This statement included among the purposes of the 



institution "the advancement of botanical science and 



knowledge, and the prosecution of 

 Research a Duty ... , - . . 



f G , original researches therein and in 



kindred subjects." The founders 



of the Garden thus early decided that it should be not 



merely a static, but a progressive, institution. The 



wisdom of this decision cannot be questioned. In these 



days, when science permeates and is indispensable to 



all human activities, no institution that is avowedly 



scientific can long continue to justify its existence unless 



it engages in research. The question, therefore, that is 



here presented for consideration is not whether the 



Garden shall engage in research, but along what lines 



its research shall be pursued. 



Botany, as is true of all natural sciences, was at first 



descriptive and concerned itself with collecting, describ- 



^ _ A ing, naming and classifying the 



Systematic Botany °' a . „ 



different kinds of plants, especially 



those supposed to be of medicinal value. This has 



developed into the great field of systematic botany. 



Such studies are embodied in the innumerable, more or 



less comprehensive, studies of the regional floras of the 



earth's surface. Floristic studies represent the pioneer 



work of botanical science. While their immediate object 



is the securing of information concerning the geographical 



distribution and the genetic relationships of plants, 



they are often of great value to the botanist in other 



lines of research, to the pharmacologist and pharmacist 



in their investigations of the medicinal uses of plants, 



and to those who are interested in the commercial and 



economic utilization of plant materials. Such work 



should be continued, for, notwithstanding that botanical 



exploration and the systematic study of plants have been 



going on for centuries, comparatively few regions of 



[4] 



