Reconstruction of Elementary Botanical Teaching . 57 
further need to emphasise here the importance of making the life 
functions of the plant the pointes d'appui around which the 
course as a whole should be built up, but a word or two may be 
permitted as to its scope. 
I am satisfied that an ideal elementary course should give 
quite clear indications of all the various vistas which the subject 
presents and this equally in the interests of students who are going to 
pursue botany and of those who are not. There is no department of 
botany the door of which should not be opened sufficiently wide 
for an impression to be gained of the treasure within. I include 
here not only the applications of botany, such as brewing, milling 
of wheat, manufacture of paper, vegetable textiles, etc., but also 
definite departments of the subject such as ecology, plant 
pathology, genetics, and even fossil botany. It is perfectly clear 
that whilst these by-ways and applications, many of them, can 
only claim passing reference in an elementary course, such 
references are likely to make a more lasting impression when 
attached to those parts of the main subject matter to which they 
strategically belong. Genetics probably might be developed with 
advantage to some little extent; no branch has more important 
applications, nor does it ever fail to appeal to the student. 
As regards ecology, I am in cordial agreement with the 
Editorial Note appended to Dr. Harold Jeffreys’ letter. The 
student should at least make acquaintance with a selection of the 
different ways in which plants subjugate their environments and 
comport themselves under a variety of conditions ; particularly 
useful being water plants, maritime plants and woodlands. In 
this connection it is eminently desirable that students should 
have an opportunity of viewing plants in the field for several days 
continuously ( e.g ., a long week-end). Indeed, having regard to the 
exhilarating and enjoyable attendant circumstances of such visits 
and the lasting impressions gained, it is throwing away one of 
the most valuable assets of botany not to develop the excursion. 
A good deal has been said in the course of this discussion 
on the practical applications of botany and the desirability of 
giving prominence to these in elementary teaching. Half-a-century 
or more ago the applied side of the subject was kept before 
students much more fully than has been latterly the case, and 
there l think our forebears were right and we wrong. Applied 
botany has a human interest going far outside academic circles, 
and its proper use places a valuable instrument in the hands of 
