10 EOTHAMSTED. 



and spent a short time in the laboratory of Professor Liebig 

 at Giessen, Germany, where he took the degree of Doctor 

 of Philosophy. As has already been indicated, Sir J. H. 

 Gilbert has, since June 1, 1843, been continuously associated 

 with Sir John Bennet Lawes in the conduct of the Eotham- 

 sted Experimental Station. All through this period he has 

 been Director of the Eothamsted Laboratory. 



Sir J. H. Gilbert was elected a member of the Chemical 

 Society in 1841, the year of its formation, and was President 

 of the Society in 1882-83. He was elected a Fellow of the 

 Eoyal Society in 1860, and in 1867 the Council of the Society 

 awarded to him, in conjunction with Sir John Bennet Lawes, 

 one of the Eoyal Medals. He is also a Fellow of the Linnsean 

 Society, and of the Eoyal Meteorological Society. He received 

 the honorary degree of M.A. at Oxford in 1884, that of LL.D. 

 at Glasgow in 1883 and at Edinburgh in 1890, as also that 

 of Sc.D. at Cambridge in 1894. He was Sibthorpian Pro- 

 fessor of Eural Economy in the University of Oxford for six 

 years, from 1884 to 1890. 



In May 1893, the President and Council of the Society of 

 Arts awarded the Albert Gold Medal both to Sir John Lawes 

 and to Sir Henry Gilbert " for their joint services to scientific 

 agriculture, and notably for the researches which, throughout 

 a period of fifty years, have been carried on by them at the 

 experimental farm, Eothamsted " ; and the medals were pre- 

 sented to them at Marlborough House by H.E.H. the Prince 

 of Wales, President of the Society, in February 1894, in the 

 presence of many members of the Council of the Society. 



The Lawes Agricultural Trust provides that some one shall 

 periodically visit the United States of America, and give a 

 series of lectures upon the results of the Eothamsted investi- 

 gations. At the request of the Committee of Management, 

 Sir J. H. Gilbert undertook this duty in 1893, and thus for 

 the third time he visited the New World beyond the Atlantic, 

 his former visits having taken place in 1882 and 1884. Like 

 Sir John Bennet Lawes, he is an honorary or corresponding 

 member of numerous home and foreign agricultural and 

 scientific societies. 



The portrait of Sir J. Henry Gilbert, facing page 19, is 

 from a recent photograph by Wilkinson, Harpenden. 



In the pages which follow, Sir John Bennet Lawes and Sir 

 J. Henry Gilbert give an interesting review of an important 

 section of the great work of research which for more than 

 half a century has been the chief concern of their busy lives. 



JAMES MACDONALD. 



