Reconstruction of Elementary Botanical Teachings g 
To the Editor of the New Phytologist. 
SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 
Sir, 
For some years past I, evidently in common with other 
botanists, have felt uneasy regarding the condition of botany in 
this country. During the past three years, circumstances have 
permitted me to view botanical activity from the outside, and I 
had come to the conclusion that unless a drastic reformation took 
place, botany as a science of living beings was doomed: instead 
of being a branch of biology it would become a branch of 
necrology. The memorandum on the Reconstruction of Elementary 
Botany Teaching has given me much pleasure since it has raised 
the hope that botanists will combine to force an improvement: 
individual efforts, and of these many have been made, are all but 
valueless. 
The reason for the present state of affairs is primarily due 
to the preponderance of morphology, which has adversely affected 
not only the training of students but also original investigations 
and researches; indeed, an onlooker might well be excused if he 
concluded that modern botany in some of its aspects approached 
the scholasticism of the middle ages. 
The memorandum raises points for discussion too many to 
consider in the present communication. I should like, however, to 
remark on the following : 
1. SCOPE .—I am in substantial agreement with the concrete 
proposals set forth in the memorandum. It is essential that a 
student should not be allowed to take an Honours degree in any 
subject without first taking the Pass. A candidate for the Pass 
must, of course, take a certain number of subjects, and it is 
important that a candidate for Honours in Botany should not be 
allowed an unlimited choice of subjects for the Pass degree. 
Assuming that in addition to botany two other subjects are 
necessary, I would suggest that some such grouping as follows 
should obtain :— 
(1) Chemistry or Geology. 
(2) Physics or Geography, provided Geology is not taken as 
an alternative to Chemistry. 
(3) Mathematics. 
The main idea is to prevent a student taking a combination of 
similar subjects. For this reason Zoology does not find a place, 
since, from the educational standpoint, it does not appear desirable 
to have a second subject which is almost entirely morphological. 
