330 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 531, 



is no doubt but that his examination and 

 cross-examination were sadly confused for 

 the want of a few correct ideas about 

 plants. 



After all, it is not so important to dwell 

 upon what scientific research has done in 

 the past for practical botany and related 

 subjects, as to emphasize what it may do 

 in the future. Fortunately, botany is not 

 yet at the place where she desires to stop 

 and contemplate her achievements in a 

 spirit of self-satisfaction or contentment. 

 The unsolved or uncompleted problems of 

 the industrial world waiting for help from 

 the botanists are many, even more, perhaps, 

 than the botanist himself realizes. No one 

 man could enumerate them and any at- 

 tempt to more than suggest the opportuni- 

 ties in a few lines with which I am most 

 familiar would be pre.sumptuous. There- 

 fore, I hope it will be understood that my 

 idea in mentioning the possibilities of sci- 

 entific investigation in one or two specific 

 eases is not intended as an indication of 

 what I myself may hope to accomplish in 

 this way, or as suggestions to others who 

 are engaged in more important work. I 

 merely wish to indicate to those not famil- 

 iar with botanical research how we realize 

 that much remains for us to do. 



To begin with a very homely example, 

 the investigation of the bread yeasts offers 

 a fertile field for some botanist desiring 

 to be of service to his fellow-man by im- 

 proving one of the most necessary and im- 

 portant manufacturing processes carried on 

 in domestic life. An examination of many 

 of the yeast cakes upon the market will 

 show that they usually are as rich in bac- 

 teria as in yea.st cells, no particular care 

 having been taken to maintain the purity 

 of the yeast. While we have had some 

 investigations pointing out the bad effect 

 of certain of these bacteria upon the bread 

 sponge, it is more than likely that other 

 bacteria may be of great importance in 



converting the starch to sugar; at any rate, 

 definite scientific knowledge is necessary 

 before we can hope to get the best practical 

 result. The possibility of improving the 

 bread yeast itself is also a piece of work 

 which I am not aware has yet been under- 

 taken. When it is remembered that the 

 source of most bread yeast is a beer yeast 

 and the function of the two is not by any 

 means the same, it would appear that some 

 careful cultural work would be calculated 

 to greatly improve the ease and certainty 

 with which good bread might be made. 

 Another possible point of improvement lies 

 in the fact that the bread yeasts on the 

 market are generally selected because of 

 their rapidity of multiplication. Since it 

 is now known that this function generally 

 varies inversely as the gas forming power, 

 it would seem more than likely that by no 

 means the most efficient type of yeast was 

 now being used for bread-making purposes. 



Tanning, flax and hemp retting, and 

 other similar industries dependent upon 

 fermentations set up by various micro-or- 

 ganisms, all offer most inviting possibilities 

 for the utilization of the results of pure 

 botanical research. Because certain opera- 

 tions, worked out by experience and many 

 failures, have been carried on for centuries 

 with a fair measure of success, is no argu- 

 ment against the scientific investigation of 

 the fundamental processes underlying the 

 results obtained. It is more than probable 

 that by the discovery of the precise organ- 

 ism involved, and the elimination of the 

 luidesirable, if not harmful, forms intro- 

 duced accidentally, certain industries in 

 this country can be revived and put upon a 

 paying basis undreamed of by the practical 

 man. At any rate, if improvement is to 

 come, it must be as the result of informa- 

 tion acquired by means of the scientist 

 working in his laboratory, rather thiin 

 through the efforts of the business mnn 

 and manufacturer in the shop. 



