1 62  Change  from  Old  to  New  Botany.  {Km-^-^!m' 
would  they  say  were  they  now  living,  when  it  almost  seems  as  if 
we  were  trying  to  create  a  new  genus  for  every  species? 
In  the  laboratory  I  noticed  that  the  students  seemed  to  refer 
frequently  to  a  book  of  which  I  had  never  seen  a  copy  or  even 
heard.  The  book  was  Sachs's  "  Lehrbuch,"  second  edition,  1870. 
I  bought  the  book  and  was  perfectly  amazed.  I  had  never  dreamed 
that  botany  covered  so  large  a  field.  The  "  Lehrbuch  "  was  an  ad- 
mirable summary  of  what  was  known  of  all  departments  of  botany 
up  to  that  date,  well  written  and  excellently  illustrated.  The  fourth 
edition,  which  appeared  while  I  was  in  Strassburg,  was  still  better. 
On  looking  at  the  second  edition  a  number  of  years  later,  I  noticed 
what  seemed  to  be  a  curious  omission.  No  mention  whatever  was 
made  of  bacteria.  In  the  fourth  edition  they  are  mentioned  under 
Sckizomycetes.  The  absence  of  reference  to  bacteria  in  the  earlier 
edition,  however,  was  not  an  omission.  There  were  no  bacteria  at 
that  date.  There  were  no  bacteria  until  Cohn  published  his 
"  Untersuchungen  iiber  Baeterien  "  in  1872.  The  fact  that  forty 
years  ago  Sachs  had  never  heard  of  bacteria,  while  to-day  life  has 
almost  become  a  burden,  one  hears  so  much  about  them,  is  a 
striking  instance  of  the  rapidity  of  development  of  a  subject  having 
a  practical  as  well  as  a  theoretical  value.  I  know  no*  single  book 
which  has  had  so  great  an  influence  in  shaping  the  course  of 
modern  botany  as  Sachs's  "  Lehrbuch."  It  may  be  that  the  facts 
there  given  were  generally  known  in  Germany,  but  they  were  not 
known  in  other  countries.  On  returning  home  by  way  of  England 
in  1874,  I  showed  my  copy  of  Sachs  to>  several  English  Botanists 
and  it  was  evident  that  it  was  quite  new  to  them.  It  was  certainly 
unknown  in  America,  If  imitation  is  the  sincerest  flattery,  the 
value  of  Sachs's  "  Lehrbuch "  was  quickly  recognized,  for,  using 
it  as  a  model  or  basis,  there  soon  appeared  a  large  number  of 
really  excellent  text-books  in  various  languages  in  which  one 
recognized  Sachs  translated,  Sachs  condensed,  Sachs  diluted,,  Sachs 
trimmed  to  suit  local  demands.  Publishers,  were  they  capable  of 
gratitude,  would  have  erected  a  monument  to>  Sachs's  memory  long 
ago.  Draughtsmen,  on  the  other  hand,  had  little  reason  to>  bless  his 
memory.  Even  now  we  can  hardly  open  a  new  text-book  without 
seeing  the  inevitable  "  after  Sachs." 
One  evening  I  was  present  at  a  dinner  given  by  De  Bary.  On 
that  gay  and  festive  occasion  I  heard  more  gossip  about  botanists 
than  one  hears  even  at  a  meeting  of  the  Botanical  Society  of 
