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March 8, 1883 | 
NATURE 
449 
attempt has yet been made to plant or to restore to a natural con- 
dition those unsightly tracts which were formerly inclo.ed, and 
of which many remain as barren wastes to the present time. 
The cause of the naturalist is thus imperillei both by the active 
and by the passive position of the Conmittee—he is like the 
pitcher in the Italian proverb, which says that ‘* whether the 
pitcher hits the stone or the stone hits the pitcher, it is always 
the worse for the pitcher.” 
It is now quite unnecessary to make detailed statements 
of the views of individual naturalists with refereice to the 
present subject. It will be remembered that at a meeting 
of this Society held last year, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton 
brought forward a proposal—and a very excellent one it 
was—that all landowners round the Forest district should 
agree to stop generally the destruction of all birds and animals 
on their estates, so that a great exp2riment mizht b2 carried out 
for some years, leading to a true ‘‘balance of nature” in the 
whole area comprised between the valleys of the Lea ani 
Roding. At the discussio. arising fron that suggestion the 
preservation of the fauna and flora as a whole was advocated, 
and many naturalists whose opinions will carry great weight 
expressed their views on the question of forest management. 
The complete report of this meeting has not yet appeared, bat I 
will refer yu to it prospectively, and in an appendix to the part 
of our Zrumsactions now going through the p-esi will app2ar 
papers, drawn up at the request of the Council, by Dr. M.C. 
Cooke, Mr. J. E. Harting, and Prof. Boalyer. The evils of 
deep drainage, from the nataralis*’s point of view, which fora 
the text of Dr. Cooke's protest, have already bzen pointed out 
by many, and I will just call your attention to some remarks on 
this subject by our eminent honorary member, Mr. A. R. 
Wallace, in an able art’cle published in the Avrvtnightly Review 
for November, 1878, wherein he says:—‘‘ It must be remem- 
bered, too, that a proportion of bog, and swamp, and damp 
hollows are essential parts of the ‘natural aspect’ of every great 
forest tract. It is in and around such places thit miny trees aad 
shrubs grow most luxuriantly ; it is such spots that will be 
haunted by iateresting birds and’ rare insects; and there alone 
many of the gems of our native flora myy still be found. Every 
naturalist searches forsuch spots as his best hunting grounds. Every 
lover of natuce finds them interesting anl enj>oyable.”” After enu- 
meratiog some of the rarer marsh plants of our Forest, Mr. Wallace 
continues :—‘* These ani many other choice plants would be 
exterminated if by too severe drainige all such wet places were 
made dry. The marsh birds and rare insects which hauated 
them would disappear, and thus a chief source of recreation and 
enjoyment to that num2rous and yearly increasing class who 
delight in wild flowers, birds, and insects, would be seriously 
interfered with.”’ 
It is sonewhat exceptional for a society fouided for 
the study and promotion of natural science to find itself 
engazed in active polemics, but in tasinz up the position 
into which we have been forced, we are simply carrying out 
that line of action which at our foundatioa I ventured to 
lay down as our true function with respect t» the Forest. 
(Inaugural Address, Zransactions, vol. i. pp. 19, 20.) It is 
extremely unfortunate that the claims of science should appear 
to be opposed to the wants of the general public—I say should 
appear to be opposed, because I am convinced that there is no 
reil antagonism. The grievance of naturalists is not only that 
their claims have been ignored, but the action of the Conserva- 
tors has hitherto been entirely on the destructive side, and a 
feeling of alarm has arisen lest the whole of the Forest should 
piecemeal be desecrated in the name of a fictitious philanthropy. 
The public wants—a; interpreted by the Board of Conservators 
—are made to take the form of clearing of underwood, drain- 
age, roadmaking, the intersection of the Forest by railways 
and tramways, and ample public-house accommodation. If 
these are really the fundamental requirements of holiday-seekers, 
then there must for ever be a strong antagonism between this 
class of the public and those whose cause I have taken it upon 
myself to advocate. At this juncture, however, we may fairly 
ask whether this kind of artificialised recreation-ground, @ /a 
Cremorne, is actually demanded by the frequenters of the Forest. 
