October 15, 1914] 



NATURE 



175 



to accept discoveries and classifications made 

 abroad more readily than those made at home. 

 The terms at present employed in British archaeo- 

 logical works relating to the phases of the Ice- 

 age certainly might be cited in support of this 

 contention. In 1894, when preparing the third 

 edition of the " Great Ice Age " — of which the 

 work under review may be regarded in some re- 

 spects as a fourth edition — Prof. Geikie recognised 

 four phases of glaciation, which he named : (i) 

 Scanian, (2) Saxonian, (3) Polonian, (4) Mecklen- 

 burgian. British students of ancient man have 

 never adopted these terms; they prefer those 

 which Prof. Penck introduced nine years later — 

 in 1903— (i J Giinzien, (2) Mindelien, (3) Rissien, 

 {4) \\'urmien. Geikie 's terms were founded on 

 a study of the glacial deposits of Europe gener- 

 ally; Penck 's were the result of a study of glacial 

 deposits in Alpine regions. If priority is to count 

 the British terms have much to commend them. 

 In the present work Prof. Geikie correlates the 

 two systems of nomenclature — the " Scanian " 

 corresponding to the "Giinzien," the "Saxonian" 

 to the "Mindelien," the "Polonian" to the 

 "Rissien," and the " Mecklenburgian " to the 

 ""Wiirmien." 



In charting the glacial phases of the Pleistocene 

 period, Prof. Geikie and Prof. Penck have pro- 

 vided students of ancient man with an invaluable 

 series of milestones to guide them into that period 

 which is supposed to cover the evolution of 

 modern man. The Heidelberg mandible is re- 

 garded by Prof. Geikie as the oldest human 

 remains yet found on the Continent of Europe, 

 and is assigned by him to the interval between the 

 first and second periods of glaciation. He is not 

 fully convinced that eoliths and sub-crag imple- 

 ments are really of human workmanship. 



One of the most important contributions made 

 by Prof. Geikie to our knowledge of ancient man 

 refers to the Neolithic period. In the formations 

 and deposits of that time Scotland is particularly 

 rich. From a study of these he has divided the 

 Neolithic period into four phases : (i) lower 

 ^'forrestian," (2) lower "turbarian," (3) upper 

 ■"forrestian," (4) upper "turbarian." Each of 

 these phases is marked by a change of climate, 

 a change of flora, and an alteration in the 

 relationship of land and sea. The human remains 

 and objects of culture found in the caves at Oban, 

 usually ascribed to the transitional. stage, between 

 the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, are re- 

 garded by Prof. Geikie as belonging to the late 

 Neolithic phase, named up him upper "turbarian." 



Prof. Geikie has never indulged in, or coun- 

 tenanced, wild speculation. It is therefore of 

 interest to note the estimate he has formed of the 

 duration of the Pleistocene period. After forty 

 years of study, largely devoted to an examina- 

 tion of glacial deposits, he is of opinion that an 

 allowance of at least 600,000 years must be made 

 for the duration of the Pleistocene period. Man's 

 presence in Europe may, in his opinion, be re- 

 garded as extending over a p)eriod of 250,000 or 

 perhaps 500,000 years. A. K. 



XO. 2346, VOL. 94] 



THE CULTIVATION OF MEDICINAL 

 PLANTS IN ENGLAND. 



THE question has been asked whether the con- 

 ditions created by the war in Europe has 

 made it desirable to give attention to the cultiva- 

 tion of medicinal plants in England. The answer 

 is a decided affirmative, but some qualification is 

 needed. Cultivated drugs can never compete with 

 those from wild plants if price prevails over all 

 other considerations. It was only fine appearance 

 and high reputation for therapeutic activity which 

 enabled English aconite, belladonna, digitalis, and 

 henbane to command four times the price of the 

 imported drugs. As it was, severe competition 

 had of late years restricted the use of home pro- 

 duce more and more until it attained relatively 

 small limits. 



Much care and skill are needed in preparing the 

 finest qualities of drugs for market, and only com- 

 paratively high prices repay this initial trouble 

 and expense. Again, there is only a limited 

 outlet for drugs in general, so that the market is 

 easily overloaded, and when this occurs the 

 highest grades often suffer most as regards de- 

 preciation in value. For example, the supply of 

 English^rown belladonna leaves began to exceed 

 the demand in about the year 1900, and a few 

 years ago they were selling in competition with 

 wild Continental drugs — at less than cost. 

 Acreage under belladonna naturally shrank, and, 

 in fact, its cultivation became restricted to a few 

 "materia medica," or drug farms, connected with 

 factories for making extract. Similar experiences 

 led to the cultivation in England of all but a few 

 medicinal plants {e.g. valerian, poppy, and dill) 

 being controlled by four firms growing only suffi- 

 cient for their own requirements. Two successive 

 wet winters, causing excessive loss of plants, had 

 made this season's crops insufficient for normal 

 demands, and the onset of hostilities quickly 

 raised prices to famine rates. High prices restrict 

 usage and stimulate new sources of production 

 until prices become normal again. Both these 

 factors are at work now war in Europe threatens 

 to last for a considerable period, and the first in 

 the field of drug cultivation are likely to reap a 

 profitable harvest. 



The writer gave details of cultivation of various 

 drugs in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture 

 for* September. Within a week an advertisement 

 in the druggist's trade paper "wanted fertile 

 seeds of belladonna, digitalis, henbane, stramon 

 ium ; also live roots chamomile, coltsfoot, valerian, 

 spearmint." This illustrates a great initial diflfi- 

 culty, that of obtaining a supply of dormant 

 plants or seeds. 



British medicinal plants fall into four cate- 

 gories :— 



(i) Drugs which have long been cultivated in 

 this country-, but were gradually being ousted by 

 foreign wild products, viz. belladonna, henbane, 

 aconite, digitalis, and valerian. All these, except 

 aconite, are now in great demand. Chamomile 

 (of recent years practicallv grown onlv for distil- 

 lation of oil from flowers) are now almost unob- 



