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THE FOUNDERS

OF THE

ROTHAMSTED AGRICULTURAL STATION,

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF

Sir JOHN BENNET LAWES, Bart., F.R.S.,

AND

Sir J. HENRY GILBERT, F.R.S.

Reprinted from the Obituary Notices of the Royal Society of London.

Sir JOHN BENNET LAWES, Bart., 1814—1900.

The manor-house of Rothamsted, situated in the parish of Har-
penden, Herts, was the birthplace of John Bennet Lawes, and the
Kothamsted farm became, in subsequent years, the scene of the great
work of his long life. So far-reaching have been the results which he
achieved, that the name of Rothamsted is now a household word
wherever the science of Agriculture is studied.

The ancestors of Sir John Lawes had occupied Rothamsted for
many generations. Jaques Wittewronge came to England from
Flanders in 1564, owing to the religious persecution then prevailing.
The manor of Rothamsted was purchased in 1623 for his grandson,
John Wittewronge, who was then a minor. John Wittewronge
was knighted by Charles I, and afterwards created a baronet
by Charles XL In consequence of the failure of male heirs, the
manor passed to the Bennet family by the marriage of Elizabeth
Wittewronge with Thomas Bennet, and finally to the Lawes family
by the marriage of Mary Bennet (great-granddaughter of James
Wittewronge) with Thomas Lawes. His son, John Beimet Lawes, was
the father of the John Bennet Lawes of whom we have to speak, who
was born at Rothamsted on December 28, 1814.

John Bennet Lawes was an only son. He lost his father when
eight years old, and owed much to his mother's bringing up. He
seems to have led the life of a country boy, and his studies he after-
wards described as being " of a most desultory character." Experi-
ments in chemistry, made at home, seem to have been one of his
favourite occupations. He was sent successively to Eton, and to
Brasenose College, Oxford, which he entered in 1832. While at
Oxford he attended some of the lectures of Dr. Daubeny, the professor
of chemistry. He left the University without taking a degree.

In 1834 Mr. Lawes entered on the personal management of the
home farm at Rothamsted, then of about 250 acres ; he at the same
time threw himself heartily into chemical investigations. He tells us :
" At the age of twenty I gave an order to a London firm to fit up a
complete laboratory, and I am afraid it sadly disturbed the peace of
mind of my mother to see one of the best bedrooms in the iiouse fitted
up with stoves, retorts, and all the apparatus and reagents necessary
for chemical research. At the time my attention was very much
directed to the composition of drugs ; I almost knew tiie Pharma-
copoeia by heart, and I was not satisfied until I had made the acquaint-
ance of the author, Dr. A. T. Thomson. The active principle of a

272160

.TTjiUifl^'jjf st^)y1j^ince6 wa& -being discovered ;it this time, and, in order
to make ' tllese' swbst^nxces,' I sowed on my farm poppies, hemlock,
henbane, colchicum, belladonna, <fec. Some of these are still growing
about the place. Dr. Thomson had suggested a process for making
calomel and corrosive sublimate by burning quicksilver in chlorine gas.
I undertook to carry out the process on a large scale, and wasted a good
deal of time and money on a process which was, in fact, no improve-
ment on the process then in use."* At this time Dr. Anthony Todd
Thomson, Professor of Materia Medica at University College, London,
was his chief instructor and adviser. An old barn at Rothamsted was
transformed into a lal)oratory, and here the calomel was afterwards
made; this laboratory remained in active use till 1855.

The researches of De Saussure, on the nutrition of plants, seem to
have first called Mr. Lawes' attention to the relations between chemistry
and agriculture. In 1837 he commenced experiments in pots with
agricultural plants, the manures made use of supplying various elements
of plant food. These experiments were contiiuied on a larger scale in
1838 and 1839. Spent animal charcoal was then a waste product, and
Mr. Lawes was asked by a London friend if it could be turned to any
use. He therefore employed it as a manure in his pot experiments,
and discovered that if previously treated with sulphuric acid its
efficacy as a manure was greatly increased. Apatite and other mineral
phosphates were soon treated in a similar manner, and the "super-
phosphate of lime," thus prepared, was found to be most effective as a
manure, especially for turnips. The new superphosphate was employed
on a large scale for crops on the Rothamsted farm in 1840 and 1841,
and the results were so satisfactory that in 1842 Mr. Lawes took out a
patent for the manufacture of superphosphate.

The application of sulphuric acid to bones had been practised before
the date of Mr. Lawes' patent ; the novelty of his patented invention
consisted in the treatment of mineral phosphates in this manner. The
supply of bone available for farmers is but small, but the supply of
apatite, coprolite, and of the various rock phosphates discovered in
recent years, is almost unlimited. These mineral phosphates are
usually too insoluble to have any practical value as maruire, l)ut by
treatment with a limited quantity of sulphuric acid,, a mixture of
monocalcic phosphate, phosphoric acid, and gypsum is produced. The
phosphates in this compound are almost entirely soluble in water, and
far more efficacious as maimre than the phosphates of raw l)one. The
enormous influence which the introduction of superphosphate has had
on the development of agriculture may l)e gathered from the quantity
now annually employed by farmers. The annual maiuifacture of

* " Agricultural Ga?ette," January 2, 1888.

superphosphate in Great Britain amounts at present to about
1,000,000 tons, while the total manufacture in the world is about six
times this amount. If Sir John Lawes had done nothing more than
introduce the manufacture of artificial manures, he would still rank
among the greatest benefactors to agriculture.

