NATURE 



[March 2, 191 1 



(Ludendorff), variable stars (Kempf), new stars (Eber- 

 hard). On the general scaffolding that Newcomb con- 

 trived, later artists, it will be seen, have created a more 

 complete and elaborate building. 



Gehirn und Riickenmark. Lcitfaden fiir das Studium 



der Morphologic und des Fascrvcrlaufs. By Dr. 



Emil Villiger. Zweite auflage. Pp. vii + 278. 



(Leipzig : W. Engelmann, 1910.) Price 12.80 



marks. 

 When the first edition of this book was reviewed in 

 Nature some four years ago, we then admired the 

 lucidity of its style, and the excellent manner in which 

 the author. Dr. Villiger, of Basle, arranged his de- 

 scription of the structure of the central nervous 

 organ. The new edition is a considerable improve- 

 ment upon the old. Beginning with a concise account 

 of the embryology of the brain and spinal cord, the 

 author proceeds to describe the gross anatomy of the 

 brain, and illustrates his text by numerous excellent 

 photographs and diagrams. 



The second part of the work, dealing with the 

 course of the various nerve-tracts and with the cranial 

 nerves, is a model of luminous exposition. Many 

 new diagrams have been substituted for those in the 

 original edition. 



The chief difference, however, is in the addition of 

 an entirely new third part, consisting in a collection 

 of more than fifty sections of the brain-stem. One set 

 of these sections forms a series extending from the an- 

 terior end of the corpus callosum down to the corpora 

 quadrigemina. The other series traces the structure 

 of the various parts from the caudal end of the 

 medulla oblongata upwards to the mid-brain. Each 

 figure is accompanied bv a full and descriptive text, so 

 that the reader is provided with a fairly complete 

 topographical atlas. Dr. Villiger 's book bears the 

 stamp of an expert teacher. It is difficult to give 

 an adequate account of its many good points, and we 

 trust that ere long it will become available to English 

 readers in an authorised translation. 



Thoughts on Ultimate Problems. Being a series of 

 Short Studies on Theological and Metaphysical 

 Subjects. By F. W. Frankland. Pp. xii+ioi. 

 (London : David Nutt, igii.) Price 15. 6rf. net. 

 This collection of studies on philosophical and religious 

 subjects has now reached a fourth edition, which is 

 sufficient proof that the author's treatment of pro- 

 foundly important matters has appealed to a wide 

 circle of readers. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



The Stinging Tree of Formosa. 



The stinging effect of the common nettle {Urtica dioica, 

 L.) is so well known that even a cursory reference to it 

 seems to be superfluous. This stinging power of 

 Urticaceae is found to culminate in the genus Laportea, 

 which exhibits in certain species a most virulent effect 

 enduring for some days, or even months, in response to a 

 light touch on one of the leaves. 



During my botanical tour in the southern part of 

 Formosa in 1909 I observed, in the district of Koshun, an 

 endemic species of the stinging tree (Laportea ptcrostigma, 

 Wedd.) growing not infrequently in the mountainous dis- 

 tricts' of that part of the island, where it is called by the 

 natives " Chiao-jen-kou," meaning " Man-biting-dog." It 

 is mentioned in the revised edition, completed in 1747, of a 



NO. 2157, VOL. 86] 



Chinese book, the T ai-wan-fu-chi, or a " Topography cf 

 Tai-wan Prefecture [in the Island of Formosa]," vol. 

 xviii., fol. 21/ where we observe the following state- 

 ment ; — 



'• * Chiao-jen-kou.' . . . This tree attains to a height of 

 more than ten feet, with the leaves long and large, re- 

 sembling those of the tobacco-plant, and furnished with 

 stinging hairs, which, when they sting a man, enter the 

 hair-follicles and become so irritating that if lightly rubbid 

 the colour of the skin becomes red, and the pain continues 

 for a day and a night, after which it ceases." 



