July 25, 1918] 



NATURE 



409 



these 16,000,000 would consume annually 

 135,411,328,000 insects. Such figures require 

 '' some thinking about before we can realise or 

 form any true conception of the vast quantities 

 that are included in such measures. It is impos- 

 sible fully to realise the millions of insects and 

 caterpillars that birds destroy just at the season 

 of the greatest agricultural activity. 



Wherever insectivorous birds have been 

 destroyed there has followed an increase or plague 

 of injurious insects. Scores of cases are on re- 

 cord, such as the destruction of woodpeckers and 

 tits in the forests of Saxony and Brandenburg 

 prior to the year 1798, in France in 1859-60, in 

 Nebraska between 1865—77, ^"<^ ^^ Russian Siberia 

 in 1893-94. 



An anonymous writer stated a short time 

 ago : " Some of the very greatest friends that our 

 nation has are being destroyed without mercy. 

 If the British Navy were threatened with destruc- 

 tion, a great cry would rise from the people, but 

 onlv whispers are heard now and then about the 

 slow destruction of a defensive force upon which 

 most of our prosperity depends." 



Surely we shall not appeal in vain to the various 

 agricultural and horticultural organisations of this 

 country to bring the weight of their influence 

 to bear on a matter so vital to the country's 

 interests. If the cultivation of the land has to 

 prove profitable, it can do so only by preserving 

 and utilising every factor that is favourable to 

 crop production, and so long as economic entomo- 

 logy and ornithology remain neglected or only of 

 academic interest in the United Kingdom, it be- 

 hoves us to awaken and to take heed where we 

 stand, or for some years to come our land will 

 groan with the cry of desolation, due to our 

 apathy and the ignorance and neglect of the ways 

 and habits of our insectivorous birds, and the 

 wanton destruction of what has ever been Nature's 

 means of adjusting the complications of animal 

 life, which man in his ignorance is seeking to 

 pervert. Walter E. Collinge. 



INDIAN INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS. 



TWO publications^ have recently been received 

 which would indicate that decided progress 

 is now being made in industry in India, owing to 

 the stress involved under war conditions. The 

 Indian Munitions Board undertook its formal 

 duties as a Department of the Government of India 

 in April, 1917, its primary function being the 

 utilisation to the utmost extent of Indian resources 

 in materials of all kinds required for the prosecu- 

 tion of the war. 



When considered from a broad aspect, the 

 munitions for a modern army cover practically all 

 the wants of a civil community, with the addition 

 of the special weapons, the armies' munitions, 

 etc., which are employed by the soldier or sailor 

 in actual fighting operations. With the enormous 



1 "Indian Munitions Board Handbook" and " Proceedings of a Con- 

 ference for the Consideration of the Organisation of Chemical Research 

 in India, held at Lahore, January S, 1918." (Simla: Government Monotype 

 Press.) 



armies which are now used in warfare, the scale 

 of operations is such that the wants of these 

 fighting men necessarily compete with the re- 

 quirements of civil life ; hence the necessity for 

 departments which will be able to cover the whole 

 asf>ect of the economic and other life of a country. 

 India has hitherto been mainly an agricultural 

 country, but with the operations of war prevent- 

 ing supplies reaching India from England and 

 other countries, it has become essential that many 

 manufactured articles, which were formerly solely 

 imported into India, must now, or, at all events, 

 so long as the war lasts, be largely manufactured 

 in India itself. 



It is probably not too much to say that, owing 

 to the influence of the war, India has already made 

 progress which would otherwise have occupied 

 almost a generation, and the Report on the Indian 

 Munitions Board now available shows that its 

 activities have been manifold. 



The Indian Munitions Board was fortunate in 

 being able to secure as its President Sir Thomas 

 Holland, who was formerly for some years 

 Director of the Geological Survey of India, and 

 happened to be in India as head of an Indus- 

 trial Commission which was engaged in develop- 

 ing India's industrial resources. The Board con- 

 sists of the President, Sir Thomas Holland, 

 assisted and advised by four members ; and it is 

 attached to the headquarters of the Government of 

 India. At headquarters the work is divided into 

 a number of well-defined branches, each branch 

 being under the administration of a Controller. 

 There are also provincial organisations in the 

 different parts of India, and nine Controllers of 

 the principal provinces, provided with proper 

 deputies and assistants, have been appointed. 



The provincial Controllers are responsible for 

 utilising local industries which are not within the 

 sphere of the special branches at headquarters. 

 The organisation, therefore, appears to be fairly 

 complete. The subjects dealt with under the 

 control and supervision of Government are very 

 varied, but the main object of these changes 

 appears to be the utilisation of all indigenous 

 materials and their exploitation so far as pos- 

 sible. As indicating the diverse activities now 

 being carried on by the Indian Munitions Board, it 

 may be mentioned that -such sp>ecial subjects 

 as the following are now being worked at : — 

 Timber supplies and resources, hides, tanning, 

 and leather, the chemical and metallurgical indus- 

 tries of India, the potash salts in India suitable 

 for chemical manufactures, manufacture of 

 organic chemicals, essential' oils, and perfumes, 

 glycerine manufacture, wood distillation, indigen- 

 ous dyes, etc. It would hence appear that great 

 developments may be expected in future in the 

 industries of India. 



In connection also with the Indian Munitions 

 Board, a conference was called by it for the 

 consideration of the reorganisation of chemical re- 

 search in India, the meeting being held at 

 Lahore on January 8 last. This was attended by 

 the majority of qualified and skilled chemists in 



NO. 2543, VOL. lOl] 



