472 



NATURE 



[January S, 1920 



of raw silk from foreign countries (especially 

 Japan), and, more unfortunate still, a startling 

 increase in the import of manufactured silk piece 

 goods, also from Japan. When it is added that, 

 with notable exceptions, the Indian raw silk is so 

 defective as regards reeling and other characters 

 as to hold but a low place in the estimation of 

 manufacturers, it will be evident that the position 

 of the Indian silk industry is indeed serious. 



With the view of ascertaining whether, and by 

 what methods, the revival of the industry is pos- 

 sible, the Government of India in 191 5 decided 

 upon a comprehensive survey of the whole ques- 

 tion in both its sericultural and industrial aspects. 

 Prof. Maxwell-Lefroy and Mr. C. V.. Ansorge 

 were appointed to conduct this inquiry,^ and their 

 exhaustive reports are now available. Prof. 

 Lefroy's inquiry was mainly concerned with seri- 

 cultural and technical questions, while Mr. 

 Ansorge 's investigations have provided an ad- 

 mirable account of the industrial aspect of the 

 industry. 



India possesses great advantages as a silk- 

 producing country. The enormous areas suited to 

 the worms and their food-plants (in addition to the 

 cultivated mulberry silk she has at least one 

 promising " wild " silk), the abundance of cheap 

 labour, the local market, and, not least, an experi- 

 ence extending over many centuries, should place 

 India in the forefront of the silk countries of the 

 world. Her present unfortunate position (result- 

 ing mainly from the decline in the Bengal pro- 

 duction) is ascribed by Prof. Lefroy to four main 

 causes, viz., (i) the increased production of silk 

 in Japan, (2) disease among the worms, (3) in- 

 creased value of other crops, (4) the inferiority 

 of the Bengal worm. We suspect that (2) and 

 (4) are the fundamental causes of the existing 

 state of affairs. With expert organisation, the 

 compulsory and exclusive use of disease-free seed 

 and the improvement or replacement of inferior 

 races of worm would unquestionably result in the 

 relative rise in value of silk as a crop, and enable 

 the competition of Japan to be more successfully 

 met. Unmistakable object-lessons are afforded by 

 the results of the scientific management of the 

 industry in the native States of Kashmir and 

 Patiala, both of which now produce an excellent 

 mulberry silk. 



These facts are recognised by Prof. Lefroy in 

 making his recommendations. His principal sug- 

 gestion is for the establishment of "a central silk 

 institute to investigate all branches of sericulture 

 with a view to improvement ; to study processes 

 of weaving, dyeing, and finishing; and to afford 

 expert advice on all phases of the industry, includ- 

 ing the questions of trade and possible new 

 markets. 



It is possible that the results of Prof. Lefroy's 

 investigations may not be regarded officially as 

 indicating a clear case for a strong forward' silk 

 policy in India. The fact that the decline in silk 

 is in part attributed to the increased value of the 

 other crops will naturally result in hesitation to 

 embark on a large development of sericulture 

 NO, 2619, VOL. 104] 



absorbing an amount of energy which conceivably 

 might be more profitably utilised in other direc- 

 tions. It must not be overlooked, however, that 

 silk-raising can be successfully carried on only as 

 a cottage industry, and that without deflecting a 

 single worker from any other crop scientific organ- 

 isation and control of the present sericultural 

 industry would add enormously to the quantity 

 and quality of the output of raw silk. The ques- 

 tion is, however, admittedly difficult. Unfor- 

 tunately, the fact is that for a large part of India's 

 requirements the quality of the local silk is "good 

 enough," and there may be a disposition to leave 

 it at that. In doing so, exceptional opportunities 

 — commercial, industrial, imperial — will be 

 ignored. With the measures suggested by Prof. 

 Lefroy (notably the establishment of a silk in- 

 stitute), India should be able to replace with 

 locally-produced silk much of the raw material 

 imported from Japan, and enable the growing 

 import of silk fabrics to be reduced. .As regards 

 the overseas export of raw silk, India would find 

 markets ready to take all the silk she could spare 

 so long as it conformed to accepted standards of 

 quality, reeling, and cleanliness. Within the last 

 few years there has been a remarkable develop- 

 ment in the world's consumption of silk (espe- 

 cially in America), and manufacturers would 

 welcome with open arms new sources of supply 

 of the raw material. The situation offers unique 

 opportunities for India to establish her position 

 as an Imperial source of merchantable raw silk ; 

 and before finally deciding as to the future silk 

 policy of the country the authorities would be well 

 advised to consider the changes that are taking 

 place in the economic conditions of the world's 

 silk trade. 



SIR U'lLLlAM OSLER, BART., F.R.S. 



A CLAND, Burdon Sanderson, Osier ; and 

 ■^*- if to these we add — in a chair closely 

 allied to theirs — George Rolleston, we look upon 

 a procession of men of rare distinction of character 

 and accomplishments ; and each in his very dis- 

 tinction different from the others. Of such children 

 Oxford may well be proud. For if Osier by birth 

 was a Canadian, and in much of his life American, 

 yet his temper and culture were also of the best 

 Oxford could give ; Oxford whose gifts are 

 lavished abroad far beyond the narrow limits of 

 her own walls. Thus Osier, " after a sleep and a 

 forgetting," and "trailing clouds of glory" from 

 the old West Country of his fathers, came to 

 Oxford as to a spiritual home. And Oxford took 

 him to her heart as her own ; there, as one of her 

 own, he rested ; but bringing with him, as gifts 

 from the New World, an openness and simplicity 

 of mind and conversation, a frankness and gener- 

 osity of temper, a freedom from the frost and 

 weight of custom, and a pioneer's command of 

 affairs which made him as delightful a fellow- 

 worker as he was clear-sighted and effectual. 

 Children loved him, for in him thev found the 

 best part of themselves. Osier happened to be 



