November 14, 1918] 



NATURE 



minor and major examinations he occupied several 



positions on the staff, and carried out research on 



ilkaloids of aconite. While acting afterwards 



for fjve years with the firm of Messrs. Brady and 



Martin at Newcastle, lie successfully used his 



leisure to prepare foi the B.Sc. degree "l London 

 University. Hie nexl six years were spent as 

 head of the analytical department of Messrs. 

 Burroughs Wellcome and Co. In 1905 he went 

 into partnership in a school of pharmacy, but 

 finally took up the independent practice ol con- 

 sulting and analytical chemistry. He was an 

 eminent specialist in the analysis of drugs and 

 medicinal substances, and as analyst to (he British 

 Medical Association made nearly all the analysis 

 of proprietary articles which were revealed in the 



two publications "Secret Remedies" and "More 



Secret Remedies," a service ol immense value to 

 public health and public economy that has scarcely 

 yet, for well-known discreditable reasons, been 

 gri\ en a i ham e of realisation. 



Col. Harrison was a fellow of the Institute of 



Chemistry, and published a number of papers on 



his special province of the science. His process 



• stimating the diastatic strength of malts is 



in general use. He was active both as a 

 student and a past student in the life of the 



Pharmaceutical Society's School, in which he was 

 most highl) regarded, and to which as his alnin 

 mater he was loyally devoted. He was a member 

 of the board of examiners, and last year he 

 delivered a thought fid and valuable address at the 

 inauguration "I the session. For three years he 

 conducted the practical chemistry competition 

 maintained in the weekly Pharmaceutical Journal. 

 His professional life was, indeed, in the highest 

 degree strenuous. 



As soon as the war broke out Col. Harrison was 

 impatient to join the forces. After being refused 

 al times on the ground of age, he became 

 a special constable and a volunteer in the Inns 

 of Court Reserve Corps. Later he succeeded in 

 entering as a private in the Sportsmen's Battalion 

 of the Royal Fusiliers. It was by an accident 

 that he came under the notice of the first head of 

 the anti-gas service at home, Col. Sir W. H. 

 Horrocks, R.A.M.C., who with some difficulty 

 succeeded in securing his services. Hi- was given 

 the rank of lieutenant on the general list, and 

 from that time devoted himself to the anti-gas 

 service. It was only in the present year that his 

 duties were extended over both branches of the 

 gas service. Of Col. Harrison's personal contribu- 

 tion to the invention, design, and manufacture of 

 the appliances necessitated by gas warfare it 

 would not be proper to speak at present in any 

 detail. It is to be hoped that some day the story 

 may be told. It is enough to say that his services 

 were of inestimable value. 



The type of chemical training and of experience 

 which Col. Harrison brought to hear was of great 

 value in the design of appliances, on the problem 

 of securing and testing supplies, and of trans- 

 lating laboratory experiment into large-scale 

 operations. This is well brought out in the follow- 

 NO. 2550. VOL. 102] 



ing extract from a letter which has been received 



from Lord Moid ton : "It is only those who were 



brought into intimate contact with his work who 



ible to estimate rightly how great a loss to 



I Ik country was his death. He was an extra- 

 ordinary compound of the theoretical and the prac- 

 tical mind. His knowledge- of all thai bore upon 

 chemical warfare was extensive and profound, but 

 it was accompanied by an overriding practical 

 sense a sense of proportion which gave him 

 quick and sound decision and enabled him to give- 

 to our armies in the field the lull benefit of the 

 rese in hes made by us and our Allies promptly and 

 in the most useful form. I do not see how his 

 place can be tilled. I hope, however, that events 

 will show that he lived long enough to finish the 

 work before him. He dieil at the moment of 

 victory. I fear that his death was due to his 

 having exhausted his strength in his devotion to 

 his country." 



Col. Harrison's talent for organisation was, 

 however, dominant above everything. The amount 

 of work he got through was amazing. He was in 

 no way tempestuous or violently masterful, but 

 with indomitable will, intense concentration, and 

 few words he went straight to the heart of things 

 — one thing after another — without confusion, 

 clear-headed, terse, lucid, and suggestive, even 

 when most weary and worn by incessant toil. He 

 was invariably patient and imperturbable; no 

 problem, however suddenly presented or however 

 vast, daunted him, no mischance dismayed him. 

 Emergency seemed to be his natural element ; he 

 seemed constantly on active duty. The mention 

 of rest, leisure, or leave raised a smile, as for 

 something incompatible or, perhaps, for the 

 pleasant thought of bygone days. 



One could not but wonder what this man might 

 not have done in the arts of peace if only he had 

 been discovered earlier. The war brought him his 

 chance. Suddenly the bonds of an artificial world 

 were released; he put on his armour and fought 

 for four strenuous years, to die an acknowledged 

 leader of men in a vast campaign, and worthy 

 indeed of the full military honours and of the 

 sorrow eloquent on the faces of troops of friends, 

 amid which he was laid to rest. A. S. 



NOTES. 



Inasmuch as it provides for the bringing together, 

 under one Minister, of the Local Government Board, 

 the Insurance Commissioners, and other bodies per- 

 forming health duties of a more or less definitely pre- 

 ventive kind, the Ministry of Health Bill will be wel- 

 comed by all interested in improving the national 

 health. The welcome, in all probability, will be a little 

 less warm than it might have been, because, though 

 the Bill may, as Dr. Addison, the introducer, said, 

 represent a common measure of agreement," it 

 nevertheless contains evidence that much in the way 

 of compromise was necessary before agreement was 

 reached On'- of the- chief signs is the provision with 

 regard to the taking over from the Board of Educa- 

 tion of the medical inspection and treatment of school 

 children. This, it is stated, is to come under the 

 Mmistrv of Health and ils Minister onh "as and when 



