June, 1921] ARTHUR SPECIALIZATION AND FUNDAMENTALS 
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nearest to the interests of the taxpayer to whom the government must 
appeal for funds. They are most Ukely to receive attention from state 
institutions whose success depends upon heeding the popular demand. 
Even privately endowed educational institutions and detached research 
institutions can not help but be influenced by this tendency. Such prob- 
lems have almost monopolized the word specialize. Thus Dr. Lyman says : 
The agricultural institutions have specialized too strictly and have laid too little 
stress on the fundamentals of botany. 
With the natural instinct to be interested in the under dog, my closing 
words shall be a plea for greater attention to the fundamentals in making 
provisions for organized support. The solution of problems falling in this 
class furnishes the tools for the specialist. Some phases of taxonomy, of 
which I have already spoken, might be used as an example. The consistent, 
effective onward march of botany calls for careful balance between the 
attention given to specialization and that given to fundamentals. 