I believe myself that it is not. The notion of keeping a 
holiday in what is only too often a bestial manner is not a fair 
estimate of the British excursionist. If he gives way to the 
temptations which have been so lavishly scattered in his path, it 
is, as Shakespeare puts into the mouth of King John, because 
‘*the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done.” The 
East Londoner who wishes to spend a day ina ‘‘ people’s park” is 
provided for elsewh2re, but if we conjent to the denaturalisiag 
of our Forest, the more intelligent class of excursioaists—and 
their name is lezion—will be either driven from its precincts or 
will suffer that degeneration which the liae of ac'ion at present 
pursued is exclusively calculated to bring about. 
- Inthe course of these re marks I may have s»mewhat exaggerated 
the supposed antagonism between the twoclasses most interested 
in the conservation of Epping Forest, but I have done so wita th: 
object of defining as sharply as possible the position of the hitherto 
uaconsidered naturalist. The conditions requisite for transform- 
ing the Forest intoa *‘ people’s park” are fatal t» its preservation 
as a natural history resort. Any pieze of waste land can be 
made into a park, but a tract of wild forest onze destroyed can 
n2vec b2 restored. I would once more urge, and most en- 
phatically, that there is no: the slightest desire on the part of 
naturalists to exclude the ‘‘ toiling million,” or to prevent their 
full enjoyment of the Forest. I wish only to point out that my 
present contention is that inthe long rua the wants, both of the 
naturalist and of the ordiairy excu-sionist, will be found to be 
absolutely coincideat. If th2 neighboarhood of a railway ter- 
minus with its conco nitant evils leads to the destruction of the 
“natural aspect” of any portion of the Forest, that portion is 
runed, not oily for the natucalist, but likewise for the general 
pwlic who com: to enjoy a day ia the couatry fur fron “*the 
bu y hum of mea.” By juliciou; management the re juirements 
of both claises can b2 met, and it rests entirely with the Con- 
servators to determine whether the attitude of th: respective 
parties is to be pacific or the revers?. It must be rem2mberel 
that long befo-ethe Forest was rescued by the Corporation this 
district was a favourite resort of multitudes of holiday folk, 
and, not being interfered with to any considerable exteat, was 
at the same time available to the naturalist. The note of 
alarm must be sounded, or we may find ourselves worse off than 
in pre-Conservatorial times. The constitution of the Eppiaz 
Forest Committze is apparently prejudicial to our interests if 
we may judge by the standird of past and present actions. 
Of this Com nittee the Verderers, who, as represe iting the Co n- 
moners and as residents in the Forest district, are best qualified to 
advise with respect to the manazement of the Forest, form but four 
ofa Committee of sixteen. However enlightened the views of these 
gentlemen miy be—and I only wish I could say that the present 
Verderers were unanimously of our way of thinking—they are 
thus liable to be outvoted. Another evil, and a most serious 
one so far a; we are concerned, is that the Committee is prac- 
tically a secret one—its proceedings are conducted with closed 
doors, and the people at large, whether naturalists or excur- 
sionists, have no means of making their voices heard. Whether 
this action is just in a case where the fund; are derived from a 
public source it does not enter into my province to consider. 
The views which I have now put forward are offered with the 
best of intentions with respect to the boly Conservatorial. We 
cannot be unmindful of our oblization to the Corp >ration for having 
saved the Forest, but we appeal to them to assist in exalting the 
ideas of those who frequent this place as a holiday resort instead 
' of pandering solely to the more degraded aspect of humana 
nature. A day spent amid the natural beauties of our sylvan 
glades is the beau ideal of a holiday, intellectually, morally, and 
physically, to those whose pursuits keep them confined to the 
town. Let Epping Forest be preserved for the multitudes who 
have for so lonz enjoyed it rationally. The ‘‘recreation and 
enjoyment of the vublic”’ will thus bec »me possessed of a higher 
meaning, and the na‘uralist while carrying on his studies as here- 
tofore will be doubly grateful to those who have secured these 
time-honoured preserves as a public space free from all fear of 
inclosure or destruction. The ideas which I have attempted to 
formulate are I know entertained by large numbers not only of 
working naturalists, but also by the continually gcowing class of 
lovers of the country and of nature in general. It is becoming a 
matter of almost national importance that the surviving tracts 
of open country in the neighbourhood of all large towns should 
be rigidly preserved, and opinions in accordance with this hay- 
from time to time been forcibly expressel both with resp2ct to 
our own Forest and all the common lands in the environs of 
London. 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE 
CAMBRIDGE. —The following farther appointments to Electoral 
Boards have been made :— 
Professorship of Botany: Sir Jos. Hooker, Dr. F. Darwin, 
