The fundamental laws of all living organism, including extensions to sociology 

 and theology, arc based on biological problems ; and biology, or a knowledge of the 

 laws of life, in some form, should be part of the mental equipment of every educated 

 person. It is again to Botany, as dealing \\ith the primary life of the world the 

 great independent kingdom of autotrophic vegetation, the base of the pyramid of life. 

 whether in the sea or on the land, and on which we ourselves as animals are still 

 dependent for our supplies of food and energy that one must look, not only for the 

 interpretation of the primary laws of existence, but also for the broader views rendered 

 possible by the wider range of plant-races, as expressed for example in the elementary 

 mechanism of phyletic progression. 



BOTANIC GARDENS. OXFORD, Dec. 1919. 



PRINTED AT OXFORD, ENGLAND 

 BY FREDERICK HALL, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 



