94 



NATURE 



[September 23, 191 5 



All the amphibians are of the usual Labyrinthodont 

 pattern, with a carnivorous dentition. Among the 

 reptiles the teeth are more varied, but hitherto no 

 form has been discovered which can be regarded as 

 purely or even largely herbivorous. Some species 

 must have been powerful carnivores, others may have 

 eaten plants mingled with a main diet of hard-shelled 

 molluscs. In outward shape, according to Prof. 

 Case's numerous restorations, there is monotonous 

 sameness, both among amphibians and reptiles — 

 animals with large head, short neck, ungainly trunk, 

 and weak limbs. The only notable feature is the well- 

 known dorsal crest of Dimetrodon and its allies, pro- 

 duced by the elongation of the neural spines of the 

 backbone. During life, of course, more variety may 

 have been imparted to the different forms by colora- 

 tion and epidermal structures. Prof. Case concludes 

 that although the earliest of the North American 

 Permo-Carboniferous reptiles are closely related to 

 those found in South Africa, the. evolution of the 

 group was different in the two regions. In North 

 America all specialisations seem to have been in the 

 direction of higher reptiles, while in South Africa 

 specialisation was clearly in the direction of mammalia. 



The fifty-third annual report of the Government 

 cinchona plantations and factory in Bengal for the 

 year 1914-15 is a remarkably interesting document, 

 and affords striking evidence of the valuable work 

 unobtrusively carried on by the distinguished botanists 

 who have held the post of superintendent of cinchona 

 cultivation in Bengal. Between 1887 and 1892 enough 

 bark was produced in the plantation at Mungpoo to 

 meet the annual demand, never exceeding 4000 lb., 

 for quinine. By 1905 the demand had risen to 

 15,000 lb., but the annual yield from plantation bark 

 never reached 9000 lb. of quinine. A new plantation 

 was started at Munsong, the old one improved, the 

 jFactories enlarged, and a quinologist appointed, with 

 the result that now the annual output of quinine has 

 increased to as much as 50,000 lb. Not only has the 

 quality of the trees planted been greatly improved 

 and the area under cultivation enlarged, but the 

 methods of extraction now employed have raised the 

 average quinine percentage from 2-5 to 4-5. Since 

 1905 the annual possible harvest has increased from 

 about 300,000 lb. of 25 per cent, bark to 1,000,000 lb. 

 of 4-5 per cent, bark, a quantity assured for many 

 years to come ; the possible annual output of the 

 factory has increased from 14,000 lb. to more than 

 50,000 lb. of quinine, its extraction efficiency has 

 been raised from not more than 75 per cent, to 95 per 

 cent, of the possible, while the manufacturing cost 

 of quinine has been reduced from Rs. 9 to a little 

 more than Rs. 5 per lb. Moreover, the quinine re- 

 serve has risen from less than 3500 lb. to more than 

 163,000 lb. When it is remembered that cinchona 

 takes ten jears to arrive at maturity, this record of 

 ten years' work must be regarded as a remarkable 

 achievement. The work of reconstruction initiated by 

 Sir David Prain has been most ably carried on by 

 Major Gage, his successor in office, who records his 

 indebtedness to Mr. Shaw, the Government quino- 

 NO. 2395, VOL. 96I 



..... . -MJi^a 



logist, and to the managers of the two plantations, 

 Mr. H. F. Green and Mr. P. T. Russell, through 

 whose keen interest and cordial co-operation the 

 success of the undertaking has been rendered possible. 



It has long been suspected that the mutarotation 

 phenomena observed in freshly-prepared solutions of 

 many sugars might be due, not to a direct isomeric 

 change, but to changes involving the formation of one 

 or more intermediate products. Direct evidence in 

 favour of this view is given in a paper by Prof. Irvine 

 and Miss Steele on "The Mechanism of Mutarotation 

 in Aqueous Solution," which appears in the August 

 issue of the Chemical Society's Journal. The curves 

 showing the changes of conductivity and of rotatory 

 power in freshly-prepared aqueous solutions of tetra- 

 methylglucose are of the usual simple form ; but wheri 

 the sugar is dissolved in aqueous boric acid the con- 

 ductivity passes through a maximum at the end of 

 about two hours, whilst the rotatory power shows a 

 well-marked arrest at about the same time. These 

 observations indicate the formation of an intermediate 

 product capable of combining with boric acid. The 

 authors consider that this product is an oxonium 

 hydrate. The conductivity curve gives some indication, 

 however, that the limit of complexity has not yet 

 been reached, and that there may be two intermediate 

 products instead of only one. 



Engineering for September 17 has a concluding 

 article on worm-gear in which is contained the dis- 

 cussion on an important paper by Mr, F. W. Lan- 

 chester, reprinted in previous articles. The Lanchester 

 worm is of the hollow type, and very careful tests 

 reveal very high and consistent efficiencies. The pre- 

 servation of the oil film between the surfaces in 

 contact is all-important, and it is possible that the 

 film can be kept better in place with a hollow worm 

 than a parallel one. Mr. Lanchester says that for 

 the purposes of discussion the surfaces in contact in 

 his worm-gear may be represented by ellipses of 

 elongated form. The motion is broadside, and the 

 pressure is continually exerted on a region to which 

 the oil had just previously been squeezed, so that the 

 surface continually floated on an oil film instead of 

 sinking through it. With light pressures this action 

 is not important, but when the pressures exceeded 

 half-ton to one ton per square inch the squeezer action 

 became important. The gear was applied to the 

 Lanchester car in 1897, and had been fitted to every 

 Lanchester car since that date. 



The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society- 

 has published a catalogue of the serial publications in 

 its library. The catalogue has been compiled under 

 the direction of the honorary librarian, Mr. C. L. 

 Barnes, by the librarian, Mr. A. P. Hunt. The total 

 number of current publications at present received by 

 the society is 810; and these, together with a number 

 of serials no longer in progress, have all been dealt 

 with. To facilitate the finding of any individual 

 work, a copious index has been added, in which each 

 town, institution, and title of publication is mentioned 

 separately. 