The life of Sir John Lawes divides at this point into two parts.
He became from the date of his patent a chemical manufacturer,
carrying on an extensive London business, and as prosperity increased
he embarked in a variety of enterprises. While, however, obliged to
spend two days of every week in London, his devotion to agricultural
research continued to increase, and the profits yielded by commerce
were employed for the creation and maintenance of a large experiment
station at Kothamsted. The experiments in the fields had already, at
the date of his patent, reached a stage at which the continuous services
of a trained chemist were urgently needed. On the recommendation
of Dr. A. T. Thomson, Mr. Lawes engaged a young chemist who had
studied under Liebig — Dr. J. H. Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert entered upon
his work at Rothamsted in June, 1843, and continued actively occupied
in the scientific superintendence of the agricultural experiments during
the whole of his long life. For fifty-seven years Lawes and Gilbert
worked together on a great variety of agricultural problems ; of these
labours and their results we shall give a brief account after completing
our sketch of the life of each worker.

Mr. Lawes married, in 1842, Caroline Fountaine, daughter of
Andrew Fountaine, Esq., of Narford Hall, Norfolk. He enjoyed her
society for more than fifty years, and her artistic power was not
unfrequently employed in providing illustrations of the investigations
in progress. As the commencement of manufacturing operations made
great demands on his capital, Mr. Lawes at this period let Kothamsted
House, and for some years resided either in London or Devonshire.

His first factory for the manufacture of superphosphate was erected at
Deptford Creek in 1843. The business rapidly extended, and in 1857
about 100 acres of land were purchased at Barking Creek, and a larger
factory erected, including an extensive plant for the manufacture of sul-
phuric acid. Li 1866 Mr. Lawes purchased the tartaric and citric acid
factory at Millwall. The purchase was unwillingly made, l)ut the new
work was taken up with his accustomed energy and enterprise, many
economies and improvements were introduced, and the factory became
the most important of its kind in this country. In 1872 he sold the
whole of his manure business for £300,000 ; he retained the tartaric
and citric acid factory till his death. Mr. Lawes had also a large
sugar estate in Queensland : the low price of sugar and the lack of
cheap labour prevented, in this instance, a commercial success.

The investigations at Kothamsted made rapid progress. In 1843

a2

were commenced the systematic field experiments on turnips and
wheat ; the wheat field has grown wheat without intermission ever
since. In 1847 the field experiments on beans commenced, and in
1848 those on clover, and on a four-course rotation. In 1851 the
rotations of wheat and fallow, and wheat and beans were started. In
1852 the field experiments on barley commenced. In 1856 those on
grass land. In all about 40 acres were l^rought under experiment. Of
all these crops complete chemical statistics were obtained. Experiments
on sheep-feeding with various foods commenced in 1848. The whole
bodies of ten animals — oxen, sheep, and pigs — of various ages and
conditions as to fatness, were analysed between 1848 and 1850. In
1850 an extensive series of pig-feeding experiments was made.

The extent of the work undertaken, its thoroughness, and the
practical value of the results obtained, gained the admiration of both
scientific and practical men. At a meeting of Hertfordshire farmers
at St. Albans, on December 24, 1853, it was resolved to present
Mr. Lawes with a testimonial. The circular issued states : "It was
considered that Mr. Lawes has for many years been engaged in a series
of scientific and disinterested investigations for the improvement of
agriculture generally, which have been carried out to an extent, with
an attention to accuracy and detail, and at a cost, never before under-
taken by any individual, or even by any public institution." The
proposal was soon enlarged, and became national in its character. The
subscriptions received amounted to about £1,160. At Mr. Lawes'
desire, the greater part of this sum was spent in the erection of a new
laboratory, which was opened at a gathering of distinguished agricul-
turists on July 19, 1855, the Earl of Chichester presiding on the
occasion. The speeches made by Mr. Lawes, Dr. Gilbert, and others,
have fortunately been preserved.* Mr. Lawes, on this occasion, paid
a warm tribute to the work done by Dr. Gilbert. Besides the gift
of the laboratory, Mr. Lawes received a handsome silver candelabrum,
bearing a suitable inscription. In later years the laboratory was found
too small for the preparation and storage of the numerous samples, and
additional buildings were erected.

Mr. Lawes was elected a Fellow of the Koyal Society in 1854, and
in 1867 one of the Royal medals was awarded to him and Dr. Gilbert
for their systematic researches upon agricultural chemistry. Seven
papers by Lawes and Gilbert have been published in the Society's
Philosophical Transactions.

The connection of Mr. Lawes with the Royal Agricultural
Society was naturally a close one. He became a member of the

* Herts- Guardian, July 28, 18ri5. Also Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural
Gazette, July 15, 1871, p. 918.

Council in 1848, and was afterwards a vice-president and trustee. In
1893 the presidency of the Society was offered to him, but declined on
account of his advancing years. In the Journal of the Society the
greater number of the reports on the Kothamsted agricultural investi-
gations have been published ; forty-six reports had thus appeared before
the year 1900. In 1876 he took an active part in arranging for the
commencement of the field experiments conducted by the Society at
Woburn, in Bedfordshire. These experiments consisted in repetitions
of the experiments at Kothamsted upon the continuous growth of
wheat and barley with known manures, the experiments, in this case,
being made upon a purely sandy soil; they also included rotation
experiments designed to test the manurial value of cattle foods. These
expeiiments were conducted on the Duke of Bedford's estate, and at his
expense.

