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men of the results secured by research, not in science alone, but 

 in other departments of knowledge as well. It is the absence of 

 such interpreters which leaves room for the charlatans of knowl- 

 edge, the mendacious reporter who uses his bit of college informa- 

 tion to give a specious semblance of truth to his investigations 

 or exaggerations, and the nature fakir whose literary skill is his 

 sole qualification. This interpretation of knowledge is no easy 

 matter. Compilation will not do, for the interpreter must repeat 

 observations and experiments far enough to give him a personal 

 and familiar grasp of the materials. Nor even is a first-hand 

 knowledge of the materials enough; he must also be able to set 

 them forth in exposition with a combination of pedagogical clear- 

 ness and literary force. So little developed is the interpretation 

 of knowledge in comparison with its acquisition that although 

 we have many strong journals devoted to research we have almost 

 none devoted to interpretation and exposition. We have two 

 or three popular journals, carried on by the devotion of loyal 

 individuals, but with all the conditions for success against them. 

 A suitable journal for the collation, interpretation and diffusion 

 of botanical knowledge can only be conducted by an institution 

 whose credit is involved in its permanence and efihciency. It 

 should be marked by dignified form, artistic dress, and literary 

 grace, with departments covering so completely their fields that 

 no person with a serious interest in the science can possibly 

 afford, and much less be willing, to be without it. Such a journal 

 must of course be heavily subsidized, or endowed, especially at 

 first; but there is not at present any place in the educational 

 structure where an endowment would tell so heavily. It would 

 be worth more to education than the endowment of any professor- 

 ship that I can think of, even a professorship of botanical educa- 

 tion in my own college. Such a journal should issue from a 

 college, not a university. I would like to edit it, and I have the 

 plans worked out in complete detail; but I shall not undertake 

 it unless the business foundation can first be made secure. 



Not only does the training of interpreters of nature, and of 

 other knowledge as well, whether as teachers, as writers, through 

 the editing of suitable journals, or other activities, seem wholly 



