May 13, 1920] 



NATURE 



319 



Lord Kitchener as a Scientific Worker. 



Lije of Lord Kitchener. By Sir George Arthur. 

 In three volumes, \^ol. i. Pp. xxvi + 326. 

 Vol. ii. Pp. xi + 346. Vol. iii. Pp. xi + 413. 

 (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1920.) 

 Price 2I. 125. 6d. net. 



SIR GEORGE ARTHUR'S account of the work 

 of the eminent soldier and administrator who 

 is the subject of his three volumes is impressive 

 not only on account of the series of successes 

 which Lord Kitchener obtained in different and 

 dissimilar fields, but also because of the methods 

 by which so much was attained, for the biography 

 is presented with such vividness that the careful 

 reader can discern the man apart from his work. 

 It is true that many of the episodes in the career 

 of Lord Kitchener are mentioned with scarcely a 

 comment, where expansion would have been 

 desirable. Nevertheless, there is sufficient for 

 interest and instruction in the mere relation of the 

 stirring events in which he played so prominent a 

 part. To have dealt with them in detail would 

 perhaps have unduly expanded the volumes. 



Kitchener possessed a variety of qualities and 

 tastes obvious only to his intimates. Those not 

 in intimate official relation with him in his work 

 cannot readily form a conception of his methods. 

 How much of his inflexibility he owed to his never 

 having been cast in the public-school mould it is 

 impossible to say, but to his early scientific train- 

 ing and his scientific tastes he no doubt owed the 

 precision and accuracy which he required from 

 those about him and to which he subjected 'him- 

 self. He was a quick thinker, readily grasping 

 the conceptions of others, rapid in his decisions, 

 rejecting or accepting proposals with astonishing 

 celerity. The initiative always lay with him. It 

 was he who gave scientific form to all his own 

 projects. The spirit was his. It is the personality 

 of the man which interests us as we pass from 

 work to work. 



His methods were not those of the orthodox 

 administrator, and. we cannot conceive Kitchener 

 sheltering himself behind committees, though 

 lie frequently summoned conferences. Lord 

 Salisbury, in his preface to the book, describes 

 liim as a man of sentiment, and pre-eminently as a 

 man of imagination. Nothing can be more true ; 

 but it would be a mistake to suppose that, "bold 

 and independent " as was his mind, he under- 

 valued the opinions of experts who ventured to 

 question his conclusions. If he never argued, he 

 was ready to listen, and the latitude which he 

 gave to a subordinate in devising means to an 

 end was the measure of that confidence he reposed 

 NO. 2637, VOL. 105] 



in his staff which was his marked characteristic. 

 His conclusions were ever his own, and were 

 irrevocable. Although to him the end was every- 

 thing, he was less impatient of detail than is 

 generally supposed. For precedent, of course, he 

 cared nothing. 



The truth appears to be that Kitchener's early 

 scientific training profoundly influenced him in his 

 subsequent career. That earnestness which he 

 displayed in the solution of engineering under- 

 takings was as evident in his readiness to adapt 

 new knowledge in any branch of science to the 

 solution of his administrative problems, and 

 experts could readily discern the scientific method 

 by which he reached his conclusions, for he 

 reasoned from facts. As Sir George Arthur 

 alludes only very briefly to the influence which 

 Kitchener, as Commander-in-Chief in India, 

 exerted on the reduction of disease and invaliding 

 incidence in the Army of India, this influence is 

 likely to be overlooked. In the history of this 

 branch of Army administration the work of the 

 Commander-in-Chief must always occupy a pro- 

 minent place. Here he left a permanent monu- 

 ment to himself. It would have been strange 

 had it been otherwise, for by his previous train- 

 ing and experience problems of public health were 

 certain to appeal to him by reason of their bear- 

 ing upon Army efficiency, and so we read : — 



"Recent discoveries in bacteriology facilitated 

 a systematic investigation which Kitchener, after 

 the conference of 1905, instituted into the causation 

 and origin of these maladies : a campaign against 

 the house-fly, with its nidus in the night-soil 

 accumulated near cantonments, and the mosquito 

 — the recognised agents of the two diseases — 

 resulted in a most significant drop of nearly one- 

 half in the death and sickness rates. Stringent 

 preventive regulations were issued as to sanita- 

 tion, inoculation for malaris [sic] , the purification 

 of water, and the preservation of all food and 

 drink from contamination ; and it was perempt- 

 orily ordered that all persons — British or Native 

 — before being employed in the preparation of any 

 sort of eatables intended for the troops, should 

 undergo a medical examination. Depots were 

 also established in the hills for enteric convales- 

 cents, often carriers, who had hitherto not been 

 sufficiently recognised as a source of danger to 

 their comrades ; and technical training in hygiene 

 was provided for selected N,C,0. 's and men, each 

 of these sanitary sections being supervised by a 

 medical officer," 



Similarly we see in other incidents the influence 

 of Kitchener's early training and his scientific 

 sympathies in many of his epoch-making 

 measures. He was a lover of learning, and had 

 that delight in it which we are told he endeavoured 

 to inculcate in the students of the Staff" College 



