506 TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION K. 



we must have forests even though afforestation were not a profitable enterprise. 

 We could not become a self-supporting country. We should rather aim at 

 making the Empire as a whole self-supporting, contenting ourselves in the 

 British Isles with the provision of sufficient timber to last us in emergency 

 for five years. 



In the discussion which followed, Dr. A. W. Borthwick emphasised the 

 importance of educational work in training those engaged in forestry. This 

 must be carried out in adequately staffed and ecjuipped institutions. 



Professor Somkrville pleaded for effective Government action, and drew a 

 vivid picture of the delays to progress as a result of inaction on the part of 

 the Government and the various hindrances which were put in the way of 

 advance. 



Mr. MiDDLETON, as representing a Government Department, thought Professor 

 Somerville a little severe. It was necessary to examine projects before they 

 were embarked upon, and he pleaded the necessity of the preliminary survey 

 which Professor Somerville had deprecated. 



FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. 

 The following business was transacted : — 



1. Discussion on the Bearing nj Bolauical Science on. Coal. 



The discussion was opened by Dr. jMarie Stopes, who laid emphasis on the 

 importance of the collaboration of palpeobotanist, chemist, and geologist in 

 answering the three chief questions about coal : what it is ; where it is ; and 

 how it may best be used. A very wide and also very detailed knowledge of 

 nfl fossil plants, not only the attractive or specially interesting ones, is requisite. 

 Parts of plants generally ignored by botanists dealing with the recent flora are 

 often the key to knowledge of fossil plants — fragments of angiospermic wood, 

 for example, of which a .systematised knowledge in recent families is urgently 

 needed. It may be said that for the discovery of where coal is a knowledge 

 of species and their outward characteristics is necessary ; while for the discovery 

 of ivhat it is and how it may best be used a knowledge of tissues and special 

 internal cell structures may prove of most value. Already tentative researches 

 show the possibility of particular by-products from coal being associated with 

 definite portions of plants. 



Owing to the fact that the coal of this country was nearly all carboniferous 

 in age, an idea seems prevalent that the study of fossil plants of other epochs 

 has no bearing on the coal question. This is very mistaken if we look at things 

 imperially, for the coal supplies of parts of our Empire are of differing geological 

 ages — e.g. the coal in India is nearly all either of Tertiary or ' Glossopteris- 

 fJoTa ' age, while Canada has vast Cretaceous resources. This justifies the claim 

 that every branch of pal?eobotanical study may have its bearing on some aspect 

 of the coal question in one part of our Empire or another. Though something 

 has been done in studying coal in sections, a much more intensive study is 

 needed, and methods are wanted for investigating it without sections — e.tj. when 

 it is already finely jiowdered. Reference was made to the enlightened encourage- 

 ment and employment by the State of specially trained paleeobotanists in a 

 number of the leading countries. 



Professor Weiss referred to the recent advance in the preparation of micro- 

 scopical slides exhibiting the structure of coal, and referred to the work of 

 Mr. James Lomax, who had made an extensive microscopical investigation of 

 various portions of coal seams, from which we learnt that certain portions of 

 a seam are much richer in spores than others. The presence or absence of these 

 spores makes a material difference in the chemical nature of various portions 

 of a seam, and while some of the coal may be more suitable for household use, 

 other portions may be more suitable for the manufacture of gas and coke. It 

 is important, therefore, that all se-ams should be systematically investigated 

 both microscopically and chemically, so that the coal may be put to the best use. 



