BOTANICAL OPPORTUNITY. 535 



subject is often first obtained through incidental reference, lacking 

 every element of precision. The probability that all of his writings 

 are to be found in one or a few journals or series of proceedings 

 greatly simplifies the completion and use of such references, since the 

 Eoyal Society's Catalogue, though perhaps more complete as to titles, 

 is necessarily even further behind than the Jahresbericht. Where the 

 subject of an earlier paper is again passed in review by the author, 

 only the gravest necessity should lead to the selection of a new medium 

 for the publication of the later paper. 



Whether the medium of publication selected or accepted be a journal 

 or the proceedings of a society, the possibility of having separates 

 struck oft' for the mere cost of press work, paper, and stitching makes 

 it possible for almost any paper to appear as an independent pamphlet, 

 accredited, to be sure, to the journal from which it is an excerpt, but, 

 like a book, necessitating author's citation in catalogues, and admitting 

 of more ready arrangement in its proper place where the works of a 

 library are disposed on the shelves according to subject. The time was 

 when a pamphlet was considered of little value and quite certain not 

 to be preserved, but one of the characteristics of the modern "librarian 

 is a great and growing appreciation of the value of this class of works, 

 leading to their careful preservation. 



No small part of the volume of M. de Oandolle, already referred to, 

 is devoted to very explicit and well-considered directions for preparing 

 the record of one's observations for the press; and the general con- 

 clusion is reached, after a careful analysis of the subject, that the 

 maximum value of any manuscript exists at the exact moment of its 

 completion, indicating this as the most suitable time for its publication. 

 Though it is probable that the publishing of any important work should 

 not be unnecessarily delayed after it has been pushed to what the 

 author considers completion, at least so far as he can carry it, there 

 may be reasons in some cases for publishing a preliminary statement 

 considerably in advance of the completion of the work. Neglecting 

 the publication of an early abstract of unfinished work as a means of 

 securing priority, too often a purely personal matter, I may say that 

 such abstracts, coupled with a request for material or data, not infre- 

 quently bring to the advanced student the means of greatly increasing 

 the completeness and value of his work. 



Time does not permit me to go into a detailed analysis of the many 

 ways in which an investigator may use his time so as to make it pro- 

 ductive of important results for himself and others. Having passed in 

 somewhat comprehensive, though hasty, review the main factors in the 

 question, I desire in closing to repeat that for most of us the opportunity 

 of life does not lie in a great and abrupt change of condition, but that it is 

 composed of countless miuor chances which are great only when viewed 

 collectively. To see and use them calls for alert senses, a knowledge 

 and use of the means of ascertaining what has already been done, and, 

 by exclusion, something of what remains to be done, facilities adequate 



