November 24, 1923] 



NATURE 



753 



provisions of well-prepared working plans ; more than 

 lialf the area was protected against the annually re- 

 urring forest fires; most of these areas had been 

 urveyed and mapped ; the feducation of the staff had 

 (-•ached a high standard ; and, last but not least, a 

 remarkable amount of research had been accomplished 

 luring the period, as evidenced by such works as 

 Irandis's "Forest Flora of North-West and Central 

 India," a book of such excellence that the author was 

 forthwith elected a fellow of the Royal Society ; Gamble's 

 " Manual of Indian Timbers " and his great work on 

 Indian " Bamboos " ; and Baden Powell's " Forest Law." 

 Nor should it be forgotten that the greater part of the 

 material with which Brandis dealt in that monumental 

 work entitled " Indian Trees " was collected during 

 the second half of last century, although the book 

 was not published until 1906. It would lead too far 

 to mention works on forestry proper. The Indian 

 Forester was started by Sir William Schlich in 1875. 

 Prof. Stebbing calls it a mine of information from a 

 perusal of which a great deal is to be learned. A great 

 quantity of observations on the silviculture of Indian 

 trees is incorporated in numerous reports, and it has 

 only lately been collected and made available to 

 foresters generally. Unfortunately, the establishment 

 of the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun was 

 too long delayed, but what part of the Empire has 

 not sinned in the same manner ? 



Twenty chapters of volume i. and ten chapters of 

 volume ii. are devoted to a description of the progress in 

 forest conservancy in the several provinces of India. 

 The last chapter of volume ii. contains an appreciation 

 of three Inspectors-General of Forestry. Prof. Stebbing 

 gives the text of resolutions by the Government of 

 India acknowledging the services of Sir Dietrich Brandis 

 and of Mr. Ribbentrop, and remarks that no such 

 resolution was passed acknowledging the services of Sir 

 William Schlich, The latter statement is not correct, 

 ^^ a resolution acknowledging the valuable and dis- 

 ^Bguished services of the last-mentioned was passed 

 ^^ the Governor-General in Council on February 7 

 and published in the Gazette oj India of February 9, 

 1889. 

 .\part from some passages which might be questioned 

 past or present members of the Indian Forest Service, 

 f. Stebbing has produced a very full account of 

 development of Indian forest conservancy up to the 

 r 1900. It is based on the study of a vast number 

 f works and writings, among which Ribbentrop's 

 Forestry in British India " takes a prominent place. 

 A rainfall map is attached to volume i., and a general 

 map of India to volume ii. Sixty-three artistic illus- 

 trations are inserted, and they serve as pleasing resting- 

 places during the perusal of the book. 



NO. 2821, VOL. I 12] 



Cambridge Biographies. 



Alumni Cantabrigienses : a Biographical List of all 

 known Students, Graduates, and Holders of Office at 

 the University of Catnbridge, from the Earliest Times 

 to igoo. Compiled by Dr. John Venn and J. A. 

 Venn. Part i : From the Earliest Times to 1751. 

 Vol. 2 : Dabbs — Juxton. Pp. v-1-492. (Cambridge: 

 at the University Press, 1922.) 7/. 10s. net. 



THE second volume of this monument of industry 

 and antiquarian research carries the list of 

 members of Cambridge University prior to 1751 down 

 to the name of Juxton. The first four volumes, cover- 

 ing the whole of the early period, are to be published 

 by the end of next year, and the editors now ask for 

 additions and corrections to the data already published. 

 In the present volume, among men of science of 

 repute we note the names of De Moivre, a Protestant 

 refugee from France, and Sir Kenelm Digby, one of 

 the original members of the Royal Society, who was 

 at one time banished to France ; Thomas Gale, regius 

 professor of Greek and first secretary to the Royal 

 Society; J. Flamsteed, first Astronomer Royal, and 

 Jeremiah Horrox, who predicted and observed the 

 transit of Venus in 1639 ; Gilbert, the physicist, and 

 William Harvey and Glisson among many distinguished 

 members of the medical profession. Of those who com- 

 bined eminence in two distinct branches of science may 

 be mentioned Dacres, who was professor of geometry 

 and censor of the Royal College of Physicians. Of those 

 known more widely in a different sphere we note John 

 Dryden, who was discommuned for contumacy to the 

 Vice-Master of Trinity ; the Duke of Northumberland, 

 Chancellor to the University in 1551, who was executed 

 on Tower Hill ; N. Eaton, first master at the school in 

 Cambridge, Mass., which afterwards became Harvard 

 College — and John Harvard himself. Orlando Gibbons, 

 Thomas Gray, George Herbert, Robert Herrick, and 

 Ben Jonson bear witness to Cambridge's continued love 

 of the muses ; the name of Judge Jeffreys strikes another 

 note, as also do the names of Erasmus, Thomas Gresham, 

 founder of the Royal Exchange, and Thomas Hobbes. 

 Amongst distinguished Cambridge families we find 

 the Darwins and the Howards. The latter in their 

 history bear witness to the religious disputes which 

 have in the past left their stamp on Cambridge as on 

 England. Martyrs on both sides were educated there. 

 The position of Cambridge in the Civil War is suggested 

 by the names of Fairfax, Fleetwood, Hesilrig, and HoUis, 

 though the Earl of Montrose represents the other side. 

 Among the points of human rather than of historical 

 interest we may note the sentence of transportation on 

 Henry Justice for stealing books from the University 

 Library, and the history of Adam Elliot, a slave to 



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