i 5 6 Botany as the Science of the Living Plant. 
proportion of our teaching than it does at present in most 
Universities, and the field excursion should be the actual, as well as 
the logical, means of introducing students to plants in relation to 
their natural environment. 
Finally in the spirit of Dr. Keeble’s remark cited earlier, one 
may conclude with Voltaire, and literally: “ 11 faut cultiver 
notre jardin.” 
There are a few words I should like to add in regard to 
examinations. These 1 have always felt constitute an evil which is 
tolerated because there appears to be no better way of testing an 
elementary student’s grasp of a subject. But we want as few 
examinations as possible. Thus I fail to see why, as one of your 
correspondents would have it, “ it is essential that a student 
should not be allowed to take an Honours degree in any subject 
without first taking the Pass.” This suggestion, if carried into 
effect, would as far as I can see, benefit no one but the profes¬ 
sional examiner who is paid according to the number of candidates 
he examines. Surely any teacher can judge whether a student is 
undoubtedly fit to take an honours examination or not. A 
candidate for honours should only be forced to take a pass degree 
if his ability to pass an honours examination is a matter of doubt 
to his teacher. 
I should also add that any remarks I have made in regard to 
the position of pure morphology and biochemical physiology in the 
teaching of elementary botany are not to be interpreted as apply¬ 
ing to research. Research work in pure morphology and in the 
physiology of organs is as essential as research in any other branch 
of botany, both from the point of view of the acquisition of pure 
knowledge and the obtaining of information of economic importance. 
But a consideration of research is outside the scope of this 
discussion. 
To sum up, an improvement in the position occupied by botany 
among the sciences is to be attained (1) by collective action of 
botanists in order to bring about improved conditions and status for 
the professional botanist, (2) by a re-orientation of the point of view 
from which elementary botany is taught so that emphasis is laid on 
Botany as the Science of the Living Plant rather than as a study of 
phylogeny ora biochemical study of plant organs or plant processes. 
Such a changed point of view would necessarily involve the laying 
of increased emphasis on those aspects of botany which are of 
economic importance. 
