BIOGRAPHIES OF BIOLOGISTS

The life and work of the world’s great biologists may be studied in the Britannica, and an alphabetical list of the principal articles follows.

CHAPTER LVIII
BOTANY

There are many gardeners and lovers of gardens, but comparatively few have even the most elementary knowledge of botany. How many, for instance, know or remember that in the leaves of plants are situated the kitchens in which they prepare their food, or more than vaguely recognize the presence of a nervous system in plant organisms (Vol. 21, p. 747)? The majority, indeed, ignore the fact that a little study will add a hundred-fold to their enjoyment, and that, unlike most scientific subjects, botany can be studied with a minimum of trouble or toil, and with the simplest apparatus. His own garden, the woods and fields, will give the inquirer ample subjects for his investigations, and, as in every other undertaking, the longer he pursues it the more he will see, and the more intense will be his pleasure in the contemplation of the garden of his cultivation.

Botany is, of course, one branch of an enormous subject. The student will, therefore, do well to familiarize himself with the general articles which cover the science of living matter, as outlined in the chapter on Biology. In that chapter references have in fact already been given to certain sections of the strictly botanical articles. The general arrangement of the subject in the Britannica is as follows:—(i.) articles dealing with the broad aspects of the science; (ii.) articles on “systematic” botany treating of the various families of plants; (iii.) articles describing members of their families.

General Principles

Following the most convenient and at the same time the most logical course, the article Botany (Vol. 4, p. 299) gives a key to the treatment of the whole subject in the Britannica. This is by A. B. Rendle, keeper of the Department of Botany, British Museum, who acted as general adviser to the editor in the arrangement of this branch of biology in the Britannica. The main article on the subject is under the heading Plants (Vol. 21, p. 728), by a number of eminent authorities. The article is divided as follows: Classification, by A. B. Rendle; Anatomy and History and Bibliography, by A. G. Tansley, lecturer in botany in the University of Cambridge; Physiology, by J. R. Green, formerly lecturer on plant physiology, University of Liverpool; Pathology, by H. M. Ward, formerly professor of botany, University of Cambridge; Ecology, which comprises the study of the relations of the individual plant, or species, or the plant community, with its habitat, by C. E. Moss, curator of the Cambridge University Herbarium; Cytology, which treats of the cell structure of plant organisms, by H. W. T. Wager, president of the Botanical section of the British Association, 1905; Morphology, by S. H. Vines, professor of botany, University of Oxford, and president of the Linnean Society, 1900–1904; Distribution, by Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, director of the Kew Botanical Gardens. Supplementary to the article Plants are the following, which should all be read carefully: Root (Vol. 23, p. 712), Stem (Vol. 25, p. 875), Leaf (Vol. 16, p. 322), Flower (Vol. 10, p. 553), Fruit (Vol. 11, p. 254). A very important article is that on Palaeobotany (Vol. 20, p. 524), which treats of the distribution, etc., of plant life in prehistoric periods. The contributor is Clement Reid of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, an original investigator in this important field. The advances in the study of minute plant organisms in the past few years have been very great and they receive treatment in the brilliant article Bacteriology (Vol. 3, p. 156), by Prof. H. M. Ward of Cambridge University, and V. H. Blackmann, professor of botany in the University of Leeds.

Other articles in the Britannica which refer to the general principles of the science will be found enumerated at the end of this chapter.

Divisions and Classification