164 
of the year are made light of, and the difficulties 
which the arid climate offers to the detailed exam- 
ination of an extensive tract of such country have 
to be experienced in order that they may be fully 
appreciated HeeG. 
THE LAWES AND GILBERT CENTENARY 
FUND. 
UST a hundred years ago was born John 
Bennett Lawes, followed three years later by 
his life-long collaborator, John Henry Gilbert; 
together they carried on their scientific work 
until the end of the nineteenth century, and now 
preparations are being made to commemorate 
the year of Lawes’ birth by rebuilding the labora- 
tory in which so much of the pioneer work in 
agricultural science was done. The issue of the 
Annual Report on the Rothamsted Experiments 
reminds us of the historic claims of that institu- 
tion to all the assistance the public can give it. 
Lawes began his agricultural experiments so 
far back as 1838, but though those early essays 
led to the invention of superphosphate and so 
incidentally to the fortune from which he so 
liberally endowed the Rothamsted Station, the ex- 
periments, properly speaking, did not begin until 
1842, when Gilbert became associated with them. 
From that time some of the famous fields began 
to take shape, and by 1852 had settled down to 
that scheme of manuring which has never since 
been changed; in consequence, the plots now 
supply data as to the effect of fertilisers both upon 
the crop and upon the soil which are not merely 
unrivalled in their trustworthiness, but are con- 
stantly being re-interpreted as the science of the 
nutrition of the plant develops. In 1855 the 
laboratory was built from subscriptions raised as 
a testimonial to the value of Lawes’ work, and 
it is this laboratory, now out of date and becoming 
structurally unsound, that the Rothamsted Com- 
mittee seeks to replace. 
Lawes died in 1900, Gilbert in tgo1, and that 
first long and honourable chapter in the history 
of Rothamsted was closed. With the appoint- 
ment of a new Director, Mr. A. D. Hall, in 1902, 
came the desire for a fresh outlook upon the old 
experiments; new points of view had arisen, par- 
ticularly the physical and biological ‘aspects of the 
soil had become important. The first necessity 
was to get together a body of workers, for one 
man could no longer cover so complex a field, and 
to find adequate accommodation for them, because 
the arrangements of the old laboratory, though 
equal to the routine determinations which Gilbert 
needed, were extremely primitive. Unfortun- 
ately, the endowment of the Lawes’ Trust pro- 
vided no margin for extension; still the laboratory 
was reformed, a few voluntary assistants were 
secured and new ground broken. After a time 
J. F. Mason built a new wing for bacteri- 
ology and enabled Dr. H. B. Hutchinson to join 
the staff, and a little later the Goldsmiths’ Com- 
pany added to the endowment so that the services 
of Dr. E. J. Russell could he secured. 
NO. 2320, VOL; 63 | 
NAT ORE 
[APRIL 16, 1914 
Up to that time no assistance came from 
Government, but with the creation of the Develop- 
ment [Fund in 1910, the Rothamsted Station 
became recognised as the Institute for the investi- 
gation of the soil and the nutrition of the plant, 
and received an adequate endowment. The first 
result was that the Committee was able not only 
to add some experienced workers to the staff, but 
; also to take a long lease of the home farm con- 
taining the classic fields and to embark upon the 
erection of an additional laboratory with all 
modern conveniences of electric supply, vacuum 
and air current, etc. At that point Mr. Hall re- 
signed the Directorship, and was succeeded by 
Dr. Russell, who has no sooner got the new 
laboratory opened than he has set about the re- 
placement of the old one which, even were it 
adaptable to modern methods of work, has for 
years been giving trouble owing to original detects 
in construction. 
Subscriptions have been received from all parts 
of the world, the farming societies, large and 
small, in Great Britain, have contributed in a way 
that shows their increased appreciation of research, 
but nearly roool. are still wanted to complete 
the 6o0o0o0l. that it is necessary to raise from the 
public. The laboratory is expected to cost 
12,000l., towards which there is reason to expect 
the Development Commissioners will give a sum 
equal to that raised from other sources, so now 
is the time for everyone interested in the welfare 
of this doyen of institutions for agricultural re- 
search to send along their donations from which 
the Rothamsted Station will reap a double benefit. 
LHE LIFE-HISTORY (OR. THE aie 
M ANY articles in Nature have dealt, during 
recent years, with the above subject; but 
its interest is not exhausted, and we here welcome 
the appearance of three new contributions to the 
long-debated question of the eel. 
Dr. Grassi’s work is the first publication of the 
Italian Royal Commission on ‘“ Thalassography,” 
and in these first-fruits the commission gives 
promise of a great return from its systematic 
exploration of the Mediterranean Sea. Mr. Lea’s 
paper is one of the many beautiful and interesting 
monographs which have already been based on 
the collections made by Sir John Murray and Dr. 
Hjort in the deep waters of the Atlantic. Dr. 
Bowman’s paper is a brief but interesting note, 
based on the work of the Scottish research vessel 
Goldseeker. 
In a long and learned introduction Dr. Grassi 
relates the history of our knowledge of the life- 
history of the eel; and while this history has been 
often summarised, it is here told more completely 
than ever. Dr. Grassi goes back even to Aristotle, 
1 ‘* Metamorphose der Murznoiden: Systematische und Oekologische 
Untersuchungen ‘‘(Text Italienisch). By Dr. Battista Grassi. Pp. x+e2r11 
-+xv plates. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1913.) Price 50 marks. 
**Murznoid Larve from the Michael Sars North Atlantic Expedition, 
tg10.” By Einar Lea. In vol. iii. of the Scientific Reports of the Expedi- 
tion. Pp. 59+6 plates. (Bergen: John Grieg, 1913-) 
“The Distribution of the Larve of the Eel in Scottish Waters.” By 
Alexander Bowman, D.Sc. Fishery Board for Scotland, Scientific Tnigestige- 
tions, 1912, No. I] (December, 1913). 
