They harness the most concentrated innovative impulse towards the future

They harness the most concentrated, innovative, impulse towards the future." The past was becoming the territory of the arts, he said."The bitter quarrels between critical schools and movements in the humanities, the voluminous triviality of much that is produced in human letters, art history, musicology, point to a Byzantine afternoon - as do the jugglers' ingenuities of deconstruction and post-modernism. But in the sciences, even a middling talent would find itself on an upward escalator."One would, in Renaissance Florence, have aspired to some personal contact with the painters and sculptors. Half a century later it is an arts juggernaut, featuring hundreds of companies playing to more than a million people.But it is failing to reflect the new dominance and influence of science. "Today, it is noon time, not in the arts but in the sciences," Professor Steiner warned. "Whereas to a very major extent [the performance] of the arts festivals looks backward, science is, by very definition, in forward motion."Such was the progress of this trend that he felt the coming of another Michelangelo, Shakespeare or Mozart was doubtful. It is precisely when it is still doing well, when its box office is healthy, that an institution should draw a dangerous breath and ask of itself: 'Is my continued existence truly representative of my initial aims?'"The Edinburgh Festival was created to provide a positive focus for post- war Britain in 1947 and to nurture international reconciliation. The Edinburgh Festival was given a warning yesterday that in its 50th and most successful year it must re-evaluate its relevance or, like the arts in general, face decline.

Speaking at the first Edinburgh University Festival lecture, the American philosopher Professor George Steiner said: "To know when to stop is a rare but vivid mark of honesty within excellence." In a speech containing a strong warning not to ignore the world of science, Professor Steiner said: "Too many worn-out ghosts of past or altered cultural ambitions and ideals litter the scene. It's the Government who tried to stop us."Leading article, page 11. One in six had taken a year out to earn money to help pay their way through university. A pleasant 20-minute stroll from the port and the town centre, it attracted 35,000 visitors last year. Though it is still under development, Daniel expects many more this summer.Allow two hours for a thorough visit. As you enter the gate the first impression is of lush and colourful abundance, and that persists as you follow the winding, undulating paths between plantings.

At ground level, massive clumps of daisy-like osteospermums, in eye-catching shades, are a continuing theme throughout.In contrast are the tall and extravagant echiums from the Canary Islands, their fleshy spikes - pink, blue or white - already reaching ten feet high only three years after planting. Among other dramatic highlights are beschorneria, with thick flower stems soaring high above the slender leaves.South African plants proliferate. Two years ago, Daniel spent five days in the botanical garden at Kirstenbosch, in Cape Province, and returned with about 1,000 seeds and specimens. They include several different kinds of protea, the pink coleonema, leucospermum (like a scarlet-flowering artichoke) and, wedged prettily between the rocks, the brilliant red leucadendron.The climb up the cliff - the central feature of the original area developed - is steep but not over-strenuous.