238 Obituary Notices of fellows deceased. 



by Sir Henry Gilbert in the Kothamsted investigations. The two 

 leaders of the work were in almost daily consultation, Sir H. Gilbert 

 spending, as a rule, an hour at Kothamsted every day that Sir John 

 Lawes was at home. The plans for new experiments, the results 

 obtained from day to day, and the drafts of the reports in preparation, 

 were thus all discussed by them together. Sir John Lawes directed 

 the agricultural operations in the experimental fields; the execution 

 of the remainder of the work was in the hands of Sir Henry Gilbert. 

 Sir John Lawes contributed to the joint work a thorough knowledge 

 of practical agriculture. His original mind was stored with facts 

 learnt by keen observation and study in the field. A born investi- 

 gator, he seemed to be continually occupied in the study of agricultural 

 problems. His enterprising and practical spirit impressed its character 

 on the whole of the Rotharnsted work. Sir Henry Gilbert supplemented 

 in a remarkable manner the qualities of his chief. His training as an 

 analytical chemist, and his acquaintance with foreign languages and 

 literature, were naturally of great value in research work. His know- 

 ledge of colloquial German enabled him in after years to describe the 

 results of the Rothamsted investigations to many foreign visitors. His 

 special mental characteristics also eminently fitted him for the work sub- 

 sequently carried out. He was both cautious and painstaking to a 

 remarkable extent, desiring to accumulate a great mass of facts before 

 coming to any certain conclusion upon them. His mode of work 

 was also extremely methodical, and the method once adopted, after 

 full consideration, was continued through many subsequent years, thus 

 giving rise to long series of results obtained in a perfectly similar 

 manner. The continuation of the same field experiments for more 

 than fifty years, and the important results which subsequently followed 

 from an examination of the soils so long under definite cultivation, 

 may be cited as examples of Gilbert's method. Under his care, 

 samples of the grain and straw from each experimental plot, in each 

 year, were preserved in the laboratory, and also samples of the ash 

 yielded by each. In later years, Avhen samples of the soils and 

 subsoils of each plot were repeatedly taken, large portions of each 

 sample were also preserved. At his death the number of samples 

 stored for future reference in the laboratory and in the adjoining 

 building exceeded 50,000. The bulk of tabulated records prepared 

 by the clerks at the laboratory was correspondingly large. He thus 

 laid the foundation of much solid work. The same characteristics 

 appeared in his reports. These usually contained a great bulk of 

 numerical statements, set forth in an orderly manner, with not uii- 

 frequently only a small proportion of illuminating theory. The 

 recording of observed facts seemed often to satisfy his object as an 

 investigator. When, however, a definite conclusion had been arrived 



