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BOTANY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
J. FRASER ROBINSON. 
The great and ostensible function of the British Association, 
namely, the Advancement of Science, was certainly fulfilled 
at the meetings, both in and out-of-doors, of Section K 
(Botany). Judging by the amount of present day research 
and intensive study of botanical Morphology, Physiology and 
Ecology, as revealed by the many papers read before the 
Section, there can be little doubt Botanical Science has re- 
ceived a great impetus from the Hull Meeting. It was, indeed, 
agreeably surprising to find that serious work rather than 
merely social enjoyment was paramount from the beginning to 
the end of the meeting. Evidence of this may be found in 
the fact that while the field excursions were well attended and 
apparently most thoroughly enjoyed, several of the more purely 
social functions which had been planned on quite a large scale 
were not nearly so successful in the matter of attendance. 
The meetings of Section K were held in the Municipal Art 
School, and were ably and genially presided over by Prof. H. H. 
Dixon, F.R.S., D.Sc., of Trinity College, Dublin, who, in his 
Presidential Address, discoursed very learnedly, as befitted the 
greatest living authority on the ascent of a sap, on ‘ The Trans- 
port of Organic Substances in Plants.’ The Address showed 
that the former view taken by plant physiologists, namely, that 
the downward current of substances elaborated in the leaves 
takes place entirely in the bast, can no longer be held ; for Prof. 
Dixon’s own observations and experiments, as well as those of 
other noted workers, have shown that ‘soluble carbohydrates, 
sucrose, hexose and maltose ’ have been detected, and to a 
marked degree, also in the wood, indicating unmistakably that 
currents do travel downwards as well as upwards in the latter. 
Besides the Presidential Address on Thursday morning 
(7th September), others were given by Professor J. H. Priestley 
and Dr. W. H. Pearsall on ‘Leaf Growth ’ considered in con- 
nexion with the water relations of apical meristems ; and by 
Dr. I. Soar on ‘ The Structure of the Endodermis in some 
Gymnosperms.’ The afternoon session was devoted to a 
joint discussion between Section B (Chemistry) and Section K 
(Botany) in which Dr. F. F. Blackman, F.R.S., spoke on 
‘ The Biochemical Problems of Chloroplastic Photosynthesis ’ ; 
Professor E. C. C. Baly, F.R.S., on ‘ Photosynthesis ’ ; Mr. 
G. E. Briggs on ‘ The Efficiency of the Photosynthetic 
Mechanism of Green Plants for Different Wave Lengths of 
Incident Radiation ’ ; and Prof. I. M. Heilbron and Dr. 
C. Hollins on ‘ Some Speculations on the Photosynthesis of 
Plant Products,’ while Dr. F. C. Eve went into ‘ Photo- 
synthesis from the Energy Aspect.’ In the vigorous, general 
1922 Nov. 1 
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