298 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ON THE RELATION OF BOTANY TO SCIENCE IN GENERAL. 



By Professor A. W. Bickerton, A.R.S.M. &c. 



[Read July 29, 1919 ; Mr. F. J. Chittenden, V.M.H., in the Chair.] 



One serious, almost fatal, defect of modern science is lack of cor- 

 relation amongst eminent specialists ; this has always characterized 

 the past, and still lasts into this twentieth century. 



Expert specialists seem to work in thought-tight boxes, and 

 know but little of one another's researches. The cost of this neglect 

 is very great. Basic principles almost always wait for something like 

 half a century before they are used. Mendel's great discovery was 

 not used until the twentieth century. It is estimated that, in the 

 growth of grain alone, the world would be richer by at least a hundred 

 millions sterling a year, had full advantage been taken of this remark- 

 able principle from the date of its discovery. 



In meteorology, in astronomy, in geology and physics, examples 

 of the same neglect reach in many cases up to the present. 



It seems to me to be the especial duty of botanists to help to remove 

 this flaw. Botany is, as it were, in the middle of the sciences. It 

 depends on astronomy, chemistry, physics, and leads up to zoology 

 and sociology. No person can be a basic botanist, especially if we 

 include palseo-botany, without understanding the dynamics of the 

 solar system. The botanist needs to be quite well versed in many 

 branches of physics. Whilst chemistry lies at the very root of the 

 science, it happens that the highest branch of chemistry, bio- 

 chemistry, is intimately associated with plant life. 



Specialization is the very life-blood of progress; but the worker 

 at a leaf of the tree of science should know how his work is connected 

 with twigs, branches, stem, and roots. Very frequently he does not 

 know, or his ideas of the connexion are extremely vague. This is 

 vicious specialization, and it has had a most malignant influence on 

 human progress. Vast masses of uncorrelated lumber accumulate, 

 and stand in the way of progress. There is also a tendency to teach 

 special branches of technical science without a basic knowledge of 

 general principles. The foundation of science for most technical 

 work is the same. There is scarcely a branch of science, or even of 

 industry, for which the chemistry of a candle, as given by Faraday 

 in his lectures, is not equally useful. 



One reason for this vicious specialization is that it is profitable. 

 The expert specialist is well paid in all branches, and especially is 

 this so in medicine; yet here width of knowledge is of extreme 

 importance to general well-being, as the removing of some specific 

 defect may lay the foundation of deep-seated future calamity. 



