52 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. xxix. 
The amount of work done in this connection alone was in 
every sense great; great in its inception, great in its execu- 
tion, and great in its results, which it is not yet possible to 
estimate. The more purely chemical portion of Dr. Aitken’s 
work for the Highland and Agricultural Society, and through 
it for the farmers of Scotland, presented one of its most 
useful features in the organisation of the work of local 
analytical associations. These were brought into touch with 
the Science Department of the Society by the giving of 
grants, in aid of analytical work done by them, on condition 
that it was reported to the Society’s chemist, to be tabulated 
and reported on by him. 
Faulty manures and feeding-stuffs were specially inquired 
into; and when no adequate reason was assigned for a 
deficiency, the defaulter’s name and the circumstances of 
the case were published in the “ Transactions.” The result of 
this work was practically to banish fraud for a time out of 
the manure market; and was the cause, to a large extent, of 
inducing the Government to pass the Fertilizers and Feeding- 
Stufis Act. For the improvement of this Act, a Depart- 
mental Committee of the Board of Agriculture has been 
sitting, of which Dr. Aitken was a member. This committee 
has not yet reported; and the death of Dr. Aitken will be a 
serious loss to them, when they come to consider their report. 
The publication of the names of parties selling deficient 
manures or feeding-stuffs was recognised by those in the 
trade who wished honest dealing as an excellent measure of 
protection tor them, and farmers recognised in Dr. Aitken 
the man who saved them from being defrauded in many 
ways. The confidence reposed in Dr. Aitken by the manure 
and feeding-stuff merchants was of a very cordial and 
enduring nature, and he was welcomed as an honest final 
arbitrator in many disputes; and to the end he had the 
assistance of the trade in annually drawing up a schedule of 
commercial values, called the ‘‘ Unit Schedule,’ which has 
been a great help to many a farmer in his purchases, 
In 1878 an International Agricultural Congress was held 
in Paris. To thisa report was sent from the Highiand and 
Agricultural Society on the “ State of Agriculture in Scotland ” 
at the time. In this report Dr. Aitken contributed an article 
on the “ Application of Science to Agriculture.” The“ Trans- 
