414 



NATURE 



[November 25, 1920 



several articles published in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle and in his book "Among the Hills," 

 which appeared in igii. 



In 1903 Farrer undertook a journey round the 

 world, visiting among other places Canada, 

 China, and Japan. He visited Ceylon in 1907, 

 and the years 1914 and 191 5 were spent, in com- 

 pany with Mr. William Purdom, formerly of Kew, 

 in exploring the Kansu region of Western China. 

 "On the Eaves of the World," published in 1917, 

 is a narrative of his wanderings and experiences 

 during 1914, which were also the subject of a 

 series of articles in the Gardeners' Chronicle. 

 Last year another journey to Eastern Asia was 

 undertaken with Mr. E. H. M. Cox. When about 

 to return home, while travelling on the frontier 

 range between Burma and China, Farrer fell a 

 victim to diphtheria, and died on October 16. 



Among the plants Farrer discovered were many 

 new to botany as well as to horticulture. Several 

 new species bear his name ; he is also commemor- 

 ated in Farreria, a new genus of Thymelseaceae. 

 In addition to works of fiction and those already 

 specified, he wrote "My Rock Garden" 

 (1907), "Alpines and Bog Plants" (1908), "In a 

 Yorkshire Garden" (igog), "The Rock Garden" 

 (Present-day Gardening Series), and "The English 

 Rock Garden " ; the last, containing more than 1000 

 pages and 102 plates, was published in 1919, and 

 was reviewed, perhaps somewhat adversely, in 

 Nature for February 19 last, p. 664. 



In spite of the extravagant, sometimes absurd, 

 language of many of Farrer's writings, he accom- 

 plished much work of great value, and his un- 

 timely death is a distinct loss, which many will 

 profoundly regret. 



Notes. 



The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has 

 issued a memorandum (General Service, November 13) 

 on the mode of spread of foot-and-mouth disease. The 

 outbreaks which have occurred since the beginning of 

 19 19 have enabled a closer analysis to be undertaken 

 of the circumstances favouring infection than has 

 hitherto been possible, the work being carried out by 

 the Chief Veterinary Officer, Sir S. Stockman. One 

 fact emerges as established, viz. that Great Britain, 

 freed from the disease as endemic among animals in 

 a particular district, is invaded only when the disease 

 is prevalent on the Continent, particularly in the 

 North of France, Belgium, and Holland. Live- 

 stock being excluded as a factor of spread of the 

 disease, suspicion falls on human beings, on imported 

 feeding-stuffs, and on litter coming from infected 

 Continental districts. Importation of hay and straw, 

 except for exceptional purposes, has, however, been 

 prohibited since igoS without materially influencing 

 the occurrence of outbreaks. Carnage of infection 

 by human beings and other means, e.g. by bird 

 migration, seems equally improbable. The conclusion 

 is drawn that the virus may be air-borne. The sick 

 animals slobber, and it seems reasonable to suppose 

 that the particles of infected mucus may be carried 

 for long distances in the air, just as volcanic dust is. 

 The outbreaks in this country are more frequent in 

 some districts than in others, and it is suggested that 

 in the areas mostly invaded air-pockets of negative 

 pressure may exist which would account for the sus- 

 pended virus descending to earth or water. 



In a lecture on "Eugenics and Religion," delivered 

 on November 16 under the auspices of the Eugenics 

 Education Society, Dean Inge pointed out that 

 antagonism to reasonable eugenics, e.g the preven- 

 tion of deaf-mutes and epileptics from having children, 

 comes not from religion, but from the anti-scientific 

 temper. A general revolt against the dictatorship of 

 science (surely not yet even on the horizon) had been 

 the most remarkable tendency in modern thought. 

 But it seems to us it would have been more accurate 

 to say that the objections even to considering the 



NO. 2665, VOL. 106] 



scientific control of life have come from a widespread 

 sluggishness of intellect, an instinctive dislike of up- 

 setting innovations, and, not infrequently among the 

 elect, an other-worldliness which regards mundane 

 conditions as a swamp to be crossed as quickly as 

 possible. According to Dean Inge, the prospect for 

 the immediate future is as black as it could be, and 

 partly because society has not the seriousness and 

 courage to replace a relaxed natural selection by a 

 thought-out rational selection. At present we are 

 breeding from our worst stocks, and our best are 

 being squeezed out of existence — an extreme state- 

 ment, probably too epigrammatically reported. But it 

 has enough of truth in it to make us uncomfortable. 

 We note, however, to take a glimpse of the other side, 

 that, apart from the professional classes, many 

 members of which are now prompted by economic 

 pressure to restrict their family or to have none at all 

 — which, as Dean Inge says, means a diminution of 

 the well-born — there is an abundant supply of strong, 

 intellectually alert, and good-willed men and women 

 among working people. It appears to us to be his- 

 torically true that a large proportion of the men who 

 count have emerged, not from select castes, but from 

 the general body of the population. Dean Inge 

 attaches great importance to the post-war strain on 

 professional men, which makes for restriction of the 

 family, but this has been going on for a long time. 

 He looks forward to a keen struggle for subsistence, 

 which will force man to become a eugenist or to go 

 under. Towards extreme struggle the nation is at 

 present hurrying blindly. 



The chairman of the Colour Users' .Association, 

 Mr. Vernon Clay, has issued an important memoran- 

 dum on the present position of the dye industry in 

 Great Britain from the users' point of view. It is 

 stated that the necessity for the establishment of dye- 

 making factories is particularly a question of national 

 security, because they are capable of maintaining a 

 larger number of trained scientific workers than any 

 other industry. At present the chief drawback with 

 which the dve manufacturer has to contend is lack 



