Jandakt 1, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



15 



Hence, we look to the twentieth century 

 for material changes in this matter of spe- 

 cial work and special problems. There 

 will be closer relationships established in 

 the various lines of investigation, not only 

 so far as concerns different phases of 

 botanical work, but other branches of sci- 

 ence as well. 



Brief reference has already been made 

 to the educational advances which are likely 

 to be made in botany. But these were ed- 

 ucational advances of an indirect sort, 

 which naturally arose out of, or in con- 

 nection with, pure research. Of course all 

 work is educational, but in the sense that 

 we now use the term we mean work that 

 will in the future be conducted in our 

 schools, universities and colleges. In the 

 light of the developments in this field dur- 

 ing the past twenty-five years it would 

 seem hazardous to predict what the future 

 is likely to bring forth. Twenty-five years 

 ago the subject of botany in any of our 

 best educational institutions meant pri- 

 marily teaching in systematic botany. 

 Naturally, the bringing together, grouping 

 and naming of our more or less virgin flora 

 attracted first consideration. Thus sys- 

 tematic botany received an impetus which 

 it maintained for a considerable time. The 

 weakness of the work, however, was to be 

 found in the fact that the problems dealt 

 with had little to do with living subjects. 

 Plants were gathered, named, mounted and 

 placed in herbariums, and the whole ques- 

 tion of proper relationships was based on 

 unsound and fallacious reasoning. Natur- 

 ally, the paramount question here was one 

 of names, and we are still struggling in a 

 maze of doubts and uncertainties which are 

 the direct outcome of our efforts to correct 

 what appeared to be a growing evil. 



Perfection, however, is never reached in 

 a leap. Human nature must have experi- 

 ence to guide it, so that we must look upon 

 all that has been done in the past in the 



matter of systematic work as essential to 

 broader views and broader aims for the 

 future. It is believed, therefore, that sys- 

 tematic botany in the twentieth century 

 will take on new strength as a result of an 

 increasing study of living plants and a bet- 

 ter understanding of the manner in which 

 species come into existence. The compli- 

 cated problem of species relationships wiU 

 no longer be a matter of more or less guess- 

 work, but will be considered in the light of 

 the results of actual experimentation with 

 the plants themselves. 



In this connection the question of meet- 

 ing some of the requirements for study in 

 this and allied fields will have to be con- 

 sidered. The experience of the old world 

 in the matter of botanic gardens is such as 

 would suggest caution in any attempt to 

 emulate what has been accomplished there. 

 Representative collections of living plants 

 are highly important and valuable, but in 

 bringing them together the fact should not 

 be lost sight of that botany can in the fu- 

 ture be advanced by giving more heed to 

 the esthetic side of the work than has been 

 done in the past; that is, assuming that 

 collections of living plants are for study 

 and general educational effect, much of 

 their value in both directions may be lost 

 by adhering too closely to rigid systems. 

 Collections meeting every requirement for 

 study and having great value in a general 

 educational way will probably be main- 

 tained in what is more likely to be a natural 

 system. Such collections can, moreover, 

 be maintained at much less expense than 

 the stereotyped ones, and will do much to 

 bring the science of botany home to large 

 numbers of people who can appreciate a 

 bit of lovely landscape, but can see nothing 

 in the little plots and formal labels so sug- 

 gestive of cemeteries. In other words, it 

 seems to me that the old idea of botanical 

 collections, with small groups of plants 

 representing certain systems of botanical 



