‘* BOTANY IN ENGLAND ”’ 818 
and that at Kew are supported by public funds; it is therefore 
manifestly but common justice that the — 7 than the 
ge shoutd have the prior claim to their serv 
act is that Prof. Oliver looks at botany exolasvely from 
his are somewhat narrow standpoint—that of a ssfu — nd 
: ie 
ms 
niece ; for “directly you give the keepers or assistants in the 
former a status in the latter, you place at the disposal of the syste- 
matists a considerable supply of recruits in the form of advance 
students possessing the requisite training to carry out investiga- 
tions under direction.” t where are these students to fin 
forward would effect ‘‘a great economy in effort, time, and money,’ a8 
ope: 
to be reduced rather than incre 
Prof. Oliver has not sieraks convincing Tae of the organ- 
izing capacity of “the local university,” f the desirability of 
entrusting to it, or to ‘the schools,” the ics prsseearinaanrge ota- 
nical affairs. ‘Ihe Londo ae or Sgr for example, has recently 
been severely criticized in the daily press for the mismanagement 
and neglect of the valuable iiteeion entrusted to its charge. The 
Tribune of Aug. 16 says :— 
“The University, when it migrated from Burlington sear ae to 
its area quarters, had two magnificent collections of books—the 
‘Grote’ and the ‘De Morgan,’ besides a considerable RECIFE 
gathered a various times. When the removal took place the books 
were conveyed in trolleys by workmen, ‘dumped down ’ anywhere, 
and damage. Rare editions were actually found later on at the 
cea of a lift-hold in a pool of water. Books lay about “ 
ooms where committees sat; anyone who took a fancy to a volum 
carried it off, entering his name, and the name of the author, if his 
ry scrupulous, in a little washing-book. A porter was 
librarian, ‘oad the lift-boy sub-librarian. At one time it was pro- 
posed to make a subject-catalogue, and a former official of the uni- 
versity Sac to carry out the scheme on slips of paper, as he rode 
from his work on the omnibus. His notes have been pre- 
served “ a curiosity. He catalogued a famous antiquarian work 
on ‘ Seals’ under ‘ Zool 
Ma it not be asked whether the universities or ‘‘ the schools” 
have done more for the advancement of ‘botany in England” than 
