XV1 Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 
the laboratory at that time, and they gave Warington valuable assistance in 
his work. Of the two series of analyses eventually completed, the first 
comprised those of the ashes of grass grown under different manurial treat- 
ment, the results of which were published in Lawes’ and Gilbert’s “ Report 
of Experiments with Different Manures on Permanent Meadow Land,’* 
the second series was that of the ash of grain from Broadbalk Field. These 
latter analyses were never published, their place having been taken by more 
complete work on the same subject by Richter. 
Although Warington left the Rothamsted Laboratory in January, 1860, 
his interest in the work there never ceased, and, until he resumed his 
connection with Lawes a few years later, he devoted much of his time to 
studying the Kothamsted results, and was a frequent visitor to the 
laboratory. 
His health having been somewhat re-established by his year’s residence in 
the country, he returned to town, and continued to reside with his parents 
till 1862, spending his days at South Kensington, where he worked, under 
Dr. Frankland, as research assistant. But at the end of this period, a further 
breakdown in health forced him again to seek a country life, and he betook 
himself to the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester. Here he remained 
for four and a-half years, the first nine months of which were spent in doing 
analyses for Dr. A. Voelcker, and the remainder of the time in fulfilling the 
duties of teaching assistant under Professor Church. 
It was during his residence at Cirencester that Warington published the 
first papers on scientific subjects which appear under his name. ‘These were 
printed in the ‘Journal of the Chemical Society.’ The earliest of them 
(1863) dealt with the quantitive determination of phosphoric acid. This 
was followed by two other short communications on kindred subjects, which 
preceded and prepared the way for his first work of importance—an 
investigation into the part played by ferric oxide and alumina in decom- 
posing soluble phosphates and other salts, and retaining them in the soil. 
The results of this investigation are embodied in a series of four papers read 
before the Chemical Society, and are typical examples of the careful 
work and close reasoning which characterised all Warington’s researches. 
That ferric oxide acted as a fixing agent for soluble substances applied to 
a soil, was already known, but the action was attributed to an indefinable 
physical attraction, which explained nothing. Warington proved, first by 
experiments with pure ferric oxide, and then with ordinary soil, that the 
action in the case of calcium phosphate was simply one of chemical decom- 
position, resulting in the formation of ferric phosphate, whilst, in the case of 
other salts, such as carbonates, sulphates, nitrates, etc., the chemical character 
of the action was indicated by the fact that the iron did not retain the salt 
as a whole, but partially decomposed it, retaining the basic portion in excess 
over the acid portion. . 
Warington did not allow his work at Cirencester to sever his connection 
* “Journ. Roy. Ag. Soc.,’ vol. 20, 1859, p. 407. 
