68  Next  Steps  in  Botanical  Science.      |Am  jour.  Pharm. 
r  (    February,  1913. 
delimiting  botany  from  every  other  science,  and  especially  of  doing 
so  with  reference  to  many  of  its  applications,  and  I  am  fully  aware 
of  the  fact  that  the  limits  of  any  science  are  subject  to  change  with 
the  progress  of  human  knowledge.  Now  and  then  there  must  be 
a  "  rectification  of  the  frontier  "  in  respect  to  the  boundaries  of  a 
science,  as  with  the  boundaries  of  a  great  empire,  as  its  farther 
provinces  and  the  exact  location  of  rivers  and  mountain  ranges 
become  better  known.  So  without  doubt  we  shall  have  to  add  to 
or  subtract  from  the  area  now  allotted  to  botany;  and  yet  I  feel 
that  it  is  worth  our  while  to  spend  a  little  time  in  indicating  its 
present  boundaries  and  content. 
With  all  the  details  that  may  be  insisted  upon  by  some  specialists 
it  still  is  true  that  the  field  of  botany  may  be  considered  in  three 
parts,  structure,  physiology  and  taxonomy.  Beginning  with  such 
structures  as  are  obvious  to  our  unaided  eyes  we  have  carried  our 
studies  to  the  minute  structure  of  the  tissues,  and  the  cells  which 
compose  them.  We  are  able  now  to  peer  into  the  protoplasmic 
recesses  of  the  living  cell,  and  while  we  can  not  say  that  we  have 
seen  life,  we  have  seen  where  life  is,  and  what  it  does.  Cytology, 
histology  and  morphology  in  our  modern  laboratories  have  greatly 
changed  our  conception  of  the  structure  of  the  plant.  It  is  no 
longer  made  up  of  forms  to  be  compared  because  of  their  general 
similarity  of  outline,  or  of  position  in  the  plant  body.  The  plant 
as  a  whole  is  a  community  of  variously  differentiated  living  units, 
just  as  is  each  of  its  organs.  It  is  a  complex  community  in  which 
there  is  a  measure  of  individual  independence  of  the  units,  along 
with  much  of  mutual  dependence. 
This  leads  me  easily  to  that  portion  of  the  field  of  botany  that 
has  to  do  with  the  activities  of  plants  and  their  organs — physiology 
— whose  scope  has  been  so  greatly  extended  in  these  later  years. 
Here  such  inquiries  as  those  pertaining  to  nutrition,  growth,  sensi- 
bility, reproduction  are  of  primary  importance.  The  introduction 
of  the  experimental  method  of  inquiry  has  made  this  a  favorite 
department  of  the  science.  Who  does  not  enjoy  catching  a  plant, 
tying  it  up  in  a  corner  and  compelling  it  to  do  something,  while 
we  watch  for  the  result?  This  kind  of  study  appeals  especially 
to  those  who  are  looking  for  demonstrations,  and  for  this  reason 
plant  physiology  has  been  increasingly  popular.  Some  botanists 
indeed  have  gone  so  far  as  to  insist  upon  giving  first  place  to 
physiology,  probably  because  of  its  ready  appeal  to  our  senses.  It 
