804 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 595. 



"Why should not Stanford immediately 

 adopt this as her vital policy? Her posi- 

 tion is one of unprecedented freedom. Not 

 trammeled by the service of the state as 

 other universities on this coast are tram- 

 meled, independent of students' fees and 

 consequently of numbers, Utopian in the 

 material respects I have enumerated, she 

 only needs a boldness like that shown by 

 her founders to become the seat of a glow- 

 ing intellectual life, sure to be admired and 

 envied the world over. Let her claim her 

 place; let her espouse her destiny. Let 

 her call great investigators from whatever 

 lands they live in, from England, France, 

 Germany, Japan, as well as from America. 

 She can do this without presumption, for 

 the advantages of this place for steady 

 mental work are so unparalleled. Let 

 these men, following the happy traditions 

 of the place, make the university. The 

 original foundation had something ex- 

 centric in it; let Stanford not fear to be 

 excentric to the end, if need be. Let her 

 not imitate ; let her lead, not follow. Espe- 

 cially let her not be bound by vulgar tradi- 

 tions as to the cheapness or deamess of 

 professorial service. The day is certainly 

 about to dawn when some American univer- 

 sity will break ^11 precedents in the matter 

 of instructors' salaries, and will thereby 

 immediately take the lead, and reach the 

 winning post for quality. I like to think 

 of Stanford being that university. 

 Geniuses are sensitive plants, in some re- 

 spects like prima donnas. They have to 

 be treated tenderly. They don't need to 

 live in superfluity; but they need freedom 

 from harassing care; they need books and 

 instruments; they are always overworking, 

 so they need generous vacations ; and above 

 all things they need occasionally to travel 

 far and wide in the interests of their souls' 

 development. Where quality is the thing 

 sought after, the thing of supreme quality 



is cheap, whatever be the price one has to 

 pay for it. 



Considering all the conditions, the 

 quality of Stanford has from the first been 

 astonishingly good, both in the faculty and 

 in the student body. Can we not, as we 

 sit here to-day, frame a vision of what it 

 may be a century hence, with the honors of 

 the intervening years all rolled up in its 

 traditions? Not vast, but intense; less a 

 place for teaching youths and maidens 

 than for training scholars; devoted to 

 truth; radiating influence; setting stand- 

 ards; shedding abroad the fruits of learn- 

 ing ; mediating between America and Asia, 

 and helping the more intellectual men of 

 both continents to understand each other 

 better. 



T\Tiat a history! and how can Stanford 

 ever fail to enter upon it? 



William James. 



PLANT FORMS EXISTING IN NATURE AND ] 



THEIR RELATION TO BOTANICAL ': 



_ RESEARCH. ! 



Any one who is familiar with the various i 



schools of botanical thought and who has • 



talked with many men in the various lines | 



of research, can not but have been im- j 



pressed by the diversity of opinions about ] 



the so-called plant 'species.' ' 



The systematic botany of America to- i 



day is, in some respects, in an almost irre- ; 



trievably chaotic condition, and this eondi- j 



tion is unquestionably due to the use of the ' 



various manuals which have been published ^ 



down to the present day. Local workers ] 

 everywhere determine the names of plants 



by comparison of six- or eight-line descrip- •! 



tions, and issue floral lists, make botanical | 



surveys, frame ecological deductions, sepa- | 



rate 'new species,' work out histological ; 



and embryological details, carry out im- \ 



portant physiological experiments— every- : 



where using these manual names to label ; 



