x Harry Marshall Ward. 
Cambridge, and in 1885 he left Manchester to occupy the Chair of Botany in 
the Forestry Department of the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper’s 
Hill. There he remained for ten years, and though closely occupied with 
his official duties he found time to carry out several of his most important 
researches, especially those upon the bacteriology of the Thames. More- 
over his routine work led him to enter upon a new line of study, that of 
timber and trees, of which the outcome is to be found in his books on the 
Oak, on Timber, on Trees, &c., as well as in the works, such as his paper on 
Stereum and his books on plant-diseases, which include also mycological 
research. In fact Ward, at this stage, seems to have become profoundly 
impressed with the desirability of combining as far as possible scientific 
research with the attainment of practical ends, an attitude that found its 
fullest expression in his presidential address at Toronto in 1897, which 
dealt with the economic significance of the Fungi. 
In 1895 Ward was called to succeed Professor Babington in the Chair 
of Botany at Cambridge, and here, perhaps for the first time, he found 
himself in a wholly congenial atmosphere with full and free scope for all his 
activities. Under his care the botanical school flourished, and so increased 
in numbers and importance that the University erected for its accommoda- 
tion a large and well-equipped institute which, together with other buildings, 
was opened by His Majesty the King in March, 1904. 
It was during this period that he pursued his last and perhaps most 
important line of research, the investigation of the Rusts that infest the 
Brome-grasses. He established the existence of physiological races of 
these fungi, showing that certain species of Brome can only be infected by 
certain breeds of Rusts ; and, from the point of view of his Croonian lecture 
of 1890, he endeavoured to ascertain the causes of immunity and of 
infectibility. Without having absolutely solved the problem, he proved 
that the structure of the host is not the determining factor, and made it 
probable that this factor is to be sought in the secretion of enzymes or 
toxins by the would-be parasite on the one hand, and of ant-enzymes 
and anti-toxins by the host on the other. Incidentally he had occasion to 
investigate the c Mycoplasm ’ theory of Professor Eriksson, and failed to 
confirm his observations. This led to a spirited discussion of the subject 
on the occasion of the meeting of the British Association at Cambridge 
in 1904. 
Soon after this it became noticeable that Ward’s health was giving 
way. He continued his professorial work as far as his strength permitted, 
but his increasing weakness was only too evident. The end came, 
somewhat unexpectedly, during a stay at Torquay, on Sunday, Aug. 26, 
1906 ; and on Sept. 3 he was laid to rest in the Huntingdon Road Cemetery, 
Cambridge. 
His merits did not pass without recognition during his life. In 1886 
