November 25, 1920] 



NATURE 



413 



and fabrics by acids, light, and heat — but sufficient 

 have been mentioned to show that the whole in- 

 dustry bristles with scientific problems awaiting 

 solution. 



In attacking- these problems it is certain that 

 a vast amount of purely scientific work will have 

 to be undertaken. The association is fully alive 

 to the fact that pure research has in the past, in 

 this country at all events, been almost the mono- 

 poly of the universities; but the scientific workers 

 of our universities have not, generally speaking, 

 been sufficiently in communion with industry fully 

 to appreciate the nature of the problems in pure 

 science which any particular industry required to 

 be solved. The association hopes to keep in close 

 touch with the universities, and that by so doing ■ 

 the ties between the scientific workers and industry 

 may become closer in future. Certainly the asso- i 

 ciation looks to the universities for much help as 

 regards both the pure research work which will | 

 emanate from them, and the skilled research \ 

 workers trained by them. ' 



There is a further way in which relations with : 



the universities may become more intimate, for, 

 owing to the generosity of some of its members, 

 the association possesses a number of scholarships 

 tenable at any university, two of which have just 

 been awarded ; it also has the power to endow 

 scholarships and bursaries for the training of 

 persons engaged in studying the principles in- 

 volved in any of the industries using cotton, or 

 connected therewith, and four such scholarships 

 are now held at universities, two being provided 

 jointly with the Empire Cotton Growing Com- 

 mittee. 



The relationship with pure science cannot, how- 

 ever, be strengthened by a policy of the purely 

 "take and be thankful" type; something must 

 be given in return ; and it is hoped that science 

 will be enriched by the publication of the pure 

 scientific research carried out in the Shirley In- 

 stitute. More particularly may this be the case in 

 connection with the development of the department 

 of colloid chemistry and physics, representing as 

 it does a branch of science which has received com- 

 paratively little attention in this country. 



Obituary. 



Lord Glenconner. 



BY the death, on Sunday, November 21, of 

 Edward Priaulx Tennant, Baron Glenconner 

 of Glen, the country has lost an appreciative 

 friend of all good work, whether in the direction 

 of art or of science, as well as a man of simple, 

 lovable disposition and sterling character. 



From his father. Sir Charles Tennant, the first 

 baronet, I..ord Glenconner inherited chemical 

 works at Glasgow, to the business of which he 

 attended ; but his own tastes lay chiefly in the 

 direction of forestry, natural history, and anti- 

 quarian pursuits. To study methods of forestry 

 he had travelled in Germany and in many parts 

 of the world, and his estates bear witness to the 

 care bestowed on tree cultivation. It is well 

 known that he purchased and gave Dryburgh 

 Abbey to the nation a few years ago; and it is 

 more than suspected that he had intended to do 

 the same with Stonchenge had not another bene- 

 factor forestalled him. His house, which was 

 characterised by admirable simplicity, was the 

 resort of many distinguished persons, and his 

 picture gallery was often thronged to hear about 

 some discovery of scientific interest. 



The loss of his exceptionally promising eldest 

 son in the war w.is a profound grief to Lord 

 Glenconner, from which perhaps he only half re- 

 covered ; but he became convinced, and allowed 

 himself to express publicly- his conviction, of a 

 reality underlying the old idea of human survival 

 after bodily death. 



Reginald J. Farrer. 



Mk. Kkoinai.1) Farrer, whose death u.is 

 reported in the Txma of NovcmbtT icj, was 

 an extraordinarily enthusiastic horticulturist, 

 NO. 2665, VOL. 106] 



I possessing, in a high degree, a poetic and artistic 

 ' temperament, an experienced and intrepid travel- 

 ler, and an accomplished and versatile writer. In 

 horticultural circles he will Ijc remembered as an 

 ardent collector and cultivator of alpine plants, 

 which he knew as few know them. He had 

 studied them on many occasions in their native 

 haunts, and had cultivated them under ideal con- 

 ditions in his garden at Ingleborough. Many new 

 plants, some of them of great interest and beauty, 

 have been discovered and introduced by him into 

 our gardens, enriching them, and at the same time 

 making a valuable contribution to our knowledge 

 of the flora of China and Tibet. As a geographer 

 also Farrer will be known to many. The award of 

 the (Jill memorial medal of the Royal Geographical 

 Society early this year was a recognition of the 

 useful work he had done for geography in his 

 journeys on the Chinese border of Tibet. His 

 kclures before the society on these journeys were 

 published in the Geographical Journal, vol. xlix., 

 pp. 106-24, and vol. li., pp. 341-59. 



Reginald John Farrer was a Yorkshireman. 

 born forty years ago. At his home, near the 

 hi-autiful Iiiglelwrough Mountain, he had for 

 many years made gardening, and especially rock 

 gardening, a dominating interest. His natural 

 rock garden is probably a unique example of such 

 a garden in this country. In 1894, when a mere 

 Ixjy, he contributed to the Journal of Botany a 

 note on the rare Arenaria gothica, which he had 

 discovered in another station at Ingleborough 

 some miles distant from that where alone it had 

 previously been known in Britain. In 1898 he 

 entered Balliot College, Oxford, as a commoner. 

 Later he made several explorations in the Euro- 

 pean Alps with the special object of studying their 

 vegetation. These explorations were descril>cd in 



