\ 
DEcEMBER 28, 1916] 
NATURE . 331 
deal with disease, are no less excellent than the 
account of the normal life of the plant. In the 
chapters devoted to fungi such diseases as finger- 
and-toe, black scab, late blight, rust, and mildews 
are described. It is curious that no reference 
appears to be made to the fact that many varieties 
of potato are now known to resist attack by black 
scab—a fact of the greatest importance to allot- 
ment-holders and town gardeners. The remedies 
suggested for use in the case of mildews certainly 
‘do not apply to American gooseberry mildew, a 
_ disease which is so widespread and so disastrous 
in its consequences that it might well have 
received more thorough treatment. Much useful 
information is provided on the subject of animal 
pests, but gardeners with a knowledge of their 
ravages might look for a fuller account of eel- 
worms, which pests are probably responsible for 
more damage in gardens than is any other 
fungus or insect. The accounts of such pests as 
the cabbage-root fly and the onion fly, which have 
been very active this year, are particularly 
clear. We could only wish that the measures 
whereby these pests are to be combated were 
half as good; but for more perfect measures we 
must look to future research, for at present they 
are unknown. To the reviewer at all events the 
absence of illustrations is no drawback; it may be, 
however, that the layman may find it difficult to 
see mentally the pests and processes without their 
aid. We trust not; for we hold the belief that 
pictures are overdone in popular books on science 
and in science teaching generally. EB. OK. 
PROF. DANIEL OLIVER, F.R.S. 
\ \ J1TH deep regret we record the death at Kew 
on December 21, in his eighty-seventh year, 
of Emeritus Prof. Daniel Oliver. The eldest son 
of another Daniel Oliver, the deceased was born 
at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on February 6, 1830, and 
was educated partly in private schools, partly at 
the Friends’ School, Brookfield, near Wigton. 
Attached from an early age to botanical study 
and a youthful member of a local scientific society, 
we find him in 1847 contributing to the Phyto- 
logist a list of rare plants from different geo- 
logical formations, and in 1850 adding a new 
genus to the flora of the United Kingdom. In 
1851 he became a fellow of the Edinburgh 
Botanical Society,, and in 1853 of the Linnean 
Society. His reputation as a keen and critical 
worker, gained in the North of England, was 
already such as to prompt Sir William Hooker 
to invite him to assist his son in the heavy task 
of arranging and distributing the botanical col- 
lections accumulated by the East India Company 
and to induce him in 1858 to become an assistant 
in the herbarium at Kew. On settling there 
Oliver instituted in 1859 a course of lectures on 
botany, which he continued to conduct until 1874, 
for the benefit of the young gardeners. He 
proved so excellent a teacher that in 1861 he was 
appointed to the botanical chair which had been 
occupied by Lindley at University College, London. 
NO. 2461, VoL. 98] 
The extent and accuracy of his botanical knowledge 
led to his ‘election to the Royal Society in 1863 
and to his appointment, on the retirement of Mr. 
A. Black in 1864, to the keepership of the 
herbarium and library at Kew. The chair at 
University College, now held by his distinguished 
son, Oliver retained until 1888; the keepership 
at Kew he occupied until he retired from the 
public service in 1890. After his retirement he 
succeeded Sir Joseph Hooker as editor, on behalf 
of the Bentham Trustees, of the ‘‘Icones Plan- 
tarum.”’ This duty he fulfilled for five years, so 
that his connection with the institution where 
he worked so long, and for which he did so 
much, was not finally severed until 1895. 
The salient features of Oliver’s contributions to 
botany, too numerous to be recounted here, are 
the accuracy of his observations, the soundness 
of his conclusions, and the combined fidelity and 
artistic skill of his illustrations. But his published 
works represent only a fraction of his botanical 
knowledge, so exact as to have earned the justi- 
fiable confidence of Sir Joseph Hooker and Mr. 
Bentham while engaged in preparing their great 
“Genera Plantarum,” so wide that Darwin, when 
seeking the benefit of his great knowledge of 
flowering plants, spoke of him to Hooker, only 
half in play, as the “omniscient” Oliver. This 
wide knowledge, the outcome of the long and 
patient devotion to duty of a keen and active 
intellect, was readily placed at the disposal of all 
serious students who chose to consult him. If 
he never sought, neither did he avoid, the outside 
duties that devolve on men of his capacity; he 
served twice on the council of the Royal, twice 
on that of the Linnean Society. He did strive 
to avoid, but could not wholly escape, honours 
and distinctions. In 1882 the Edinburgh Botanical 
Society elected him, after thirty years of ordinary 
membership, one of their six British honorary 
fellows. In 1884 the Royal Society recommended 
him as the recipient of a Royal medal. In 1891 
the University of Aberdeen conferred on him the 
degree of LL.D. In 1893 the Linnean Society 
awarded him its gold medal, and a number of 
friends arranged for the painting of his portrait 
by Mr. J. Wilson Foster for presentation to the 
herbarium at Kew. On his attaining his eightieth 
birthday in 1910 old colleagues united with the 
existing herbarium staff in offering him an address 
of congratulation. 
After his definite retirement from botanical 
pursuits in 1895, Oliver devoted himself to his 
garden and to the further cultivation of that 
artistic gift to the possession of which his 
botanical illustrations testify, with such results 
as to warrant the belief that, had he chosen to 
make Art his mistress, he might well have merited 
in her service the eminence which his devotion to 
Botany deserved. 
Oliver married in 1861 Miss Harriet Wall, of 
Sheffield, by whom, by his son, and by two 
daughters he is survived. Those whose privilege 
it is to have known Oliver mourn with them the 
loss of a true and hichly gifted friend. 