Dr. Augustine lienry, in his " List of the Plants of 

 Formosa " (Trans. Asiat. Soc. Jap., vol. x.xiv., Suppl., 

 p. 88), has already made a reference to this tree, as well 

 as to the T' ai-wan-fu-chi, by stating that it is " a small 

 tree, the leaves of which sting violently, known colloquially 

 and in the Gazetteer as * Yao-jen-kou ' [ = ' Chiao-jen- 

 kou ']; " he refers to it again (loc. cit., p. 12), saying 

 that "the 'Stinging-Tree,' a species of Laportea, is very 

 unexpected in its effects on anyone ignorant of its quality." 

 Reference is also made to this tree in an article, by the 

 same gentleman, on the " Botany of Formosa," published 

 in the Kew Bulletin, 1896, p. 70. 



My botanical friend who accompanied me during the 

 greater part of my tour in Formosa, and has had 

 considerable experience in connection with the flora of that 

 island, told me the following anecdote when we both saw 

 before us the stinging tree growing wild in the southern 

 part of the island : — 



" A Japanese traveller who happened to be alone in 

 some mountainous district in Formosa, rubbed uncon- 

 sciously a part of his body with a leaf of this tree, which 

 stung him so violently that he ran in madness and cried 

 in agony of pain, and it took a day or so before he re- 

 covere<l. In examining some leaves collected from the 

 same tree, they were identified as belonging to those of 

 ' Chiao-jen-kou.' " 



After hearing the above anecdote, I suggested a Japanese 

 name, " Mamushi-no-ki," or " Viper Tree," as a warn- 

 ing to all who hearing this name that they should not 

 dare to touch the leaves in future. As I rememb' r that I 

 observed myself a small tree, partly cut down, close to a 

 cottage situated near the coast in the small harbour of 

 Tai-han-roku, it appears to me that this tree is not un- 

 common in the southern part of Formosa. 



In Messrs. Forbes and Hemsley's " Index Florae 

 Sinensis," ii., p. 472, and in Drs. Matsumura and 

 Hayata's " Enumeratio Plantarum Formosanarum " 

 (Tokio, 1906), p. 382, this tree is enumerated, but no 

 reference is made to its remarkable stinging effect. In 

 Mr. Kawahami's useful " List of Formosan Plants," 

 recently published by the Formosan Government, a 

 Japanese name of " Irakusa-no-ki," or " Stinging-Nettle- 

 Tree," has been newly coined. In consequence of its 

 powerful effect of stinging, the Japanese name of " Ira- 

 no-ki," or " Stinging Tree," might be more appropriate. _ 



There are some other species of Laportea which exhibit, 

 even when slightly touched, a remarkably poisonous effect. 

 In Engler and Prantl's " Die natiirlichen Pflanzen- 

 familien," iii., i Abteilung, p. 106, the following state- 

 ment concerning Laportea crenulata, Gaud., of eastern 

 India, is to be found : — " Bei leiser Beriihrung mehrere 

 Tage dauernde Schmerzen hervorrufend." Weddell (in 

 De CandoUe's " Prodromus," xvi., par. i, p. 85) made 

 the following reference with regard to the stinging effect 

 of the same species :— " Quod ad vires nocuas stimulorum 

 attinet vid. monographiam meam [i.e. Weddell, ' Mono- 

 graphic de la famille des Urticac^es,' in 'Archives du 

 Museum d'Histoire Naturelle,' ix., 1856]." In the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, 1882, vol. xviii., p. 465, we find the 

 following extract from Knowledge concerning the stinging 

 effect of this species :— " The Stinging Tree of Queens- 

 land, Australia, is a luxurious shrub, pleasing to the eye 



1 The revised edition, above referred to. of the T ai-wan-fu-chi, ha<! no* 

 become very rare in Japan. In 1895, when Formosa was ceded to japan, 

 some wood-blocks of the 7"'rt;-«-rt«-/K-(rA/ were found to exist in Taihoku, 

 and conseqnentlv a new impression was made bv the order of the Formosan 

 Government. But soon afterwards these wood-blocks were destroyed by a 

 conflagration, with the exception of a few blocks, which are now preserved 

 in the Government Museum at Taihoku. Even the new impression is now 

 out of print, so that it is not too easy to obtain a copy in Formosa. I, how- 

 ever, lately secured a complete copy of an old {i.e. Chinese) impression in 

 Tokio. 



