BOTANICAL OPPOKTUNITY. 529 



many additions to the literature of the science, and so numerous, varied, 

 and widely scattered are these contributions that one feels the greatest 

 hesitancy in publishing on even the most restricted subject, lest others 

 should have antedated his discoveries. Yet, notwithstanding the 

 variety and number of botanical publications, and the great progress 

 which is undeniably made every year, it is a matter of frequent com- 

 ment that the progress made is by no means so much greater than that 

 of our predecessors as might be expected, considering the greater 

 advantages under which work is prosecuted to-day. While it must be 

 borne in mind that the seizing of the general features of a landscape is 

 far easier than the working out of its detailed topography, that the 

 outlining of the field of botany or of its principal divisions could not 

 fail to i)roceed more rapidly, even under unfavorable conditions, than 

 the elaboration of the details of the many specialties into which it is 

 now broken up, so that less prompt and voluminous results are natu- 

 rally to be expected now than a generation ago, there is reason to 

 question whether the present returns can not be increased. How to 

 secure the greatest possible results from the large number of trained 

 men holding or soon to hold salaried positions, and from the large 

 equipment in laboratories, libraries, herbaria, and gardens, is a subject 

 deserving of the most careful study, whether viewed from the stand- 

 point of the endower or administrator of an institution of education or 

 research or from that of the botanist whose reputation is built up in 

 the performance of the duties assigned to him in such an institution. 



While there is every reason to expect large returns from the endow- 

 ment of such independent departments of research, freedom from the 

 duties of the class room, while leaving more time available for investi- 

 gation, will not prove an unmixed blessing. I believe it to be the 

 experience of the best investigators in this country that research is 

 promoted by the necessity of imparting some or all of its results in the 

 class room. In no other way, after specializing to the small field in 

 which it seems necessary for most of us to confine ourselves, can one 

 make sure of preserving the breadth of view needed for the investiga- 

 tion of even a limited specialty in the most successful manner. It must 

 be admitted further that the power of application and concentration 

 varies with different men, so that up to a certain point the interruptions 

 introduced by limited teaching or looking after collections in many cases 

 may give fresh zest to the pursuit of knowledge in the time remaining 

 for research. And it may be that at this very point lies the greatest 

 difficulty to be met and surmounted in the development and manage- 

 ment of research institutions. 



Though there is no doubt that some supervision and pressure are 

 conducive to the performance of the greatest possible amount of inves- 

 tigation, as of other work, since they insure consistent planning and 

 close application, it can not be overlooked that this is the extent to 

 which scientific work can profitably be crowded. To require more of 

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