The relations of Mr. Lawes with the Chemical Society were also
intimate. He became a Fellow in 1850, and was elected to the
Council in 1862. The chief part of the chemical work done in the
Kothamsted laboratory was communicated to this Society, and about
twenty-two lectures and papers by Lawes and Gilbert, and other Koth-
amsted workers, appear in the Journal and Transactions.

Mr. Lawes was a member of the Koyal Commission appointed in
1857 "To inquire into the best mode of distributing the sewage of
towns, and applying it to beneficial and profitable uses." Two members
of this Commission, Lawes and Way, conducted for several years im-
portant experiments on sewage irrigation at Kugby. The investigation
dealt with the quantity and composition of the grass receiving vary-
ing amounts of sewage, and its value as food for fattening oxen and
milking cows, including the composition of the milk obtained. The
effluent waters from the irrigated fields were also analysed, and the
formation of nitrates in large quantities was demonstrated. The final
report was published in 1865.

The aid of Kothamsted was again sought by the Government in
1863, the object in this case being to ascertain whether the malting
of barley resulted in any increase of its value as a food. A consider-
able bulk of barley was divided into two lots, one of which was
malted, and the loss in dry matter ascertained ; feeding experiments
were then made, in which the nutritive effect of a given weight of
barley was compared with that shown by the quantity of malt which
could have been produced from it. The trials with oxen, sheep, and
pigs, were made at Kothamsted, and those with milking cows at Kugby.
The full report was presented to Parliament in 1866.

While the formal reports on the Kothamsted investigations were to
a large extent the work of Dr. Gilbert, Mr. Lawes was himself an active
writer on agricultural sul)jects. In middle life he was a frequent con-

tributor of short papers to agriciilturcil newspapers and periodicals,
both English and American ; he also lectured from time to time to
agricultural associations. His writings were always marked by great
originality, they were also very practical in character. When l)ringing
forward the results of recent scientific inquiries, he would avoid as far as
possible the use of scientific language, and speak as a farmer to farmers.
The fertility of the land and its relation to landlord and tenant, and
the manure value of foods, with the compensation due to an outgoing
tenant for unexhausted manures, were subjects which he made
peculiarly his own. For many years he sent annually to the Times
newspaper, in the early autumn, an estimate of the quantity of wheat
yielded by the preceding harvest in this country. This estimate was
based on the produce of the standard plots in the experimental wheat
field at Kothamsted ; as the produce here was over or under the aver-
age, so it was assumed would l)e the general produce of the country.
The estimates thus made proved generally to be near the truth.

For his great services to agriculture Mr. Lawes was created a baronet
by the Queen in 1882. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him
by the University of Edinburgh in 1877 ; D.C.L. by Oxford in 1893;
and Sc.D. by Cambridge in 1894. He received the Legion of Honour
from Napoleon HI. ; he was also a Chevalier du Merite Agricole. He
was elected a corresponding member of the Institute of France in 1879.
In 1863, he received a Gold Medal from the Russian Government. In
1881, the German Emperor awarded a Gold Medal for Agricultural
Merit to Lawes and Gilbert.

Sir John Lawes early conceived the idea of perpetuating the
Eothamsted investigations by placing the laboratory and fields in the
hands of trustees with a permanent endowment for their maintenance.
He first spoke of this in his speech at the opening of the j\qw laboratory
in 1855. In 1872 he publicly announced that he had set aside £100,000
for this purpose. By deeds executed by him in February, 1889, the
laboratory and experimental fields were leased to Sir John Lubbock,
William Wells, Esquire, and Sir John Evans, as trustees, for 99 years at
a peppercorn rent. To the same trustees he covenanted to pay the
sum of £100,000, the interest on which was to be applied to the
maintenance of agricultural investigations under the direction of a
Committee of nine persons, of whom four were to be nominated by the
Royal Society, two by the Royal Agricultural Society, one by the
Linnean Society, and one by the Chemical Society, the owner of
Rothamsted being always a member of the Committee. The appoint-
ment of new trustees when required was vested in the Royal Society.
The Managing Committee were at once appointed. They consisted of
Sir John Evans, Dr. Hugo Miiller, Sir Michael Foster, and Sir W. T.
Thiselton Dyer, nominated by the Royal Society ; Sir John H. Thorold,

and Chai-les Whitehead, Esq., nominated ])y the Royal Agricultivral
Society ; William Carruthers, Esq., nominated by the Linnean Society ;
Prof. H. E. Armstrong, nominated by the Chemical Society ; with Sir
John Beiniet Lawes. Under this Committee, with but few alterations
in their constitution, the direction of the work at Kothamsted has since
proceeded. One provision of the trust deed directs the Committee to
send a lecturer from time to time to the United States of America to
lecture upon the results of the Kothamsted investigations.

