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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIII 



In a final summing up of Darwin's studies that have 

 come under discussion here, perhaps a fair statement may 

 be made by saying that he investigated, as accurately as 

 both his knowledge and his facilities for experimentation 

 allowed, a large range of plant forms which illustrated 

 the especial subjects in which he was interested; that 

 he discovered or drew attention to many important facts, 

 either previously unknown or neglected regarding the 

 habits of the plant forms which he had under observation ; 

 that if his interpretations were at times faulty, his ob- 

 servations were in the main accurate ; and that he revivi- 

 fied subjects which had often times become only of more 

 or less academic interest. Darwin himself— none better 

 —recognized that many of his experiments must be un- 

 satisfactory and his explanations merely tentative ; and he 

 was ready enough to accept correction which appeared 

 to him justified. The very fact that he brought to his 

 botanical researches a mind fresh and unprejudiced lends 

 a peculiar value to his work. Unhampered by tradition 

 and with an open mind, he interpreted the facts as he saw 

 them, and we must remember that some of our criticisms 

 may be in part due merely to the greater complexity of 

 our own interpretations, than to any absolute superiority 

 of them. Despite the advances which have been made, 

 it should not be forgotten that Darwin's influence was in 

 the direction of sound investigation; and we should not 

 pass over ungratefully this phase of plant physiology 

 from which has come much that is of the first importance 

 to-day. As a stimulus to later investigators Darwin's 

 work, whether in botany alone or in other fields, has had 

 a profound influence on the plant physiologist though 

 he may not always recognize it. It would be our shame 

 if we could not have improved over the concepts of the 

 science as current in Darwin's time, and our misfortune 

 if we think that these betterments are not capable of as 

 relatively great advance in the future. 



