2l6 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the solution of certain problems which, if once successfully solved, 

 would add very materially to the future prosperity of the 

 industries concerned in the manufacture of wood derivatives. 

 There are great opportunities here for co-operation between the 

 scientist and the manufacturer, and if the book succeeds (as we 

 think it ought to) in one of its objects, namely, that of sustaining 

 and awakening the interest of readers and students, it will have 

 served a purpose of national importance. A very useful biblio- 

 graphy and index are added at the end. The book is well printed 

 and contains many well-reproduced illustrations. 



OBITUARY. 



The Late Mr David W. Thomson. 



By the death of Mr D. W. Thomson, which occurred on 

 the nth of March last, the Council of the Royal Scottish 

 Arboricultural Society has lost an esteemed member, and the 

 Edinburgh nursery and seed trade one of its most popular 

 representatives. On leaving school, Mr Thomson served an 

 apprenticeship to gardening under his father, the late Mr 

 David Thomson, at Drumlanrig. He afterwards spent some 

 time in the nurseries of Messrs James Veitch & Sons at Chelsea, 

 and in 1876 he commenced business as a nurseryman and 

 seedsman in Edinburgh. He became a member of the Royal 

 Scottish Arboricultural Society in 1893, and at the time .of 

 his death was serving his second term of office as a Councillor. 

 He was intimately associated with the horticultural societies 

 in Edinburgh, and at the time of his death was the senior 

 vice-president of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. 

 He was an ex-president of the Scottish Horticultural Association, 

 of which he was one of the original members, and for a 

 number of years was a member of the council of the Horticultural 

 Trades' Association of Great Britain and Ireland He was also a 

 Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and of the Edinburgh 

 Botanical Society, and amongst bodies outside forestry and 

 horticulture he occupied the position of Moderator of the 

 Holyrood High Constables, with whom he had been connected 

 for a number of years. Mr Thomson was a generous contributor 

 to charitable and other objects connected with forestry and 

 gardening, and personally he was one of the most likeable 

 of men. 



