March 21, 1901] 



NATURE 



487 



have alkaloids from cryptogamic plants such as ergotinine, 

 lycopodine and pillijanine, and then following these the 

 alkaloids from twelve families of flowering plants, viz. 

 Coniferae and Gretaceas, Liliaccce, Apocynaceas, Aristo- 

 lochiacere, Buxaceas, Lauraceae, Papilionaceae, Loganiaceae, 

 Papaveraceae, Ranunculaccie, Rubiaceas and Rutaceae. 

 A number of odd alkaloids and a few glyco-alkaloids 

 conclude the work. In some of the numerous alkaloids 

 considered as of unknown constitution, a certain amount of 

 knowledge may be said to have been acquired in the 

 direction of structural formulation. To illustrate this 

 point, consider, for example, colchicine from Colchicutn 

 autumnale, which is empirically written C22H25NOa. It 

 is known, chiefly through the researches of Zeisel, that, 

 this alkaloid is a methyl ester containing four methoxy- 

 groups and one acetamino-group. Its formula thus 

 becomes : — 



/COOCH3 



Ci5H9(OCH3)3<( 



^NH . COCH., 



and it is obviously a derivative of a phenolic amino-acid. 

 But the constitution of the hydrocarbon complex CigHg. 

 is still unknown, and the placing of the compound among 

 the alkaloids of unknown constitution is thus justified. It 

 is of interest to note in passing, as an illustration of the 

 richness of this field of plant chemistry, that in this fifth 

 chapter alone more than one hundred alkaloids of un- 

 known constitution, but which are nevertheless definite 

 chemical " individuals," are treated of. It may be further 

 mentioned that under the term glyco-alkaloids the authors 

 comprise compounds such as achilleine, solanine, moscha- 

 tine and vicine, which split up on hydrolysis into glucose 

 and a base. 



A work such as that which forms the subject of the 

 present notice cannot be criticised as a literary produc- 

 tion. It belongs to that class of books which, being of 

 the nature of monographs, are absolutely indispensable to 

 all who are interested in the progress of organic chemistry, 

 whether as students, investigators, teachers, pharmaco- 

 logists or manufacturers. It sums up and presents in a 

 systematised form the achievements of research in this 

 particular field, and as a special work it may be said to 

 have no competitor since, as the authors point out in the 

 preface, the 'standard works on this subject by Pictet 

 (1891) and Guareschi (1896) are already behind the actual 

 state of knowledge in this domain, the boundaries of 

 which are being extended with such astonishing rapidity. 

 In writings of this class, where chemical compounds are 

 dealt with from the historical point of view as well as 

 from the most recent standpoint, there is often a ten- 

 dency to spin out the history in wearisome detail. No 

 fault can be found on this score with the authors' treat- 

 ment ; their general histories, as well as their histories 

 of the individual alkaloids, are marvels of succinctness. 

 We have long been in the habit of looking to continental 

 writers for such monographs, and if our own specialists 

 have hitherto failed in contributing such standard works 

 to chemical literature, there is some compensating satis- 

 faction in the present case, since the volume under notice 

 is a special contribution to the German edition of an 

 English work, viz. Roscoe and Schorlemmer's well- 

 known " Treatise on Chemistry," R. Meldola. 

 NO. 1638, VOL. 63] 



SOUNDINGS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 

 On the Results of a Deep-Sea Sounding Expedition in 

 the North Atlantic during the Summer of 1899. 

 By.R. E. Peake, M.Inst.C.E. With Notes on the 

 Temperature Observations and Depths, and a Descrip- 

 tion of the Deep-Sea Deposits in this Area. By Sir 

 John Murray, K.C.B., F.R.S. Pp. 44. (London : 

 John Murray, 1901.) Price 5^. 



THIS little book, the latest of the "Extra Publica- 

 tions" of the Royal Geographical Society, ought 

 effectually to attain at least one of its main objects, which 

 is " to call attention to the assistance that Telegraph 

 Cable Companies render towards improving our know- 

 ledge of the character and condition of the ocean's bed." 

 The immense amount of valuable work done at sea 

 every day by the commanders and officers of all kinds 

 of ships deserves far more cordial recognition than it 

 usually receives, especially in this country. The ordinary 



j navigation of a ship involves daily observations of quite 

 as great difficulty and complexity as any in the routine 



I scientific work of a deep-sea expedition, and sailors not 

 only have done, and do, much in the way of special 

 observations of all kinds, but they are able and willing 



j to do more. All they need is to be told what is wanted, 

 and to be encouraged occasionally by satisfactory 

 evidence that their labour is not thrown away. It may 

 be hoped that the inauguration of the British Pilot Chart 

 of the North Atlantic, and the publication of a paper 

 like the present by the Royal Geographical Society, will 

 lead to still fuller recognition of what must probably 

 remain the only available methods of systematic and 

 continuous investigation in ocean meteorology and 

 oceanography. 



The expedition here described was sent out to survey 

 routes of cables which the Deutsch-Atlantisch Tele- 

 graphengesellschaft and the Commercial Cable Company 

 had decided to lay ; the former between Germany, the 

 Azores and New York, and the latter between Ireland, the 

 Azores and Nova Scotia. The preliminary survey was 

 undertaken on the advice of Messrs. Clarke, Forde and 

 Taylor, engineers to the companies. Mr. Peake was re- 

 sponsible for the plan of the survey and the supervision 

 of the operations, and the work was carried out by 

 the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Com- 

 pany's s.s. Britannia, Captain H. Woodcock. The 

 Britannia left England on May 4, 1899, and returned 

 on August 3, having made 477 soundings, from most of 

 which samples of the bottom were obtained, and 150 

 observations of bottom temperature. A large number of 

 current observations were also recorded. The route is 

 described as follows : — A large number of soundings 

 were first taken between Fayal and Flores, on the Azores 

 bank ; next a line from south of Flores to New York ; 

 then a line from Cape Canso, Nova Scotia, towards the 

 north of Flores. Different parts of the Azores bank were 

 then surveyed in detail, and a line run to the coast of 

 Ireland ; and finally the ship returned to the Azores bank 

 and sounded north-eastward to the mouth of the English 

 Channel. 



The results of the expedition are dealt with under 

 four heads — depths, bottom temperatures, currents, and 



