Robert Warington. Xvi 
_with Rothamsted, and he offered to analyse three of the most important of 
the animal ashes which had been prepared there, on the condition that he 
might make use of the results thus obtained. He consequently received 
mixed ashes representing the whole bodies of a fat ox, a fat sheep, and a 
fat pig, and an abstract of the analysis made by him appeared in an article 
which he wrote for the second supplement to “ Watts’ Dictionary of 
Chemistry.” The analysis, together with others by Richter, were also 
published by Lawes and Gilbert in the ‘ Phil. Trans., 1883. 
In 1864 Warington commenced lecturing to the students at Cirencester on 
the Rothamsted experiments, and went systematically through all the work 
which had already been published, together with many additions of as yet 
unpublished results which had been communicated to him by Lawes and 
Gilbert. A desire was expressed at Cirencester that these lectures should 
be published, and negotiations to that end were consequently opened with 
Lawes and Gilbert. The outcome of these was that Warington was to write 
a book on the Rothamsted investigations, Lawes guaranteeing him from 
pecuniary loss, but offering no remuneration. Lawes also reserved to 
himself the right to supply a preface to the book, on the ground that there 
would be previously unpublished matter incorporated therein. The writing 
of this book involved a large amount of labour, especially as, in studying the 
effect of manures in different seasons, Warington was led to recognise the 
almost paramount influence of the rainfall on the results, and its action in 
washing the nitrates out of the soil, an action up to that time unrecognised. 
For the purpose of examining this action more closely, he compared the 
results from the plots at Rothamsted with the temperatures and rainfalls 
supphed to him by Glaisher; at the same time he applied to Gilbert to 
furnish him with unpublished data respecting the Rothamsted hay crops. 
Gilbert, however, objected to what now appeared to him in the light of a 
publication of Rothamsted results by others than Lawes and himself. Dis- 
cussions ensued, the upshot of which was that the book remained in 
manuscript, and the seeds of an unfortunate dissension between Gilbert and 
Warington were sown. Some 120 pages of this book were written (and are 
still in existence), but Warington declined the pecuniary compensation which 
Lawes offered to him for his labour. 
Leaving Cirencester in June, 1867, he became chemist to Lawes’ manure 
and tartaric and citric acid factories at Millwall, where he remained till 1876. 
During these years he generally had a long conversation every week with 
Lawes on those problems in agricultural chemistry which happened to be 
under investigation at the time, and which were evidently more congenial 
subjects of discussion to both of them than the problems arising in the factory. 
Even these, however, were by no means lacking in interest, and at the 
conclusion of his engagement at Millwall in 1874, Warington remained in 
the laboratory there for two years longer, working on citric and _ tartaric 
acids, and ultimately publishing his results in a paper of 70 pages in the 
‘Journal of the Chemical Society.’ This paper was published with Lawes’ 
VOL. LXXX.—B. 
