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knowledge of the Anatomy - of Plants. 
account in any natural arrangement, but the high adaptability 
of anatomical characters is a great difficulty. Only the most 
thorough comparative research, in which development on the 
one hand and biological conditions on the other are regarded 
with equal attention, can lead to trustworthy results here. 
Bicollateral structure of the vascular bundles,' extrafascicular 
cambium, and certain forms of the secretory apparatus are 
already known as characters of some systematic value. But 
too much of the work on this subject has been superficial and 
therefore barren. The mere cutting of a few sections from 
imperfect herbarium specimens will never suffice for a scientific 
investigation, nor, on the other hand, are any valuable results 
likely to be attained by those who lose themselves in details 
without any appreciation of the relative importance of the 
facts observed. 
It need scarcely be pointed out how important an adequate 
knowledge of anatomical characters should be from a palae- 
ontological point of view. 
In conclusion, a word may be said on method. So far the 
mechanical section-cutting, which has led to such important 
results in Zoology, has been but little used in our science. 
But I am sure that here also the more primitive methods will 
have in many cases to give way. Manual skill will always be 
of importance, but it should be economized, and when equal 
or better results can be obtained with far greater certainty by 
mechanical methods, the latter should I think be adopted. 
My own experience has taught me that the microtome and 
the methods connected with it may be applied with great 
advantage to botanical research. 
The study of the anatomy of plants, so far from being an 
exhausted subject, promises in the future to lead to far more 
interesting results than in the past. United on the one 
hand with Physiology and on the other with General Morpho- 
logy, Anatomy will cease to be a bare record of dry facts, and 
will afford the most important contributions to our under- 
standing both of the life of the individual plant and of the 
vegetable kingdom. 
