104 
Wanted the Facts. 
which public opinion may be influenced, and a market created for 
the students it is proposed to equip. 
In this connection, too, the letter by Mr. J. J. Robinson on 
“The British Association and the Nation ” {Nature, March 21st, 
page 45), is deserving of the earnest consideration of botanists. 
Few will deny that the public will need a good deal in the way of 
propaganda before it forms anything like a clear notion of the 
aims and ideals of scientific botany. It would be a great opportunity 
lost if no effort were made to carry out the suggestion contained in 
the letter in question. 
With reference to qualifying for a “ pass ” degree in science I 
am very strongly of the opinion that more than one academic year 
should be spent over botany, especially if it is run concurrently 
with other subjects. To organise for students with no previous 
training in botany a complete one year course suitable for a pass 
degree in a modern University,when other subjects are being studied 
during the same time, appears to me to be a superhuman task. 
The handicap imposed upon the University science teacher 
by the complexity of the time-table is frequently very severe, 
especially in the case of the botanist, so much of whose material 
is living and largely dependent upon the season, instead of being 
conveniently obtainable at all times from a bottle or shelf, as is the 
case with the chemist and the physicist. 
A great boon would be conferred on both teachers and students 
if by means of more co-operation between the different science 
departments greater continuity of practical work could be 
secured. It frequently happens that even small classes have to 
be taken in relays, owing to some of the members being unable 
to fit in their times. 
The difficulties are obviously great, but is there no hope that 
some improvement might be effected if all concerned endeavoured 
to ascertain the different ideals, working requirements and points 
of contact of each science, and concentrated upon obtaining a 
degree curriculum duly balanced and related to the needs of the 
day and the capacities of the students ? 
• 
I am, Sir, 
Your obedient Servant, 
SYDNEY MANGHAM. 
