362 



SCIENCE 



[N. S., Vol. XL., No. 1026 



the least easily explained, are some few 

 plants identical with species from North 

 and West America, and from the Mediter- 

 ranean. They are stated to be chiefly an- 

 nuals, or herbaceous or shrubby plants; 

 free-seeders; while their seeds long retain 

 the power of germination. This may per- 

 haps give the clue to this curious conun- 

 drum of distribution. 



It has been fortunate that the duty of 

 working out this remarkable flora should 

 have fallen into the hands of such masters 

 as Robert Brown, Sir Joseph Hooker, and 

 Bentham. The foundations were thus 

 surely laid. The further progress of 

 knowledge has been carried on by the late 

 Baron Ferdinand von Miiller, and it may 

 be confidently left in the hands of others 

 who are still with us. The completion of 

 the task of observing and recording may 

 still be far ahead. But I may be pardoned 

 if I utter a word of anticipatory warning. 

 There is at the present time a risk that the 

 mere work of tabulating and defining the 

 species in a given country may be regarded 

 as the only duty of a government botanist ; 

 that, whenever this is completed, his oc- 

 cupation will be gone. Some such errone- 

 ous idea, together with a short-sighted 

 economy, is the probable explanation of the 

 fact that certain positions hitherto held by 

 professional botanists have recently been 

 converted into positions to be held by agri- 

 culturists. In the countries where this has 

 happened (and I refer to no part of Aus- 

 tralasia) the vegetation had been very ade- 

 quately, though not yet exhaustively, 

 worked, as regards the flowering plants 

 and ferns. But who that knows anything 

 about plants would imagine that the 

 ascription to a genus or order, or the 

 designation by a couple of Latin names 

 with a brief specific description, exhausts 

 what it is important to know about a 

 species? In most cases it is after this has 



been done that the real importance of its 

 study begins. Such possibilities as these 

 do not appear to have been appreciated by 

 those who advised or controlled these offi- 

 cial changes. I have no desire to under- 

 value the agriculturist or the important 

 work which he does. But he is engaged 

 in the special application of various pure 

 sciences, rather than in pure science itself. 

 Advance in the prosperity of any country 

 which has progressed beyond the initial 

 stages of settlement follows on the advance 

 of such knowledge as the devotee of pure 

 science not only creates, but is also able to 

 inculcate in his pupils. It is then impera- 

 tive that, in any state which actively pro- 

 gresses, provision shall be made for the 

 pursuit of pure as well as of applied sci- 

 ence. In my view an essential mistake has 

 been made in changing the character of the 

 appointments in question from that of 

 botanists to that of agriculturists. For the 

 change marks the abandonment of pure sci- 

 ence in favor of its specialized and locai 

 application. 



The head of such an institution should 

 always be a representative of pure science, 

 thoroughly versed in the nascent develop- 

 ments of his subject. He could then dele- 

 gate to specialists the work of following 

 out into detail such various lines of special 

 application as agriculture, acclimatization, 

 plant-breeding, forestry or economics. Or, 

 if the organization were a large one, as we 

 may anticipate that it would become in the 

 capital of a great state, separate institutes 

 might develop to serve the several applied 

 branches, while to a central institute, in 

 touch with them all, might be reserved the 

 duty of advancing the pure science from 

 which all should draw assistance and in- 

 spiration. 



It matters little how this principle works 

 out in detail, if only the principle itself be 

 accepted, viz., that pure science is the fount 



