7o6; 



NATURE 



[January 27, 1921 



The Forestry Department of Edinburgh University. 



CO far back as 1887 a lectureship in forestry was 

 •^ inaugurated at Edinburgh University. The 

 courses given were mainly attended bv students 

 taking the University degree in agriculture, it was 

 a far-sighted step to take at that time, since it is a 

 great advantage to the scientific agriculturist to have 

 some acquaintance with the aims and objects of the 

 forester with whom he has so commonly to work 

 side by side on the countryside. On the closure of 

 the forestry branch at the Coopers Hill College in 

 1905, the training of the Indian forestry probationers 

 was left in the hands of the universities. Recog- 

 nising the altered conditions and the growing demand 

 for the trained forest officer — for the Colonial Office 

 was now beginning to require qualified men — 

 Edinburgh University, which is pre-eminently a 

 scientific and Empire university, instituted an 



future forest officer, special lectureships in fOffes^ 

 botany, forest mycology, forest zoology, forest en-> 

 gineering, and forest chemistry were inaugurated, as- 

 also a course in Indian forest trees. Students for the^ 

 agricultural degree of B.Sc. have the option of taking' 

 the introductory forestry course, which is one of th. 

 courses under the forestry ordinance. More reCentl> 

 courses in tropical forestry and in Indian geology- 

 have been sanctioned. The fact that all the" 

 branches of applied science are dealt with bv 

 specialists in their individual subjects is of great im- 

 portance in properly equipping the forest officer for 

 his future life-work. In the past it has often 

 occurred, both in Continental schools and in this 

 country, that one lecturer was maintained, in order 

 to save e.xpense, to deliver courses in forest i)otan>' 

 and forest entomology, with, perhaps, geology or 



Fig. I. — Forestry and Agricultural Building, University of Edinburgh. 



ordinance for the degree of B.Sc. in forestry in 

 1909. 



Under this ordinance full courses in all the 

 branches of pure forestry are given, and at least six 

 months' practical work in forestry is required of the 

 student for the degree. The subjects for the forestry 

 Preliminary Examination for matriculation to the 

 University are English, mathematics, Latin, and 

 French or German, thus ensuring that the future 

 forest officer shall have that acquaintance with modern 

 languages which is indispensable to him. 



During his first year the student takes the first 

 science courses in pure science of the University in 

 botanv, zoology, natural philosophy, and chemistry. 

 In the second and third years the forestry subjects 

 proper, together with the allied science branches, 

 including geology and feurve'yirtg,' are taken.' In order 

 to rhake full provision for the allied sciences, which 

 form so important a branch of the training of the 

 NO. 2674, VOL. 106] 



another subject thrown in. The students' time- 

 table for the degree is well filled up. The terms, 

 three in the year, are of ten weeks each, and the 

 hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week, an' 

 taken up with lectures, tutorials, and laborator\ 

 work, k part of most Saturdays is devoted to excur- 

 sions, whilst the vacations are occupied, to the limit 

 desirable in the interests of the student, with the 

 practical courses in forestry. 



- In order to ■ give full effect to the ordinance, thr 

 Universitv had to make provision in the important 

 question of buildings, laboratories, and so forth, and in 

 this matter the department may claim to be second 

 to none in the country. New buildings were erected 

 containing a large lecture hall to accommodate 130 

 students, and Several museums, including a sylvicuJ> 

 ture museum, a protection museum, a wood .in^ 

 economic products mUseum, and a museum for Indian 

 and Colonial timbers, Then th^re are laboratories. ■% 



