3o6 



NATURE 



[January 13, 1910 



Sir Will.) Schlich was Inspector General of Forests. 

 He succeeded in obtaining the sanction of the Govern- 

 ment of India and of the Secretary of State for India 

 to the establishment of the working-plan branch of 

 the department. Under the regulations then issued, 

 all working plans had to be submitted to the Inspector 

 General, who examined them and communicated his 

 views on them to local governments. The Imperial 

 Superintendent of Working Plans kept a record of the 

 progress of the work hy means of annual returns 

 submitted to him by local authorities. In this w-ay, a 

 great store of statistics was collected, which, according 

 to Sir Wm. Schlich's intentions, were to be made 

 available as the work proceeded. Unfortunately, after 

 his departure from India in 18S5, little or nothing was 

 done in this respect for about fifteen years. 



k fresh move was commenced about the year 1901, 

 when Mr. R. C. Wroughton, then Inspector General 

 of Forests, conceived the idea of tlie present Forest 

 Research Institute, which was approved by the 

 Government of India. The installation of the 

 institute was, however, carried out by his successor, 

 Mr. J. Eardley Wilmot. It is stationed at Dehra Dun, 

 and consists of six members, namely : — (i) a president, 

 (2) an imperial superintendent of forest working plans, 

 and sylviculturist, (3) a forest zoologist, (4) a forest 

 botanist, (5) a forest economist, and (6) a forest 

 chemist. 



.Arrangements were made for the publication of (i) 

 Indian forest records, and (2) Indian forest memoirs. 

 The latter are published as quarto volumes measuring 

 i2j inches by 10 inches, this being the size used by 

 the Royal Asiatic Society and the Geological Survey 

 of India. 



The volume under review is the first number of the 

 economic product series. It is a stately but very 

 unwieldy volume, of 273 pages text, and 218 pages of 

 appendices. It is divided into part i., the various uses 

 of Indian woods according to the different purposes for 

 which wood is used; and part ii., descriptive list of 

 the chief Indian woods. 



The indices are two in number, giving (i) the 

 English and trade names, and (2) vernacular names. 



-As part i. is divided into thirty-four sectians, such as 

 agricultural implements, boat and ship building, 

 coopers' work, furniture, mining timber, ordnance 

 work, railway carriages, sleepers, telegraph poles, 

 tools, toys, wood pulp, &c., it follows that many woods 

 are mentioned under a considerable number of 

 sections. 



Part ii. deals with eacli species under a number of 

 heads, such as natural order, synonyms, English 

 name, vernacular names, habitat, description of tree 

 and wood, weight per cubic foot, strength, and chief 

 uses. Under the last head, all that has been said in 

 part i. is here repeated. The list of woods is arranged 

 alphabetically to facilitate reference. The number of 

 species dealt with is 554, or about 10 per cent, of some 

 5000 woody species, about half of which are trees. 

 The descriptions are based mainly on those in Gamble's 

 "Manual of Indian Timbers," supplemented by the 

 results of a further examination of many species. To 

 ascertain what proportion the latter bear to the former 

 would require a detailed comparison of the two works. 

 NO. 2098, VOL. 82] 



The appendices are no doubt very useful, but they 

 are contained in Gamble's book in far more concise 

 shape, while they are spread over 218 pages in the 

 work under review. Indeed, there is in the latter quite 

 an inexcusable waste of space, which reduces the use- 

 fulness of the index of vernacular names considerably ; 

 it might have been condensed to one-quarter the space. 

 We believe the work was compiled for the use of firms. 

 If this is so, why was the information, if w-anted at 

 all, not brought out in a handy little booklet instead 

 of in this big quarto volume, which requires a table 

 of its own to spread it out upon ? For the shape, 

 however, Mr. Troup is not responsible ; that was laid 

 down by official orders, which the author would have 

 done well to resist. 



The present is the second work published by Mr. 

 Troup, the first being a volume on Indian forest 

 utilisation. Both are, to a considerable extent, com- 

 pilations. We admire Mr. Troup's remarkable 

 activity, but we hope that his transfer to the post of 

 imperial working-plans officer and sylviculturist will 

 enable him to devote his energy to more fruitful work. 

 The most urgent need is the study of the sylvicultural 

 bearing of the more important Indian timber trees. 

 Gamble's "Manual of Indian Timbers" gives all that 

 is required regarding timbers and their uses, until 

 other branches of forestry have been brought up to 

 the same level. 



OVR BOOK SHELF. 



A Survey and Record of Woolwich and West Kent. 

 General editors, C. H. Grinling, T. A. Ingram, and 

 the late B. C. Pollcinghorne. Pp. viii-t-526. (Wool- 

 wich : Labour Representation Printing Co., Ltd., 

 igog.) Price los. 6d. 

 The publication of this work, originally intended for 

 the Woolwich Congress (1907) of the South-eastern 

 Union of Scientific Societies, has been delayed owing 

 to alterations found desirable in the original scheme, 

 and to the regretted death of one of the editors and 

 the prolonged ill-health of another. .As it now appears, 

 it is a valuable contribution to our l<nowledge of that 

 portion of Kent bounded by the Thames, the Ravens- 

 bourne, the Cray, and the outcrop of the chalk be- 

 tween the two last-named rivers. It is, moreover, an 

 excellent example of the beneficial result of cooperation 

 in scientific work, for here we have brought together, 

 in readily accessible form, records of the work of local 

 scientific societies and isolated naturalists. The 

 result, so far as numerical records are concerned, 

 will doubtless be astonishing to many. From a small 

 corner of Kent, only some fifty to sixty square miles 

 in area, a considerable portion within the London 

 postal district, none bevond what might be regarded 

 as the outer suburban zone, a rich flora and fauna are- 

 recorded. Of plants there is a list of more than 2000. 

 The number of animal forms is not summarised, but 

 the records, with citations of localities, occupy just 

 over 200 pages ; of Coleoptera or beetles no less than 

 3264 species are enumerated. 



The publication of these records will doubtless, as 

 the authors hope, induce others to contribute additions 

 either to the lists of species or of localities, and thus 

 to secure fuller knowledge of the distribution of the 

 organisms. Rapid changes, due to the incursions of 

 man, are taking place within the area, and in a few 

 years' time the records will have an added value in 

 enabling us to trace actual changes, and also, perhaps, 

 some of the causes determining those changes. 

 .Almost everyone interested in natural history makes 



