June 6, 1907J 



NA TURE 



while Fayrer's large, open forehead and calm expres- 

 sion reminded me of an elephant, and one could 

 hardly look at him without thinking how rightly the 

 Hindoos have chosen an elephant's head for their god 

 of wisdom. Both men were alike in the stern up- 

 rightness of their characters, in the extent of their 

 knowledge and the wideness of their interests, in 

 the clearness of their views, the correctness of their 

 decisions, their absolute fearlessness, their prompt 

 and energetic action, their firm determination to carry 

 out what they thought right, in their tenacity of pur- 

 pose, in a certain impatience of opposition, and in 

 their great success in overcoming it. .'\ssociated with 

 these qualities which compelled admiration were 

 an extraordinary kindness and tenderness of heart 

 which gained the affection of all who knew them. 



It is not so easy to draw a comparison between their 

 intellectual powers, because their spheres of activity 

 were so v'ery difTerent. Huxley's life was passed in 

 the pursuit and teaching of science and philosophy ; 

 Fayrer's scientific work was done in the short in- 

 tervals of time that he could snatch from the pressure 

 of other occupations, ^^'hile Huxlev w-as on board the 

 Rtittlesnake, Fayrer was engaged in amputating 

 limbs and treating gunshot wounds in the insurrec- 

 tion at Palermo, and narrowly escaped death at the 

 siege of Rome by the French. Between such occu- 

 pations, however, he managed to learn sufficient 

 Italian to pass the examinations and obtain the degree 

 of M.D. in the University of Rome, perhaps the only 

 doctor not a Roman Catholic who ever did so. 



Before his friend Huxley had come back from his 

 voyage, Fayrer went out to India, and again saw- 

 active service in the Burmese war. During this war 

 he distinguished himself so highly that the Governor- 

 General appointed him residency surgeon at Luck- 

 now, the best appointment at his disposal, as a reward 

 for his services. 



In order to carrv on his work he had to learn 

 Hindostani and Persian, and in addition to all his 

 medical work he had to conduct a great deal of the 

 correspondence between the British Government and 

 the King of Oude. When the Indian Mutiny broke 

 out, Fayrer's house in Lucknow was one of the most 

 exposed to the enemv's attack, and he himself took 

 an active part in the defence of the town as well as 

 attending to all the medical and surgical work w'hich 

 disease from insanitrirv conditions, unsuitable food 

 and the wounds by shot and shell caused amongst the 

 besieged. 



Broken in health, Fayrer returned to England after 

 the Mutiny, but instead of remaining idle he went 

 to Edinburgh, worked at the university, passed his 

 examinations, and received the degree of M.D. He 

 then returned to India, where he became professor of 

 surgery in Calcutta. 



In 1S70 he went with the Duke of Edinburgh on 

 his travels in India, and in 1875 accompanied the 

 King, who was then Prince of Wales, to India. He 

 was a keen sportsman, and was fond of zoology, and 

 in 1867, when president of the .Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal, he proposed to found a Zoological Gardens 

 in Calcutta, a proposition which, after some years, 

 was carried into effect. He also proposed an 

 ethnological investigation of the races of India, but 

 this was never fullv carried out. 



Much of his time was taken up by pathological 

 investigation and sanitary work, but the research in 

 which he took the greatest interest was his zoological 

 work on the snakes of India and his physiological 

 investigation into the action of their venom. It was 

 during this investigation that he fii-st tried the effect 

 of various antidotes, one of which, permanganate of 

 potash, is now beginning to be used in such a way 

 as to preserve life in cases of snake bite which would 



NO. 1962, VOL. 76] 



otherwise have been fatal. The difficulties under 

 which his scientific work was carried out are shown 

 by the fact that he had often to leave an experiment 

 of this kind in order to attend to his hospital' work, 

 and that while there amputating a limb or per- 

 forming some other operation his mind would be 

 disturbed by anxiety regarding the condition of his 

 private patients, who were anxiously waiting for him. 

 But for Fayrer's extensive knowledge and firm de- 

 decision in difficult circumstances, the Prince of 

 Wales, with whom he w'as travelling, might possibly 

 have been induced by the earnest entreaties of various 

 personages to visit infected places, with the probable 

 result that cholera might have spread over large dis- 

 tricts of India, and that our King might never have 

 returned from his visit to that part of his Empire. 

 Not only do scientific men owe a great debt to 

 Fayrer for his own contributions to science and for 

 the bias he gave to Huxley's life, but also for the 

 care which he took of our King's life and the benefits 

 which its preservation has conferred upon the Empire. 

 .At Fayrer's funeral one of the wreaths bore the 

 gracious inscription, 



" For .\uld Lang .Syne from Edward VII." 



L.AUDER BrCNTON. 



SIR DIETRICH BRAXDIS, K.C.I.E., F.R.S. 



BY the death of Sir Dietrich Brandis, which oc- 

 curred at Bonn on May 2S, a man of world-wide 

 renown has been removed. Brandis was born on 

 .April I, 1824, at Bonn, being the son of Dr. Christian 

 Brandis, professor of philosophy in Bonn University. 

 As a boy he followed his father to Greece, where lie 

 spent several years. On his return to Germany he 

 was educated at the Universities of Copenhagen, 

 Gottingcn, and Bonn. He became, in 1S49, lecturer 

 (Privai-docent) on botany at Bonn. In 1854 he 

 married a daughter of Dr. Marshman, of Bengal. 

 This happened to be the turning-point in his career. 



.After the occupation of the province of Pegu in 

 Burma, Lord Dalhousie was looking for a man to 

 take charge of the important teak forests of that 

 province, when his attention was directed to Brandis 

 by the latter's brother-in-law, General Sir Henry 

 Havelock. Lord Dalhousie wrote to Brandis that if he 

 would come to India he would be appointed superin- 

 tendent of the Pegu teak forests. The offer was 

 accepted, and Brandis landed at Calcutta in 1856. 

 He explained his views to Lord Dalhousie, who, in 

 taking leave of him, said, " Dr. Brandis, if you carry 

 out the scheme which you have explained to me, you 

 will confer a great benefit upon this country." 

 Brandis never saw Lord Dalhousie again, but his 

 parting words remained with him throughout his 

 service. Brandis set to work to save the Burma teak 

 forests, in which endeavour he had the full support of 

 Major (afterwards Sir .Arthur) Phayre. .After a long- 

 continued struggle the forests were placed under 

 systematic management, and they, with the forests of 

 Upper Burma, are now the chief supply of teak 

 timber to the world. 



In 1862, Brandis was called to Simla, at the sugges- 

 tion, it is believed, of Dr. Cleghorn, one of the prin- 

 cipal pioneers of forest conservancy in India, to advise 

 the Government of India on forest matters in other 

 provinces, and in 1S64 he was appointed the first 

 Inspector-General of Forests to the Government of 

 India. He then set to work to introduce systematic 

 forest management throughout India. A regular de- 

 partment was established and a forest law passed. 

 Brandis travelled from one end of the Bengal Presi- 

 dency to the other, advising and organising the 

 department. He also visited Bombay twice, and 



