that specialization has 

 been of great value, particularly during 

 recent years. It has emphasized the im- 

 portance and necessity for a concentration 

 of energy in one direction. While this is 

 true, experience has shown, as already 

 pointed out, that such concentration neces- 

 sarily limits one's field of vision, and as a 

 result the true facts, and especially their 

 relationships, can not always be deter- 

 mined. The reaction against this feeling, 

 which is just beginning to be noticeable, 

 is due no doubt to the gradual realization 

 of the fact that all scientific problems are 

 more or less interdependent. We are com- 

 ing more and more to see that not only are 

 scientific problems in a particular field 

 interdependent, but that all lines of science 

 are closely related, and that to consider 

 them in the most intelligent and far-reach- 

 ing manner they must be looked upon as 

 part and parcel of one great whole. 



