July 31, 1919] 



NATURE 



431 



derivatives (each an inquiry of unparalleled mag- 

 nitude and importance), he made biology, on the 

 chemical side, a science. 



Fischer appears to have continued to exercise 

 his academic activity throughout the period of 

 hostilities, as communications bearing his name 

 have been published at frequent intervals. It is 

 difficult to imagine that he can have taken any 

 part in the hellish work of war. The loss of such 

 a man at such a time is greatly to be deplored, 

 as he would probably have been one of the few 

 to exercise an ameliorating influence. He died at 

 the comparatively early age of sixty-seven. 



Fischer received the Davy medal from the 

 Royal Society in 1890 and was elected a Foreign 

 Member of the society in 1899. He was awarded 

 the Nobel prize in 1902. He had many com- 

 petent English and American workers among his 

 students, who rendered him no slight assistance. 

 His laboratory has been one of the limited number 

 in which, of late years, experience of real value, 

 both technical and moral, could be gained; few 

 men have set so high an example to their 

 students and no one was more mindful in spirit 

 of his countryman Kekule's saying, "Nur keine 

 unreifen Friichte." He would recommend no one 

 whfo was not sufficiently trained. Many are now- 

 seeking entry into practice here who are not only 

 under-trained but also unaware of their ignorance : 

 herein lies our danger — we have yet to attach 

 real meaning to the term "chemist " and to follow 

 Fischer's example. As representative of the 

 genus in its most highly developed modern form, 

 he is to be placed at the very apex. 



From the time of Liebig onward English 

 students have visited German laboratories and 

 these have undoubtedly afforded them valuable 

 opportunities. But the Germans have also been 

 gainers thereby and they have yet to realise what 

 they lose by our withdrawal. The change of 

 circumstances will be to our advantage in many 

 ways. The object of higher training should be 

 to promote originality and individuality, but in- 

 stead of being trained on individualistic lines, of 

 late vears students in Germany have been led to 

 worship authority rather than to be freethinkers. 



A more serious consequence of the constant 

 emigration of our students to German labora- 

 tories, however, was the effect this had in pre- 

 venting the development of higher education in 

 our own schools : until recently it rendered the 

 systematic prosecution of chemical inquiry and 

 the formation of' schools of research in this 

 country almost impossible. Our most capable 

 workers were constantly withdrawn from us just 

 as they were about to become valuable instru- 

 ments — we were allowed to sharpen pencils but 

 not to use them. In fact, we have allowed the 

 Germans to monopolise not only the dyestuflf in- 

 dustry but also the higher academic industry— and 

 not only have our best students been encouraged 

 to leave us but we have also done our utmost 

 to sterilise the intellects of the remainder by a 

 cast-iron system of examinations. The 1851 Com- 

 missioners, unfortunately, favoured this policy; 

 NO. 2596, VOL. 103] 



indeed, at one time they almost forced their 

 chemical scholars to go to Germany. As there 

 was no interchange, we were left without helpers. 

 The protests made as to the impolicy of the course 

 were of no avail — we were told, in no halting 

 terms, that we sought to keep students at home 

 to serve as our assistants ; yet the Germans were 

 allowed to use them to their ends — in the eyes 

 of our officials what was improper here was 

 permissible abroad. Fortunately, during the past 

 decade or two, we have been successful in gradu- 

 ally stemming the tide of emigration and our 

 higher instruction has been developed apace, 

 though hitherto it has never been otherwise than 

 starved. * H. E. A. 



NOTEH. 



The Forestry Bill, which was brought up in the 

 House of Lords early in the month, has now passed 

 its third reading. The Bill is the first attempt at 

 forestry legislation to be brought before Parliament 

 since the question of afforesting some of the wasite 

 lands in the country was firsl: mooted more than thirty 

 years ago. During this period numerous Commissions 

 and Parliamentary Committees were appointed to con- 

 sider this matter, but no planting was undertaken as 

 a result of their deliberations. It is the war, and the 

 enormous demands for timber, especially the soft 

 woods of the trade, entailed by it, which opened the 

 eyes of the Government to the dangerous position in 

 which Great Britain stood in the matter of timber 

 supplies. The Government Bill now before the 

 country is closely based on the recommendations made 

 by the Forestry Sub-Committee appointed by the late 

 Minister of Reconstruction. It proposes the appoint- 

 ment of a Forestry Authority of seven (reduced to five 

 in the House of Lords) Commissioners and the 

 afforestation of 1,750,000 acres in eighty years, a 

 quarter of a million acres to be planted in 'the first 

 ten years at a cost of 3,500,000!. The total cost of 

 the undertaking will certainly be far greater than the 

 estimates laid before the House, these estimates being 

 very nearly pre-war figures. The Bill was introduced 

 by the Earl of Crawford. It was opposed bv Viscount 

 Haldane, whose chief arguments were the danger of 

 erecting an authority of the kind proposed, which 

 would not be subordinate to any Minister; and pos- 

 sessed of funds drawn from the Consolidated Fund, 

 and not, therefore, placed on the Estimates, and con- 

 sequently far less open to effective criticism in Par- 

 liament. The main point brought out bv Lord Hal- 

 dane, the one really weak part of the Bill from the 

 scientific point of view, is the inadequate manner in 

 which provision is made for future educational and 

 research work and for the representadon on the Board 

 of Commissioners of forestry experts possessed of a 

 sound scientific training.' In the matter of 

 scientific training and knowledge the proposed Board 

 of Commissioners is a purely amateur one. Unless 

 means can be devised to set up a Board trulv repre- 

 sentative of what is required — a Board which shall 

 include a strong representation of men provided with 

 a sound scientific training and a wide practical know- 

 ledge of forestry conditions throughout the Empire — 

 there is a grave danger that the objects the Bill seeks 

 to achieve will be doomed to failure from the outset, 

 with the resultant disappointment and waste of public 

 funds. 



We regret to learn of the death, at seventy-five vears 

 of age, of Antoine Paul Nicolas Franchimorit, emeritus 

 professor of organic chemistry in the L^niversitv of 



