January 21, 1909] 



NA TURE 



343 



in a shallow stream, while the last extension of the 

 Rhine glacier withdrew from northern Switzerland 



(P- 56). 



A full account is given by Prof. Hescheler of the 

 animal remains, which include representatives of the 

 lowland fauna of pre-Glacial times, of an Arctic or 

 Alpine fauna, now known to have been strongly 

 present, and of a fauna proper to the Magdalenian 

 epoch, suggesting steppes and tundras. The cave- 

 dwellers fed mostly on reindeer, hare, horse, and 

 ptarmigan, and probably had no domesticated animals. 

 Among the more interesting remains found may be 

 mentioned those of the mammoth, the lion, the woolly 

 rhinoceros and the musk-ox. G. A. J. C. 



THE A'ETI' IMPERIAL INSTITUTE. 



W/P- imagine that few, if any, members of the old 

 ' • Corporation of the Imperial Institute, which 

 was dissol\-ed by Act of Parliament in 1903, believed 

 that within a ver}" few years the institute would be 

 able to produce the record of useful work which has 

 just been presented to Parliament.' The policy at 

 first adopted, and persisted in long after it had 

 been discredited, led to a failure, in so far as the 

 complete fulfilment of the objects for which the insti- 

 tute was founded was concerned, and lent plausibilitv 

 to the view that South Kensington was too " in- 

 accessible " to become a centre of scientific and com- 

 mercial information concerning the raw materials of 

 the Empire. It has been amply proved, however, now 

 that the original failure was not due to this cause. 

 South Kensington is no longer inaccessible, and in 

 any case the exact position in London of a central 

 establishment, which has to be in close touch with 

 distant parts of the Empire, whence its work chiefly 

 comes, as well as with manufacturers throughout the 

 L'nited Kingdom, is a matter of secondary importance. 

 Whatever may be urged against the South Kensington 

 site, it has not stood in the way of the accomplishrlient 

 of an increasing volume of work which, it is clear 

 from the present report, must have taxed to the utmost 

 tlie power and capabilities of the relatively small staff 

 allotted to the institute. 



The new era dates from 1903, when the Imperial 

 Institute was transferred to the Government and placed 

 under the control of the Board of Trade, with Prof. 

 Dunstan as its new director. This Government depart- 

 ment seems, however, to have been primarily interested 

 in developing in the city a Commercial intelligence 

 Office, and appears to have done little to facilitate 

 reconstruction at South Kensington. The institute 

 made steady if slow progress during this period, 

 as shown by the report on its work presented to 

 Parliament in 1906, and received increasing support 

 from the colonies, with the result that in 1907 its man- 

 agement was delegated, under the Act of 1903, to the 

 Colonial Office, representation on the board of man- 

 agement being given to the India Office and the Board 

 of Trade. 



It may be claimed that the present measure of suc- 

 cess is the result of steady and persistent work on 

 scientific lines, and is indeed the outcome of the foun- 

 dation in i8q6 of the scientific and technical depart- 

 ment, with the assistance of the Royal Commissioners 

 of the Exhibition of 1851, who, however, ceased to 

 contribute to the support of this department when the 

 institute was transferred to the Government. 



The present report deals with each of the several 

 divisions of the work carried on, but we need only 



• Report on the Work of the Imperial In=titute. 1906 and 1907. Colonial 

 Reports— Annual Series, No. 584. By Prof. W. R. Dunstan, F.R.S. 



XO. 2047, VOL. 79] 



refer to that of more immediate scientific interest. This 

 concerns the operation of the institute in conducting 

 investigations and inquiries relating to the commercial 

 utilisation of the raw materials of the Empire. 



This work has benefited the British manufacturer, 

 as well as the colonial producer, as is shown by manv 

 instances quoted in the report. It is obviously of first 

 importance that this scientific work should be directed 

 to practical ends and made to tell commercially, so 

 that, as a rule, the results are of technical and com- 

 mercial rather than of purely scientific interest. 

 Nevertheless, the members of the scientific staff have 

 made a very creditable contribution to more purely 

 scientific knowledge, no fewer than thirty communica- 

 tions to the Royal and other scientific societies being 

 noticed in the report. These relate chiefly to the re- 

 sults of researches on the constituents of new vegetable 

 and mineral products. The material placed at the dis- 

 posal of the institute is so valuable and important, from 

 this point of view, that, in the interests of science, it 

 would be a wise step for the Colonial Office to enable 

 the scientific members of the staff to devote more time 

 to such investigations as these, most of which can only 

 be undertaken successfully by such men with special 

 training and experience, who are at present deterred 

 from undertaking it by the pressure of routine work. 



We observe that satisfactory working arrangements 

 have been concluded with agi^icultural and other tech- 

 nical departments in the colonies, by which only such 

 investigations are conducted at ' the institijte as 

 require special knowledge and experience, or are of a 

 technical character needing reference to manufacturers 

 at home. The colonies are thus left free to devote 

 attention to such work as can best be accomplished on 

 the spot, whilst relying on the Imperial Institute for 

 the conduct of investigations which can most usefully 

 be carried out by a central department at home. 



Brief mention may also be made of two other 

 branches of activity. 



The " Bulletin of the Imperial Institute " serves as 

 a medium for the publication of the more important 

 official reports of investigations, and also for the dis- 

 semination of information respecting developments in 

 tropical agriculture and the utilisation of raw 

 materials. This quarterly publication is stated in the 

 report to have a large and increasing circulation in this 

 country and the colonies. 



The_ public exhibition galleries contain exhibits repre- 

 sentative ofthe natural resources of practically all parts 

 of the Empire. Their reorganisation has been in pro- 

 gress since 1903, and new products, maps, statistical 

 diagrams, &c., are continually being added, with the 

 view of rendering the " Court " allotted to each British 

 possession as representative as possible of its present 

 economic development. The report mentions that 

 special facilities are now afforded to schools, with the 

 object of rendering the exhibition galleries useful as 

 a means of teaching the geography of the colonies and 

 India, and that these facilities are being taken advan- 

 tage of to an increasing extent. 



The Imperial Institute in its new righne still suffers 

 to some extent from the prejudice created by its false 

 start. Now that it has justified its existence and 

 shown that it can render services of great importance 

 to the Empire, it may be expected that something 

 further will be done to strengthen its general and finan- 

 cal position. The present report shows that its opera- 

 tions are hampered for want of space. The arrange- 

 ments made with the Government by the former 

 corporation included the occupation of a portion of the 

 building by the administrative offices of the University 

 of London. In view of the increasing need, both of the 

 university and the institute, for adequate accommodi- 



