October 31, iqi8] 



NATURE 



169 



the Calico Printers' Association, oi which he is 



chairman, on September 18. It appears thai 1 In- 

 association is b\ far tin largest user of colour 

 ■n this country. Before the advent of the war 

 the 2000 colours it then used were to the extent 

 nt 70 per cent, produced solely in Germany, and 

 of tin- remainder onlv 7 per cent, were of British 

 origin. At tin- present time out of the restricted 

 list of 230 essential base colours only 25 per cent. 

 are produced bj British makers, one-third of these 

 being substitutes, ami only used because better 



colours cannol hi' obtained, whilst the cost is not 



less than from joo to iooo per cent, above pre- 

 war prices. Moreorcr, "f tin 230 colours above- 

 named, only the commoner colours, including also 

 inn or two oi the better kind, are obtained from 

 British firms. The association is, in fact, depen- 

 dent upon the Swiss colour manufacturers for 

 the liner ranges and Specialities, while quite hall 



the colours of the said list cannot he obtained at 

 all, amongst them some of the most valuable. 



Ibis is a very serious stale ol affairs, since of 

 the cotton ^oihIs export of Great Britain, amount- 

 ing in 1913 lo 50,000,000/., more than hall were 

 exported in the coloured state. Unless in the 

 future the colours essential to the industry can 

 be produced in ibis country of a quality and 

 range and at a price which compare favourably 

 with the production of Germany and Switzerland, 

 this great industry must inevitably suffer, and 

 be doomed to ultimate failure; and not alone this 

 important moiety of our cotton textile exports, 

 for we shall likewise imperil the market for un- 

 coloured textiles also. A boycott which is con- 

 templated on the import of German dyes, with the 

 view of encouraging the production of British dyes, 

 will not meet the case so long as the quality or 

 the class of dye (new dyes are continually being 

 produced), or the price at which they can be 

 sold to the user, will not compare with the pro- 

 duct of the foreign manufacturer. The calico 

 printers and dyers, having regard to the fact that 

 they are in competition with nations all over the 

 world in foreign markets, must of necessin gel 

 tin colours they require in the best and cheapest 

 market, and if they cannot procure these at home 

 must do so where they can. We have the raw 

 material of the coal-tar colours here in vast Cjuan- 

 tities, which we largely exported to Germany, 

 and in the case of one large firm in the North of 

 England, which is Swiss-owned, the intermediate 

 products are sent to Switzerland, to be there 

 and returned to this country in the form 

 of cl\ c s of fine quality. 



is but one effective remedy for this most 

 tnenaoe to one of the greatest of our indus- 

 tries, and it consists in the provision of a numer- 

 ous highly trained body of skilled workers which 

 it is the business of our scientific colleges to 

 supply. Therein lies the initial advantage of 

 Germany and Switzerland. Just fifty-six years 

 ago it was confidently stated in an official docu- 

 ment that, having regard lo the exhibits at the 

 tionaJ Exhibition, London, in 1862, 

 "England has now become the dye-producing 



NO. 2557, VOL. I02] 



nation ol Europe," ind we now see, because ol 

 our lack ol enterprise and vision, how completely 

 this has been falsified. Mr. Milton Clarke, the 

 president ol the Bradford Dyers' Association, 

 declared in February, 1916, thai the establishment 

 ill the synthetic dye industry was vital to our 

 national safety, since dyes and high explosives 

 were very closely related, and that o oleic, self- 

 lined, and independent manufacture ol aniline 

 dyes within the United Kingdom essential 



to the commercial and martial protection of the 

 Slate. " Had it not been for the aid we have 

 received from the Swiss makers," he went on 

 1,1 say, "I dare not contemplate what our position 



would haw been (luring the last eigl 

 months. " 

 The vital importance of this question is evi- 

 ct by the fact that, taking the whole range 

 ol the textile- industries of the kingdom, the 

 annual exports reach a total value of 200,000, oooi., 

 and the number of persons employed is some- 

 thing near two millions. It is, therefore, a 

 matter of serious national concern, and justifies 

 the Government in any prudently considered action 

 which would legitimately and permanently ensure 

 the- well-being not only of the dye-producers, but 

 also of the dye-consumers. Wisely conceived, 

 their interests are mutual and inseparable, .end 

 must be studied as a whole. 



////•: RIGHT HON. SIR EDWARD 

 FRY. G.C.B., F.R.S. 



SIR EDWARD FRY, who died on October 18, 

 within a few weeks of reaching the age of 

 ninety-one, was born at Bristol, and educated at 

 University College, London. He was called to the 

 Bar in 1S54, and, alter a brilliant career, was made 

 a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1883. He resigned 

 in 1892, but his services were repeatedly utilised 

 by the Government, particularly as chairman of 

 various Commissions. He was also a member of 

 the Hague Permanent Arbitration Court. A man 

 of wide knowledge and interests, he was a good 

 classical scholar and a student of history, philo- 

 sophy, and the natural sciences. As a bov he 

 and bis younger brother David took a keen interest 

 in the flora of the district near their home in 

 Bristol, an area which included 'the famous 

 botanical locality, the Si. Vincent's Rocks. Mr. 

 David Fry, who died in 1912, was a fellow-worker 

 nl Mr. James White, author of the Bristol 

 " I- lor. 1. " 



Sir Edward Fry was especially interested in 

 mosses, and a lecture which he gave in iSqr al 

 the Royal Institution on British mosses was 

 developed mice an admirable- little- text-book in 

 which th life-history, structure, and phylogeny 

 of the- mosse-s are de-scribed in a popular but 

 thoroughly scientific- manner. \ second edition 

 ed ni H)oS. A companion volume on the 

 "Liverworts; British and Foci ppeared in 



ictit. In the latter work Sit In rd I iv was 

 ed by bis daughter) ^lis ^gpes Fry, who 



