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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 683 



confer the most lasting benefits upon the 

 agriculture of the region. 



It was this point of view which gave to 

 this college its real stability where others 

 have shown so much weakness or have 

 failed in their original purpose, and it is 

 a continued recognition of this relation 

 which will secure for the future the leading 

 role which it should occupy and which I 

 feel confident it will always maintain. 



The experience of those early years was 

 gained at the most interesting period in the 

 history of botanical science. Darwin, add- 

 ing the result of his own critical investiga- 

 tions to those of previous observers, had 

 been able to sum up the work of one hun- 

 dred years and present an intelligent con- 

 ception of the reproductive processes in the 

 higher plants, together with a knowledge 

 of the relations which insects bear to such 

 processes; both Darwin and Wallace were 

 at that time engaged upon that memorable 

 work which threw such a flood of light 

 upon the origin of species, abolished the 

 old conception of special creations and gave 

 to the world one of its most powerful intel- 

 lectual impulses; Lawes and Gilbert were 

 deeply engrossed in attempts to solve the 

 nitrogen problem and the broader question 

 of plant nutrition in general; the modern 

 microscope was then in its infancy; micro- 

 tomes were as yet almost unknown; and 

 the various critical methods of differential 

 staining and other methods in technique 

 which have contributed so much to the 

 advancement of scientific research, were 

 entirely foreign to the knowledge of the 

 so-called microscopist. But among German 

 botanists there was, nevertheless, a move- 

 ment in progress to cast aside the fetters 

 which for so long a time had bound the 

 science to a purely morphological and tax- 

 onomic point of view, and to seek a wider, 

 more attractive and more broadly useful 

 field of investigation in the domain of 

 anatomy and physiology. Many prejudices 



and preconceived notions had to be over- 

 come, but this was successfully accom- 

 plished by Sachs, whose memorable work, 

 published in 1874 and soon translated into 

 English, opened up an entirely new vista 

 and established what has since come to be 

 known as the new school of botanical sci- 

 ence. The dogmatism which had for so 

 long a time characterized and dominated 

 scientific thought and teaching rapidly gave 

 way to speculation and freedom of thought, 

 and the way was thus opened for the intro- 

 duction of those reforms which have fol- 

 lowed in such rapid succession during the 

 last thirty years. Hypotheses which were 

 regarded as all-sulficient in 1860 or 1875 

 have become greatly modified or even aban- 

 doned within the last ten years ; physiology 

 has assumed a new position and impor- 

 tance and is to-day directing the general 

 course of investigations in whatever de- 

 partment of the subject of botany they 

 may lie ; pathology has attained to a posi- 

 tion of dignity, attractiveness and impor- 

 tance which not only enlists the energy of 

 the best-trained minds, but appeals with 

 special force because of the great scientific 

 and economic importance of the results 

 which flow from it. The influences which 

 were thus at work during the earlier period 

 of President Clark's professional career 

 were such as to produce a profound impres- 

 sion upon an observing mind, and even 

 those of us who can recall the closing years 

 of this transition period retain a very vivid 

 impression of the powerful stimulus af- 

 forded by the alluring prospects presented 

 by the new lines of research, and the op- 

 portunity for profitable discovery presented 

 by the new methods. 



The trend of thought and the spirit of 

 investigation thus awakened appealed to 

 President Clark with peculiar force and 

 led him to place the new opportunities be- 

 fore his students with successful results, 

 and he may be regarded as one of the first 