The Jubilee of the Rothamstecl Experiments was celebrated on
July 29, 1893. The organisation of this celebration originated with the
Royal Agricultural Society. At a meeting on March 1, presided over
by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, it was resolved : " That some public
recognition should be made of the invaluable services rendered to
Agriculture by Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert." A subscription list
was opened, and with the contributions received a large boulder of
Shap granite was erected in front of the laboratory, bearing the
following inscription: — "To commemorate the completion of Fifty
Years of continuous experiments (the first of their kind) in agriculture,
conducted at Rothamsted by Sir John Bennet Lawes and Joseph Henry
Gilbert. A.D. MDCCCXCIIL" A large and distinguished gathering
was held in front of the laboratory on the afternoon of July 29, the
Rt. Hon. Herbert Gardner, M.P., President of the Board of Agriculture,
presided. The Duke of Westminster, as President of the Royal
Agricultural Society, presented to Sir John Lawes his portrait, painted
by H. Herkomer, R.A., and to Dr. J. H. Gilbert, a silver salver. He
also presented congratulatory addresses to both Lawes and Gilbert
from the subscribers to the fund, each address being signed by H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales. The presentation of a large number of addresses
from English and Foreign Societies then followed, including one from
the Royal Society. Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert then replied."*
A few of the words spoken by Sir John Lawes must be quoted. " That
afternoon he had to return thanks to that distinguished and brilliant
assembly for their kind congratulations to himself and Dr. Gilbert
upon the work that they had been carrying on for the last 50 years.
When two people were joined together in marriage they could not
part, because they were bound together by very solemn ties. But
with regard to himself and Dr. Gilbert the case was quite different,
Dr. Gilbert could have left him, or he could have left Dr. Gilbert.
Their connection, however, had lasted for more than 50 years. What
was the cause 1 Nothing less than mutual love of the w^ork they had
been engaged in. He (Sir John) had delighted in the work from the

* The whole of tlie addresses and speeches will be found in the Eeport of the
Jubilee Commemoration, published hj I lie Rojal Agricultural Society.

8

beginning. All the time he could spare in the midst of many other
responsibilities and duties he had given to the work. But with
Dr. Gilbert it had been the work of his life. If it had not been for
Dr. Gilbert's collaboration their investigations would have been in a
very different state to what they were then."

Shortly after the Jubilee celebration Dr. Gilbert received the honour of
Knighthood. In September of the same year the Liebig Silver Medal
was awarded to Sir John Lawes and Sir Henry Gilbert by the curators
of the Liebig Foundation of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences.
In the following year, 1894, the Albert Gold Medal of the Society of
Arts was presented to Lawes and Gilbert by H.KH. the Prince of
Wales, " for their joint services to scientific agriculture, and notably
for the researches which, throughout a period of fifty years, have been
carried on by them at the Experimental Farm, Rothamsted."

Something must now be said as to the personality of the remark-
able man whose life's work we have attempted to describe. He
possessed an extremely vigorous constitution, and when past 85,
exhibited but few of the infirmities of old age. His holiday was
always spent in Scotland, and deer stalking and salmon fishing were
then his chief occupations. At home, all his leisure time was spent
on the farm. He was a keen observer, and knew the experimental
fields better than anyone else. His interest in agricultural problems
never tired, he was continually finding fresh subjects for inquiry.
While gifted with a full share of the scientific imagination, he was
thoroughly practical in his conclusions. His long experience as a
farmer, and the careful attention to economy learnt in business, were
of great use to him when he brought the results of scientific investi-
gation before the agricultural world. He took a broad, statesman-like
view of all agricultural questions, and was looked up to by the
English farmer as his safest guide and his highest authority.

Sir John Lawes seldom took part in public functions, he was not
seen at meetings of scientific societies, and took no active part in
politics ; excepting the hours unavoidably spent on his London
business, he lived as far as possible a country life. It was, however,
in no sense a secluded life ; his correspondence was very large, and the
visitors to the Rothamsted experiments were extremely numerous and
of all nationalities. They found at Rothamsted a genial host and a
ready guide to the fields, where the lessons taught by the experimental
crops were described in brief and pithy sentences by one who knew
thoroughly the whole history of each plot.

Sir John Lawes by no means confined his attention to science,
agriculture, and business ; he was a man of active benevolence. The
agricultural labourers of Harpenden found in him their best friend. He
began to provide allotment gardens in 1852, and before his death the

number had reached 334. In 1857 he built a club room in the gardens.
Various co-operative schemes were started for the labourers' benefit ;
one of these has been immortalised by Charles Dickens, who visited
the club room in April, 1859, and afterwards gave an account of what
he saw in the first number of " All the Year Round." The welfare of
his workmen at his various factories was equally considered. He
exercised a wide private benevolence, and in his own parish was never
appealed to in vain for any good work.

Sir John Lawes' life was prolonged to an unusual period ; he lived
and worked and taught through two successive generations. His health
remained very good till within about a week of his death. He died at
Eothamsted on August 31, 1900, in his 86th year, and was buried at
Harpenden. His only son, Sir Charles Bennet Lawes, who has
assumed the additional name of Wittewronge, succeeds to the
Rothamsted estate."*

R. W.

Sir JOSEPH HENRY GILBERT. 1817-1901.

Joseph Henry Gilbert was born at Hull on August 1, 1817. He
was the second son of the Rev. Joseph Gilbert, a Congregational
Minister, who had previously held the position of Professor of Classics
at the Divinity College, Rotherham. His mother belonged to a well-
known literary family, and under her maiden name of Ann Taylor, was
a popular authoress of poems for children. The family removed in
1825 to Nottingham, and it was here that the boyhood of Joseph
Henry Gilbert was spent. He was first sent to an elementary school
taught by a blind lady of great intelligence, and afterwards to a school
kept by Mr. Long at Mansfield. In 1832, while at Scarborough, he
met with a serious gunshot accident, which permanently deprived him
of the sight of one eye, and considerably damaged the other; his
general health suffered much from the shock, and it was some years
before he was able to resume his studies. During this interval he
in 1838 paid a visit to St. Petersburg. In the autumn of 1838 he
became a student at the University of Glasgow; here he devoted
nearly a year to the study of analytical chemistry in the laboratory

* Some further facts relating to Sir John Lawes, and views of his career, -will
be found in Nature, September 13, 1900, p. 467 ; Jour. Roy. Agri. Soc, 1900, p. 511 ;
Trans. Chem. Soc, 1901, p. 890 ; Agricultural Gazette, lii., 1900, p. 228 ; Agricultural
Students' Gazette, x., p. 37.

