THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLII 



as determined by mierometrie measurements, develop- 

 mental observations, experimental tests and statistical 

 estimations upon the aggregate of the group, shall be 

 capable of demonstrations by the foot rule and hand lens 

 applied to the apical structures exhibited by a single in- 

 dividual of the mature sporophyte, as if the pedometer 

 and hand compass were adequate for testing the results 

 of a triangulation made by the transit and steel tape. 

 In other words, botanists of academic habit will with the 

 greatest gravity attempt to read out of existence, and 

 estimate of no importance, hereditary groups of organ- 

 isms unless they conform to certain illy defined arbitrary 

 standards. 



Taxonomic thought rounds its broadest conceptions 

 when its conclusions are based upon the aggregate of 

 individuals within natural groups, and embody onto- 

 genetic procedure, environmental relations, heredity, 

 evolutionary change and comparative functional per- 

 formance. So organized it might rightly lay claim to 

 • being 1 4 philosophical botany," and would include an 

 orderly arrangement of all knowledge of plants, and 

 would form the basis upon which all researches might 

 be founded. 



as it is by an outworn and mediaeval method of giving 

 names to living organisms, it is doubtful as to how far 

 we might demand of it that it discriminate among the 

 many degrees of relationship which reveal themselves 

 in capacities and performance as well as in refinements 

 of form. The more thoroughly and accurately however, 

 that it takes into account the total sum of the attributes, 

 qualities and capacities of the plant, the greater will be 

 the value of its conclusions, and the greater will be the 

 service it may render to coordinate branches of botanical 



