5IO 



NATURE 



[April 22, 1922 



In writing names of chemicals the conventional 

 plan of writing all the parts of a name together — e.g. 

 " acetylbenzoylaconine " — is sometimes adopted ; at 

 other times they are separated by hyphens, as in 

 " Para-hydroxy-phenyl-ethylamine " ; but occasion- 

 ally they are disconnected completely, as in " Benzoyl 

 Ecgonin." 



The defects of the book are, unfortunately, not 

 limited to matters of arrangement and nomenclature. 

 Thus the jaborandi alkaloids are wrongly grouped 

 with the derivatives of pyridine, and the attributions 

 in some other groups are doubtful, whilst the alkaloids 

 of physostigma and anhalonium should not be described 

 as. " of unknown composition." In the section relating 

 to solanaceous alkaloids the information is given that 

 " hyoscin, which was formerly reported as a naturally 

 occurring constituent of henbane, has now been 

 virtually relegated to oblivion." In spite of this it 

 is resurrected four pages further on in the curious 

 form " Scopolamin, hydrobromate (Myosin)," and is 

 apparently reconsigned to oblivion, since it fails to 

 appear in the section devoted to scopolamine. Though 

 Hyoscyamus muticus has probably been the chief 

 source of atropine for more than twenty years, the 

 only reference to it is as follows : " Hyoscyamus 

 muticus is often offered for import as true H. niger." 

 Cotarnine, in spite of its importance in medicine, is 

 not mentioned, though each of the minor alkaloids 

 of opium has a paragraph to itself. 



The resin of podophyllum is described as contain- 

 ing both podophyllotoxin and picropodophyllin, 

 whereas only the former is present, the latter being 

 an isomeride formed by the action of alkalis. The 

 section on Indian gum may include all that is known 

 about this commodity in the United States, but it is 

 misleading as regards the sources and character of 

 this gum as it appears in European markets. In the 

 portion relating to resins no attempt is made to deal 

 critically with the numerous doubtful data published 

 regarding the chemistry of these products ; thus the 

 formula CgoH^oOg is assigned to abietic acid, though 

 it is described as containing hydroxyl, and is presum- 

 ably a hydroxy-acid, while sandaracolic acid is men- 

 tioned as a constituent of sandarac, though the author 

 of this acid withdrew it years ago. 



Enough has perhaps been said to show that Mr. 

 Fuller's book should be used with discretion. As 

 it deals with nearly everything, including chewing 

 gum, that has been used or can be regarded as a drug, 

 and gives references copiously, it is at least a useful 

 guide to the all too voluminous literature on the 

 analysis of these products, though even in this respect 

 it would be improved if the index were more complete 

 and always strictly alphabetical. T. A. H. 



NO. 2738, VOL. 109] 



South African and Indian Floras. 



(i) An Introduction to the Flora of Natal and Zululand. 



By Prof. J. W. Bews. Pp. vi + 248. (Pietermaritz- 



burg : City Printing Works ; London : Wheldon and 



Wesley, Ltd., 1921.) 15s. 

 (2) The Flora of the Nilgiri and Pulney Hill-Tops. By 



Prof. P. F. Fyson. Vol. 3. Pp. xviii + 581. 



(Madras : Government Press, 1920.) 15 rupees 



6 annas. 



(i) ^ I ^HE volume by Dr. Bews, who is professor of 

 X botany in the Natal University College, Pieter- 

 maritzburg, was written mainly for the purpose of 

 assisting students of plant ecology and those engaged 

 in botanical survey work in Natal. The flora of that 

 country received for many years the devoted attention 

 of the late Dr. J. Medley Wood, who published among 

 several other works a " Handbook to the Flora of 

 Natal " in 1907, and a " Revised List of the Flora of 

 Natal " in 1908, to the latter of which two supplements 

 were issued. The Handbook is now out of print, and 

 the Revised List is not easy to procure, while both are 

 incomplete. Dr. Bews's work, therefore, supplies a 

 need and will be welcomed. It contains 478 species of 

 flowering plants that are not included in Wood's 

 Revised List. Like Wood's Handbook it gives keys 

 to the families and genera, short descriptioas of the 

 former, and enumerations of the species, with a few 

 words on their distribution and here and there a native 

 name ; the Cryptogams are excluded entirely. 



A very important omission from both Dr. Wood's 

 Handbook and Dr. Bews's Flora is some means for the 

 identification of the species. We realise that to have 

 provided keys to the species would have increased the 

 size of the volumes very considerably, but it would have 

 made them infinitely more useful. Some of the Natal 

 genera are rich in species ; Panicum has 35, Schizo- 

 glossum 41, Indigofera 44, Crassula 49, Senecio 84, 

 while Helichrysum has as many as 92. With the best 

 of keys it is difficult to determine the specific name of 

 a plant belonging to any large genus, but Dr. Bews 

 affords no help at all in the matter. 



While Dr. Bews's book will no doubt be of service to 

 those for whom it was chiefly intended, it does not go 

 far enough. Much had already been done on the plants 

 of Natal, and it might reasonably have been thought 

 that the time had come when a work of more general 

 usefulness could have been produced. It may be 

 mentioned that Dr. Bews has arranged the families in 

 his book according to Engler and Prantl's system, and 

 that he has followed the practice observed by zoologists 

 generally and by certain botanists of using a small 

 initial letter for all specific names. 