A3

10

of Prof. Thomas Thomson. Materia-Medica was studied under Dr. J.
Couper, and botany under Sir W. J. Hooker. He came to London
in the autumn of 1839, and continued his studies at University
College, where he attended the chemical lectures and practical classes
of Prof. T. Graham, and worked for a shoit time in the laboratory
of Prof. Anthony Todd Thomson. He also studied natural philosophy
under J. Sylvester, anatomy under Dr. Grant, and botany under
Lindley at Chiswick, and made some progress in the German
language. In 1840 he went to Germany, and spent a summer session
at Giessen, in the laboratory of Prof. Liebig. Here he took the
degree of Ph.D.; two other English students, J. Stenhouse and
L. Playfair, afterwards to become celebrated as chemists, took their
degrees at the same time. On returning to England, Dr. Gilbert
renewed his studies at University College, and became class and
laboratory assistant to Prof. A. T. Thomson during the winter and
summer sessions of 1840-41. In 1842 he left London and became
consulting chemist to Mr. Burd, a calico-printer in the neighbourhood
of Manchester. The turning point of his life soon arrived. Mr. Lawes
had already made his acquaintance in the laboratory of Prof. A. T.
Thomson, and being in want of a trained chemist to assist in the
agricultural investigations he had commenced at Kothamsted, he, on
the recommendation of Prof. Thomson, engaged the services of Dr.
Gilbert. On June 1, 1843, Dr. Gilbert entered on his work at Koth-
amsted. The connection between Lawes and Gilbert thus commenced
continued till the death of Sii John Lawes in 1900, a period of 57
years.

The rapid development of the agricultural investigations at
Rothamsted after the year 1843 has been already noticed in the
preceding account of the life of Sir John Lawes. The value of the
work done was largely due to [the unremitted labours of Dr. Gilbert.
At the opening of the new laboratory in 1855, Mr. Lawes said, "I
should be most ungrateful were I to omit this opportunity of stating
how greatly I am indebted to those gentlemen whose lives are devoted
to the conduct and management of my experiments. To Dr. Gilbert
more especially, I consider a debt of gratitude is due from myself and
from every agriculturist in Great Britain. It is not every gentleman
of his attainments who would subject himself to the caprice of an
individual, or risk his reputation by following the pursuits of a science
which has hardly a recognised existence. For twelve years our
acquaintance has existed, and I hope twelve years more will find it
continuing." The testimony borne by Sir John Lawes to his colleague
at the end of fifty years of their joint work has been already quoted
in the preceding account of Sir John Lawes.

We must now attempt to give some idea of the special part taken

11

by Sir Henry Gilbert in the Rothamsted investigations. The two
leaders of the work were in almost daily consultation, Sir H. Gilbert
spending, as a rule, an hour at Rothamsted every day that Sir John
Lawes was at home. The plans for new experiments, the results
obtained from day to day, and the drafts of the reports in preparation,
were thus all discussed by them together. Sir John Lawes directed
the agricultural operations in the experimental fields ; the execution
of the remainder of the work was in the hands of Sir Henry Gill^ert.
Sir John Lawes contributed to the joint work a thorough knowledge
of practical agriculture. His original mind was stored with facts
learnt by keen observation and study in the field. A born investi-
gator, he seemed to be continually occupied in the study of agricultural
problems. His enterprising and practical spirit impressed its character
on the whole of the Rothamsted work. Sir Henry Gilbert supplemented
in a remarkable manner the qualities of his chief. His training as an
analytical chemist, and his acquaintance with foreign languages and
literature, were naturally of great vahie in lesearch work. His know-
ledge of colloquial German enabled him in after years to descrilie the
results of the Rothamsted investigations to many foreign visitors. His
special mental characteristics also eminently fitted him for the work sub-
sequently carried out. He was both cautious and painstaking to a
remarkable extent, desiring to accumulate a great mass of facts before
coming to any certain conclusion upon them. His mode of work
was also extremely methodical, and the method once adopted, after
full consideration, was continued through many subsequent years, thus
giving rise to long series of results obtained in a perfectly similar
manner. The continuation of the same field experiments for more
than fifty years, and the important results which subsequently followed
from an examination of the soils so long under definite cultivation,
may be cited as examples of Gilbert's method. Under his care,
samples of the grain and straw from each experimental plot, in each
year, were preserved in the laboratory, and also samples of the ash
yielded by each. In later years, when samples of the soils and
subsoils of each plot were repeatedly taken, large portions of each
sample were also preserved. At his death the number of samples
stored for future reference in the laboratory and in the adjoining
building exceeded 50,000. The bulk of tabulated records prepared
by the clerks at the laboratory was correspondingly large. He thus
laid the foundation of much solid work. The same characteristics
appeared in his reports. These usually contained a great l)ulk of
numerical statements, set forth in an orderly manner, with not un-
frequently only a small proportion of illuminating theory. The
recording of observed facts seemed often to satisfy his object as an
investigator. When, however, a definite conclusion had l^ecn arrived

at it was tenaciously held, and if attacked was vigorously defended.
Sir Henry Gilbert was an antagonist who never tired. His contro-
versies with Liebig, on the subject of his mineral theory, and, in later
years, with other German investigators, on the source of fat in the
animal body, will be well remembered 1>y his contemporaries.

