March 3, 1005.] 



SCIENCE. 



323 



Mrs. Lincoln's 'Botany' you will find the 

 following, 'The Study of botany seems 

 peculiarly adapted to females,' and then, 

 as if to justify this statement, she adds: 

 "A peculiar interest is given to conversa- 

 tion by an acquaintance with any of the 

 natural sciences, and when females shall 

 have more generally obtained access to 

 these delightful sources of pure enjoyment, 

 we may hope that scandal, which oftener 

 proceeds from a want of better subjects, 

 than from malevolence of disposition, shall 

 cease to be regarded as a characteristic of 

 the sex. It is important to the cause of 

 this science that it should become fashion- 

 able ; and as one means of effecting this, the 

 parlors of those ladies, who have advan- 

 tages for intellectual improvements, should 

 more frequently exhibit specimens of their 

 own scientific taste. The fashionable et 

 cetras of scrap books, engravings and 

 albums do not reflect upon their possessors 

 any great degree of credit. To paste pic- 

 tures or pieces of prose or poetry into a 

 book ; or to collect in an album the wit and 

 good sense of others are not proofs of one 's 

 own acquirements ; and the possession of 

 elegant and curious engravings, indicates a 

 full purse rather than a well-stored mind ; 

 but herhariums and books of impressions 

 of plants, drawings, etc., show the taste and 

 knowledge of those who execute them." 



We have here one result of the effect of 

 botanical pursuits, which perhaps accounts 

 for the well-known fact that botanists are 

 freer from gossip and kindred vices than 

 other scientists, and when we remember 

 (if we may be allowed to quote once more) 

 that this science is 'especially recommended 

 to strengthen the understanding and im- 

 prove the heart,' many things are made 

 plain. But, seriously, the fact must be 

 acknowledged that even at the present time 

 there are altogether too many fair-minded 

 people who have the idea that botany is a 

 somewhat effeminate calling, and that while 



it does very well for ministers who have 

 lost their voice, or for others who are un- 

 fortunately disabled, the taking up of the 

 subject by an able-bodied man necessitates 

 an explanation which is not always com- 

 plimentary. 



By hard work it has been possible within 

 recent years to emphasize the pedagogical 

 importance of botany, and the fact that ac- 

 curacy, observation, discipline, etc., are in- 

 culcated by this subject has helped to raise 

 it to something like the place it deserves in 

 many curricula. But even here the strug- 

 gle to differentiate botany from that all- 

 containing, but often little-meaning term 

 biology has usually resulted in most of the 

 credit going to the animals instead of the 

 plants. For while the improvement has 

 been most encouraging in the last few 

 years, it must be confessed that the propor- 

 tion of botany to zoology in many biological 

 courses is as that of copper sulphate to 

 water in a reservoir treated for the exter- 

 mination of algfE. But even after botany 

 has 1-eceived all credit due her from the 

 purely educational standpoint, there is a 

 vast majority who are still unconvinced of 

 its worth and who think that the time of 

 both student and instructor would much 

 better be spent in some line that 'fits one 

 for being of some account. ' It is admitted 

 by authorities that there are some subjects 

 now taught whose only real claim for being 

 maintained in schools and colleges is their 

 pedagogical value. Botany is fortunate in 

 having additional causes for its importance, 

 and for this reason, if for no other, it 

 should not rest its entire claim for existence 

 upon purely educational grounds. 



That botany has a definite practical field 

 aside from distinguishing deadly from 

 edible mushrooms, or being able to tell 

 poison ivy when you see it, is usually some- 

 thing entirely new to that most impractical 

 of persons, the so-called practical man, and 

 the assertion that years spent in looking 



