Germany 117 
Prussia 
The organisation for the protection 
of natural monuments in Prussia was 
put in motion about ten years ago. 
Like other naturaHsts, I also had 
observed that living nature was threat- 
ened on many sides by civilisation 
and cultivation, and that it was neces- 
sary to do something immediately 
to preserve as much as possible of 
what remained of primitive nature. 
I applied to the Department of Forestry 
as this department had control of con- 
siderable tracts of land, and would 
therefore be able to preserve natural 
monuments by administrative measures 
alone, without having to resort to 
special measures. In the beginning 
of the year 1899, I offered, to the 
chief of the Department of Forestry in 
Berlin, a memorial showing that the 
present existing method of managing 
