SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 531. 



Jikewise authorities, (.i- think they are, upon 

 the same subject ; and in promulgating a 

 theory or a method cf economic value 

 which will be tried by thousands with no 

 regard for your feelings, if it fails to ac- 

 complish all you have claimed for it. 



If this proving of our botanical work, 

 by the rules and regulaticns of a i)rac- 

 tieal world, accomplished nothing else, it 

 would certainly tend to make the general 

 character of scientific investigation a little 

 more exact and definite th{\n it has always 

 been in the past. A clock striking the half 

 hours near midnight does not always give 

 the information you wish. It may be half- 

 past twelve, or one, or half-past one, and 

 in spite of the number of times it makes 

 itself heard it is of no more value and not 

 nearly so satisfactory as a clock not strik- 

 ing so often, but telling the time when it 

 does strike. We make many claims for the 

 high ground upon which scientific research 

 stands, but I am inclined to think that the 

 motive behind part, at least, of the botan- 

 ical investigation of this country is no 

 further removed from criticism than if it 

 were undertaken for the mere dollars and 

 cents involved in a commercial proposition. 

 It is a fine point in ethics to determine 

 whether the reward of a degree, a fellow- 

 ship, or a teaching position for a piece of 

 scientific research, places the work and the 

 worker upon a higher plane than when 

 similar investigations are undertaken for 

 the purpose of solving a problem of defi- 

 nite money value which, unfortunately, for 

 this reason alone are apt to be more ac- 

 curate and more complete. 



And here I think it may not be out of 

 place to felicitate those who have been so 

 instrumental in building up the true bot- 

 anical research of this country (and those 

 who have had the good fortune of l)eing 

 nnfler their instruction are also to b(> con- 

 graluhitedj, .upon the very high place 



Americans have come to occupy among the 

 botanists of the world. 



Not long ago, while visiting the labora- 

 tory of a noted German botanist, I asked 

 if he had any American students. "No,'' 

 he said, "I do not expect to have any more. 

 There is no need for you Americans to 

 come to Germany any longer. You have 

 the men and the laboratories. One needs 

 only to come to Europe for the language 

 or to look at specimens." Is it not time 

 that the botanists of this country began to 

 let it be known that even the (Jermans are 

 recognizing our worth and our facilities, 

 and that when a student goes abroad it is 

 no longer because no one in this country 

 is capable of teaching him, but for the 

 language, the experience, the travel? In- 

 deed, if it did not sound too vain-glorious, 

 I would have no hesitation in saying that, 

 in certain lines, at least, we have so far 

 exceeded the foreign teachers and labora- 

 tories that it can not be long until the tide 

 turns in the other direction and the most 

 anti-American botanist will be forced to 

 come to us for information. 



The day is easily within the memory of 

 some men now teaching chemistry, when 

 this science had no more standing as an 

 economic subject than botany has now. 

 I believe, if botanists but realize the neces- 

 sity of calling the attention of the world 

 to the practical results already accom- 

 plished, and will maintain the standard of 

 true scientific research at its highest point, 

 that botany will very soon take the fore- 

 most place among the applied sciences. 

 Further, I am of the opinion that the unit- 

 ing of all those professionally engaged in 

 the study of plants into one efficient, activ(? 

 organization could not but hasten this day, 

 and that it would not be long until chairs 

 of applied or industrial botany would ho 

 as necessary in a thoroughly equipped uni- 

 versity as they are now considered for cer- 

 tain other sciences. We have scarcely more 