The life work of Sir Henry Gill)eit will chiefly be found in the pub-
lished reports of the Rothamsted investigations, which, at the time of his
death, had reached ten volumes; the subjects of these investigations will
be 1)riefly noticed at' the close of this biography. His work, however,
frequently extended beyond the sphere of the Itothamsted experiments.
He was Mr. Lawes' scientific adviser, and as such he played an active
part in the trials which took place in the Law Courts respecting the
alleged infringment of Mi. Lawes' patent. He made reports on
deposits of phosphates at home and abroad. He superintended the
experiments relating to the disposal of sewage at the time when Mr.
Lawes was a member of the Royal Commission of 1857. Other
important undertakings will be mentioned presently.

Dr. 6il])ert was married in 1850 to Eliza Laurie, daughter of the
Rev. G. Laurie. His wife died in 1853. He married a second time, in
1855, Maria Smith, who survives him. Sir Henry Gilbert owed much
to his second wife's untiring assistance The feeble condition of his
eyesight obliged him to rely a good deal on clerical help. Both foreign
and English papers were read to him l)y Lady Gilbert, while the greater
part of his own work was dictated to an amanuensis. His great pluck
and determination, with the assistance thus rendered, enabled him to
accomplish a very large amount of work notwithstanding the serious
difficulties under which he laboured.

Sir Henry Gilbert was an active member of many scientific societies,
a regular attendant at their meetings, and a member of many scientific
committees. The Rothamsted investigations undoubtedly gained
by the intercourse thus obtained with other investigators, though
the time occupied by visits to London was often considerable.
Sir Henry Gilbert was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1860.
He was the author, with Sir John Lawes, of seven papers in the
Philosophical Transactions. In 1867 he received, with Sir John Lawes,
one of the Royal medals for the work done at Rothamsted. He
served on the Council in 1886-8. Sir Henry Gilbert' joined the
Chemical Society in 1841, a few weeks after its formation, became a
member of the Council in 1856, and a Vice-President in 1868. In
1882 he was elected President of the Society. Sir Henry Gilbert
delivered four lectures before the Society, and was the part author of
several other papers. In 1898 a memorable dinner was given by the
Society to six Past-Presidents, all of whom had been members of the
Society for more than fifty years ; of these Past-Presidents Gilbert was

13

the eldest. The President concluded his address to him by saying :
" The E-othamsted results will be for ever memorable ; they are unique,
and characteristic of the indomitable perseverance and energy of our
venerated President, Sir Henry Gilbert."

Of the Linnean and Meteorological Societies Sir Henry Gilliert was
also a Fellow, and occasionally read papeis at their meetings. He was
also a member of the Society of Arts. He became a member of the
Scientific Committee of the Horticultural Society in 1868, and for
many years regularly attended its meetings.

In his summer holidays the meeting of the British Associaticjn for
the Advancement of Science was generally attended ; his attendance
commenced in 1842, and during many years he scarcely missed a
meeting, and frequently lead a paper descrilnng some of the Rothamsted
results. In 1880 he was President of the Chemical Section, and gave
as his address : "A Sketch of the Progress of Agricultural Chemistry."
A tour on the Continent generally formed part of the summer holiday ;
agricultural laboratories and experimental stations were then visited,
and the Naturforscher Versammlung, and other scientific gatherings,
were often attended and papers read before them. In 1871, and the
following year, the details of sugar beet culture M-ere studied in Germany,
Austria, and France, preparatory to the commencement of experiments
on this subject at Rothamsted.

Three visits were paid to the United States and Canada. In 1882
he attended the meeting of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, at Montreal, and brought before them the recent
determinations of nitrogen in the experimental soils at Rothamsted.
A tour of nearly three months was afterwards made in the United
States. In 1884 he was again at Montreal, at the meeting of the
British Association, and afterwards made a second extensive tour
through North America. The last visit was paid in 1893, after the
celebration of the Rothamsted jubilee, for the purpose of delivering a
course of lectures on the Rothamsted experiments, in accordance with
a provision of Sir John Lawes' trust deed. Sir Henry Gilbert first
attended the Agricultural Congress held in connection with the World's
Fair at Chicago ; here he had a splendid reception, all present rising and
cheering for some time. To this Exhibition at Chicago a large collec-
tion of diagrams had been sent from Rothamsted, and for these a
medal was afterwards awarded. Sir Henry Gilbert then gave a course
of seven lectures at the State Agricultural College at Amherst, Mass.,
taking as his subject the chief results relating to the crops ordinarily
grown in rotation, with those relating to the feeding of animals,
obtained at Rothamsted, during the previous fifty years. These
lectures, in an enlarged form, were afterwards published by the United
States Department of Agriculture, and were reprinted, with an intro-

14

fluctory account of the Rothamsted experiments, in the Transactions of
the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland for 1895.

In 1884 Dr. Gilbert was elected Sibthorpian Professor of Kural
Economy in the University of Oxford, and held this office for six years,
the full term allowed by the statute. He delivered during this time
over seventy lectures on the results of the Kothamsted investigations ;
these lectures he hoped to publish, but the intention has remained
unfulfilled.

In 1885 Dr. Gilljert became an Honorary Professor of the Royal
Agricultural College at Cirencester, and delivered an annual lecture
during six years ; the lectures were published in the Agricultural
Students' Gazette. They treat in a condensed form of some of the
subjects previously discussed at Oxford.

The transfer of the laboratory and experimental fields to the
management of a committee appointed under Sir John Lawes' trust
deed of 1889 has been already mentioned. After this date the virtual
direction of the experiments continued to remain in the hands of Lawes
and Gilbert during their joint lives. For the information of the new
committee Sir Henry Gilbert drew up a brief report on the investiga-
tions hitherto conducted, showing to what extent the results obtained
had been already published, and making suggestions as to future work.
This report was printed in 1891 for the use of the committee.

