Protection Forests. 131 



Until the beginning of the present century the pro- 

 tective function of the forest had played no role in the 

 arguments for state interference, but just about the be- 

 ginning of the century cries were heard from France that 

 owing to the reckless devastation of the Vosges and Jura 

 Alps by cutting, by fires and overgrazing, the brooks had 

 become torrents and the valleys were inundated and cov- 

 ered by the debris and sUt of the torrents. A new aspect 

 of the results of forest devastation began to be recog- 

 nized, which found excellent expression in a memoir by 

 Moreau de Jonnes (Brussels, 1825), on the question 

 ''What changes does denudation effect on the physical 

 condition of the country."' This being translated by 

 Wiedenmann, was widely spread, being interestingly 

 written, although not well founded on facts of natural 

 history and physical laws. Xevertheless, sufficient ex- 

 perience as regards the effect of denudation in mountain- 

 ous countries had also accumulated in southwest Ger- 

 many and in the Austrian Alps, and the necessity of 

 protective legislation was recognized. This necessity 

 first found practical expression in the Bavarian law 

 of 1852, in Prussia in 1875 and Wiirtemberg in 1879. 

 But a really proper basis for formulating a policy or 

 argument for protective legislation outside of the moun- 

 tainous country is still absent, although for a number 

 of years attempts have been made to secure such basis. 



8. Forestry Science and Literature* 

 The habit of writing encyclopedic volumes, which the 

 Cameralists and learned hunters had inaugurated in the 



*The necessarily brief statements which are made under this heading pre- 

 suppose knowledge of the technical details to which they refer. In this short 

 history it was possible only to sketch rapidly the development of the science in 

 terms familiar to the professional mas. 



