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Botany in England : A Reply. 
refers to its decline as a “serious peril 1 .” It is not even an open 
secret, it is common knowledge. Mr. Britten, when his remarks 
are stripped of the irrelevancies and innuendoes which adorn them, 
tells us in effect that my apprehensions are groundless and that 
Systematic Botany jogs on happily without the Schools. Now this 
is dangerous optimism, or it would be if taken seriously. 
The position seems to be this: rightly or wrongly and in spite 
of warnings we are permitting the Herbaria to become stranded : 
the Universities, Schools and other institutions which diffuse and 
stimulate an interest in Botany are not laid under contribution as 
they might be. Systematic Botany hardly gets its fair proportion 
of the best that is available. To my mind this is a great misfortune, 
a source of weakness ; nor do I believe I am indiscreet in ventilating 
the subject. My critic would say, perhaps, “ Teach Systematic 
Botany by all means and then send your people on to us.” But 
that is not the way to get recruits worth having. A mere pious 
opinion in favour of a given branch of knowledge will effect nothing, 
even if you put your precepts into practice. If one takes stock 
of the various places which are centres of activity in turning out 
students equipped and keen to pursue Science, one finds, with 
hardly an exception, that those who guide these institutions place 
original investigations in the fore-front. Heads of departments are 
selected largely on the strength of their qualifications for research, 
and so far as circumstances permit support is afforded for its 
prosecution. Hence, if the great school of Systematic Botany is to 
be revived in this country, the Systematists themselves, i.c., those 
with the equipment of the great Herbaria behind them, must take 
the leading share in the campaign. This was my principal contention 
at York, and I do not think matters will be remedied until the 
Herbaria become attached or related in some way to the educational 
system. Unless our work is to be sterile we must take our share in 
training those who are to come after us. Robert Brown and Sir 
Joseph Hooker are exceptions to every rule: if only we could 
control genius in respect of the time and place of its appearance, 
all would be well; but experience shews that we have to depend on 
the normal, and that these two men were not normal is shewn by 
the fact that none like them have been produced for the past half 
century. 
1 should like to see members of Herbarium Staffs ipso facto 
members of the neighbouring University, or, at any rate, a selection 
from among them. It may be urged that if the Systematist is to 
1 Ibid., Ipswich, 1895, p. 8. 
