Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
August,  1920.  i 
Economic  Botany. 
589 
immunity  are  disclosed,  and  even  if  the  final  goal  be  distant  the 
knowledge  gained  on  the  way  thereto  cannot  fail  to  be  very  pro- 
ductive in  all  sorts  of  ways  as  yet  entirely  unsuspected. 
Fortunately,  however,  there  are  many  problems  of  far  more 
simple  type,  some  of  which  are  being  solved,  and  others  seem  ripe 
for  solution.  For  example,  both  in  the  field  and  in  the  laboratory 
the  amount  of  scientific  work  that  is  urgently  needed  in  connection 
with  cotton  is  stupendous,  and  the  results  will  have  an  imperial 
no  less  than  a  national  influence  and  significance. 
The  vast  sums  of  money  which  the  great  cotton  industry  is  setting 
aside  for  scientific  research  is  proof  enough  that  the  leaders  are  alive 
to  the  issues  at  stake.  It  is  with  special  pleasure  that  reference  is 
here  made  to  the  prize  offered  by  Messrs.  Cross  and  Bevan  for  an 
essay  on  "The  interconnection  of  Economic  Botany  and  Chemical 
Industry."  In  the  pages  of  this  JournaIv  it  would  be  superfluous 
to  dwell  on  the  advances  in  our  knowledge  of  cellulose  and  its  prod- 
ucts which  we  owe  to  these  investigators,  but  what  they  have  done 
for  cellulose  can  be  repeated  by  others  for  many  other  raw  products, 
to  the  great  advantage  of  commerce,  industry,  and  also,  it  may  be 
hoped,  to  the  investigators  themselves.  To  the  successful  essayist 
who,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Council  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  In- 
dustry, has  shown  conspicuous  merit  there  will  further  be  awarded 
a  research  fellowship  of  £300  per  annum  tenable  at  the  discretion 
of  the  Council  for  two  or  three  years.  This  fellowhsip,  the  gift  of 
vSir  T.  P.  Latham,  Bart.,  is  particularly  intended  to  promote  the 
study  of  economic  botany,  especially  in  its  bearings  on  chemical 
industry;  but  the  founder  has  with  great  wisdom  and  foresight 
allowed  great  latitude  as  to  the  nature  of  the  researches  on  which  the 
recipient  of  the  scholarship  may  engage.  This  enlightened  action 
ought  to  serve  to  stimulate  some  of  the  best  among  the  younger  men 
and  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  rich  fields  of  investigation  that 
are  awaiting  them.  Rubber,  indigo,  tea,  oils,  vegetable  proteins, 
bamboo  and  forest  refuse,  especially  abroad,  and  a  host  of  other 
products  at  once  suggest  themselves  as  suitable  subjects,  and  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  investigations  not  only  of  the  main  sub- 
stances, but  of  the  by-products  also,  as  all  experience  abundantly 
proves,  are  of  immense  value  from  a  material  and  scientific  point  of 
view.  The  foregoing  are,  however,  only  a  very  few  of  those  that 
might  be  quoted.  The  large  and  increasing  lines  of  production 
that  depend  on  vegetable  organisms  and  fermentation  only  call  for 