The celebration of the jubilee of the Rothamsted experiments in
1893 has been already described in the notice of Sir John Lawes, with
the numerous honours subsequently conferred on both Lawes and
Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert received knighthood from the Queen on
August 1 1 of that year.

Sir Henry Gilbert was a member of the committee appointed by the
Government in 1896 to take evidence and report on the materials used
in the manufacture of beer. The committee presented their report to
the Treasury in 1899.

He received many honorary degrees. The University of Glasgow
made him LL.D.in 1883; Oxford, M.A. in 1884; Edinburgh, LL.D. in
1890; Cambridge, Sc.D. in 1894. He was a life governor of Univer-
sity College, London; a Corresponding Member of the Institute of
France ; a Chevalier du Merite Agricole ; and an honorary member of
many agricultural societies at home and abroad.

With a life so filled with many labours it need hardly be said that
Sir Henry Gilbert was possessed of a robust constitution. He, how-
ever, suffered at times from over-brainwork, and his frequent excursions
abroad were really needed to maintain a healthy tone. In later years
he suffered much at times from internal pain, the precursor, probably,
of his last illness. The death of Sir John Lawes in 1900 was naturally
a great shock to him. He was fairly vigorous, however, during the

15

next summer, but was taken seriously ill during a visit to Scotland,
and returned home with difficulty. He died at Harpenden on Decem-
ber 23, 1901, in his 85th year.* E. W.

The Investigations of Lawes and Gilbert.

The Eothamsted Agricultural Station was the first of the many
Agricultural Research Stations now in existence ; the only earlier work
of the same kind was that carried out for some years by Boussingault
on his farm at Be^helbronn, commencing in 1834.

An extensive and long-continued series of field experiments upon
the principal agricultural crops is the most striking feature of the
Eothamsted work. The trials commenced with turnips and wheat, and
soon extended to many other crops, till nearly 40 acres were occujjied by
these experiments. In each case the same crop was grown year after
year on the same land. Thus, at the death of Sir John Lawes, the
fifty-seventh successive crop of wheat had been harvested in Broadbalk
field. From the commencement of each field experiment one plot was
left entirely unmanured and one received farmyard manure each year.
The remaining plots received at first various manures, but in a few
years the earliest experimental fields were brought under a contiiuious
system of manuring, and the fields afterwards taken for crop experi-
ments received from the first a uniform treatment. The plan in each
case was to supply certain plots every year with the various ash con-
stituents of the crop — called by Lawes and Gill^ert " mineral manures "
— while other plots received nitrogenous manure in various forms, and
others various mixtures of the mineral and nitrogenous manures used
separately on the other plots. The plan of manuring adopted in these
field experiments was originally intended as a practical test of the
" mineral theory " of Baron Liebig ; no better scheme could, however,
have been chosen for the elucidation of the general problems of the
relation of crop, soil, and manure to each other. Experimenting in
this way many important facts were ])rought to light — the capacity of
the crop to supply itself with nitrogen from the natural sources of the
soil and atmosphere ; its capacity to supply itself with ash constituents
from the soil ; the particular ash constituents most necessary to 1)e applied
as manure, and those of which the soil soonest became exhausted ; the
relative value of various nitrogenous manures, and the effect produced
by varying amounts of nitiogen. A comparison of the crops produced
by chemical manures with the crop yielded by ordinary farmyard
manure was also obtained every year. In some instances the special
application of manure was stopped on certain plots after a number of

* For some further information upon Sir Henry Gilbert's life and work see
Nature, January 2. 1902, p. 205; Joar. Roy Agric. Soc, 1901, p. 347 ; Trann.
Chem. Soc, 1902, p. 625.

1^

years, and the land left uiimaiiured ; the effect of the residue of the
former manuring was thus made apparent. The produce of each plot was
carefully weighed, and at the laboratory the proportion of dry matter
and ash was determined, while in selected instances the percentage of
nitrogen was ascertained, and the plant ash was submitted to analysist.
The great variety of seasons met with in so long a series of field ex-
periments enabled the effect of season upon the weight and composition
of the crops to be studied, as well as the effect produced by manures.

In later years samples of the soils and subsoils of the various
experimental plots were repeatedly taken and analysed ; the accumula-
tion or loss of nitrogen, carbon, phosphoric acid and potash resulting
from the particular treatment of each plot was thus ascertained. In the
case of the w^heat field each plot was provided with a drain-pipe, and
the water percolating through the soil was regularly collected and some
of its constituents determined by chemical analysis ; information was
thus gained as to the losses which maiuired land suffers by drainage.

In order to make the chemical statistics of the experimental crops
more complete, the rain was collected in a large rain-gauge, and some
of its constituents determined. Three drain-gauges, consisting of three
masses of bare soil of various depth, were also constructed to ascertain
what proportion of the rainfall passed through the soil; the diainage
waters from these bare and unmanured soils were also analysed for
comparison with the drainage waters furnished by the soils cropped and
manured in Broadbalk field.

Besides the field experiments with individual crops, there was a
rotation field in which four systems of cropping were carried out, repre-
senting ordinary farm practice. A part of this field was permanently
unmanured, another portion leceived only the important ash con-
stituents of crops, and a third portion the ash constituents together
with nitrogenous manures. Here, too, both crops and soil have been
submitted to analysis in order to complete the chemical statistics of the
experiment. In other fields the simple rotations of wheat and beans,
and wheat and fallow have been studied.

In the experiments with meadow land mown for hay, the same
conditions of manuring were adopted as with other crops. In this
case the continued application of different manures produced a great
alteration in the botanical character of the herbage, which became
extremely different on different plots. This result led to a systematic
botanical analysis of the hay produced by each experimental manure.
The aid of Dr. Maxwell Masters, F.R.S., was obtained in this part of
the inquiry, which has been continued for many years.

The question whether plants assimilated the free nitrogen of the
atmosphere was a subject much debated in the early years of the
Rothamsted experiments. Dr. Evan Pugh came to England early in 1857,

ir

, * • •••

• • * *s <

and devoted more thcin two yenrs to the investigation of this subject
in the Rothamsted laboratory. The results obtained in experiments
with a considerable variety of plants, showed no assimilation of free
nitrogen. The chemical statistics of the leguminous crops at Rothamsted,
and elsewhere, showed, however, that they contained an extraordinary
large amount of nitrogen, the source of which was difficult to explain.
In 1886, Hellriegel and Wilfarth proved that leguminous plants assimi-
lated the free nitrogen of the air in considerable quantities if the soil
in which they grew contained certain microbes forming nodules on their
roots. The experiments giving rise to this conclusion were repeated at
Rothamsted with a similar result. The very different results obtained
in the earlier and later experiments at Rothamsted were due to the fact
that the plants in the earlier experiments were all grown in Inirnt soil,
and the microbes were thus excluded.

Among the miscellaneous investigations conducted at Rothamsted,
may be named those on the relation l)etween the amount of water tran-
spired by plants and their increase in dry matter ; the investigation
on the composition of the milling products of wheat grain ; the in-
vestigations conducted for the Government, on the manurial value of
sewage; also the chemical study of the "fairy-rings " in meadow land.

The experiments relating to animals were very numerous in the
earlier years of Rothamsted work. Tiials were made on a large scale
of the comparative fattening capacity of different breeds of sheep.
The sheep were kept under ordinary agricultural conditions, and the
relation l)etween food and increase was carefully ascertained. The
trials extended over several years. Numerous feeding experiments of a
more scientific character were made on fattening pigs; these received diets
containing very varied proportions of albuminoids and carl^ohydrates.
It was found that the supply of a larger proportion of albuminoids than
that contained in cereal grains was not attended by a greater increase
in live weight. This conclusion was contrary to the scientific opinion
then prevalent, which regarded the amount of albuminoids in a diet
as a measure of its nutritive value. Feeding experiments on oxen
were conducted by Lawes and Gilbert at Woburn.

A very important and laborious piece of work was the determina-
tion of the percentage composition of the whole bodies of animals,
oxen, sheep, and pigs, of various ages, and in various conditions as to
fatness. The proportion of all the organs, and of the butcher's
carcase, in the live weight, was ascertained in the case of a large
number of animals; and in the case of ten animals, the proportion
of water, fat, nitrogenous matter, and ash was determined in every
part, and by calculation in the whole animal. The ash was after-
wards analysed and its composition determined. The facts thus
ascertained still fofm our" chief source of information as to the com-

position of the Miiimals produced on the farm, and the composition of
the increase produced during fattening. The experiments on pigs
threw much light on the source of fat in the animal iDody. One young
pig was killed and its body analysed. Another pig, from the same
litter, was fattened with food of known composition, and then killed
and analysed. The composition of the increase obtained whilst fatten-
ing was thus ascertained. It was found that when pigs were fed on
barley meal, maize, or diets containing pure starch and sugar, the
quantity of fat produced was far greater than could be accounted for
by the ready -formed fat and the albuminoids of the food, and that
large quantities of fat must have been formed from carbo-hydrates. At
that time most German physiologists believed that fat was only formed
from albuminoids; the conclusion arrived at by Lawes and Gilbert
is now, however, universally admitted to be correct. As a result
of their experiments with animals they were able to teach the farmer
what amount of fattening increase he might expect from the use of
ordinary foods, what proportion of the constituents of the food would be
stored up in the animal, and what proportion would appear as manure.
Tables were also pulilished showing the weight of butcher's carcase in
cattle of any given live weight, in various conditions as to fatness.

In later years, opportunity was taken of the presence of a large
herd of dairy cows at Kothamsted to prepare statistics of the food
consumed and the milk produced by these animals.

Careful experiments on the relative feeding value of barley, and of
the malt made from it, were carried out for the Board of Trade. The
process of ensilage was also studied, the losses in the silo determined,
and the feeding value of silage compared with that of the original
green food preserved as hay, and with other foods. The manure
value of cattle foods was repeatedly calculated for the information
of the farmer, and tallies on the subject were published.

A considerable part of the results obtained at Rothamsted still
remains unpublished. The lumiber of papers and reports amounted
to 132 in 1901. This is exclusive of very many shorter papers by Sir
John Lawes, and of the " Memoranda," published annually. The
dates of publication extend from 1847 to 1900. The earliest published
paper appeared in the Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette of
June 14, 1845. Separate copies of the Rothamsted papers have been
from the first freely distributed. In later years, complete sets of the
reports were prepared l)y reprinting some of the older publications,
and bound copies of the whole were presented to the libraries of
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations in various parts of
the world. About 200 complete sets were thus prepared, of these 50
were purchased l)y the English Board of Agriculture.

R. W.

RETURN TO;

CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT

198 Main Stacks

DUE AS STAMPEDBELOW.

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FORM NO. DD6
50M 5-02

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UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA IvIBRARY