March 17, 1910] 



NATURE 



83 



observation of the authors', and is interesting from the 

 analogy with the early Mesozoic genus Anomozamites, in 

 which each fructification is in a terminal position in the 

 fork between two vegetative branches. 



The anatomy of the peduncle agrees w-ith that in 

 Stangeria, centripetal xylem occurring in the upper part, 

 while small, blind-ending bundles, often of concentric 

 structure, are present in the basal region. 



Nodules, perhaps comparable to those of the Legu- 

 minosae, occur on the roots. The authors regard the 

 sympodial organisation of Dioon and Stangeria as primi- 

 tive, and hold that the monopodial growth of the trunk 

 observed by Prof. Pearson in Encephalartos is clearly a 

 later development, and connected with the production of 

 several cones simultaneously. 



(4) Though for many years past no one has doubted that 

 the fossil cones grouped under Calamostachys were the 

 fructifications of calamites, the direct proof of continuity- 

 has so far been lacking in the case of those specimens 

 which, at the same time, show the internal structure pre- 

 served. In this memoir Mr. Thomas records the dis- 

 covery of the well-known petrified fructification Calamo- 

 stachys Binneyana in connection with the vegetative organs 

 of the plant to which it belonged. He has also made some 

 interesting incidental observations — the probable presence, 

 below the lowest whorl of bracts, of a disc comparable 

 to the annulus of Equisetum, the presence of hairs (rare 

 in this family) on the axis, and the close agreement in 

 structure between the bracts and the vegetative leaves. 

 The author has also observed impressions of cones and 

 leafy shoots, which he refers to the same species with the 

 petrified specimens, identifying both with the Paracalamo- 

 stachys Williawsoni of Weiss and the Asterophyllites 

 (Calamocladus) grandis of Sternberg. He suggests, with 

 good reason, that the name Calamostachys Binneyana, 

 hitherto used for the structural specimens, may represent 

 a type rather than a species. In discussing the morpho- 

 logical questions involved, the author rightly emphasises 

 the homology between bracts and foliage leaves, so clearly 

 bi ought out in his specimens. 



(5) Ulriciilaria brachiata is a small species from the 

 Sikkim Himalaya discovered by Sir Joseph Hooker ; it 

 grows, at an altitude of about ii,ooo feet, on the trunks 

 of Abies Webbiana, among moss. The plant consists of 

 a flowering stem two or three inches high, a few reni- 

 form leaves, and several slender runners bearing tiny 

 bladder-traps and tubers. The point of main interest, as 

 in other species, is the morphology of the runners in 

 relation to that of the leaves. The simple view that the 

 " leaves " are phyllomes and the runners caulomes is 

 rejected, on account of the innumerable transitions 

 between the two, and the fact that the bladders are found 

 indifferently on both. The theory that the runners are 

 specialised leaves has been strongly maintained by Goebel, 

 but the author, Mr. Compton, favours the alternative 

 interpretation, advocated by the younger Schimper, that 

 the runners are of the nature of stems, and that the 

 " leaves " have been derived from similar organs bv a 

 process of flattening — that they are, in fact, phvlloclades. 

 The question is one of much difficulty : the author puts 

 his case well, but we take exception to the argument that 

 his interpretation " is without the theoretical demerit of 

 the contrary view, in that it does not tend towards an 

 abolition of morphological categories." The question as 

 to the modifications that may have taken place in the 

 organs of the genus Utricularia must surely be decided 

 ^•ithout reference to the convenience of the theoretical 

 morphologist. 



(6) Mr. Bartlett's little paper is a description of two 

 flowering shoots of the common woundwort, found at 

 Medstead. in Hampshire, which showed certain floral 

 abnormalities, increasing in degree towards the apex of 

 the shoot. In the extreme cases the pistil was represented 

 bv two hairy, foliaceous carpels, usuallv united by their 

 edges below, and bearing abortive ovules. This terato- 

 logical condition confirms the conclusion, based on develop- 

 ment, that the pistil of Labiatae is reallv bicaroellary, 

 though the ovary is auadrilocular. The floral axis pro- 

 duced at its apex, within the modified ovary, one or mi^re 

 flower-buds — a case of Masters's " median floral orolifi- 

 cation." P. H. S. 



NO. 2107, VOL. 83] 



THE PRODUCTIOX OF BLACKWATER 

 FEVER.' 

 J)RS. WAKELIN BARR.ATT and Warrington Yorke 

 have pieced together the result of their investiga- 

 tions, in the form of a report, undertaken for the black- 

 water fever expedition to Nyasaland. The object of the 

 work was to determine how blackwater fever is produced ; 

 in brief, it may be stated that the authors have failed to 

 accomplish this object. Incidentally, the work was in- 

 tended to throw light on many of the uncertainties con- 

 nected with the fever, and in this respect they have 

 succeeded. 



In simple language, blackwater fever is a fever which 

 occurs in persons who have been treated with quinine, 

 usually for malaria, and the clinical connection between the 

 fever and the quinine has been placed beyond dispute. 

 The authors, after studying the processes of the dissolv-ng 

 up of red blood corpuscles under a large variet)' of con- 

 ditions, adduce ample evidence to show that the alkaloid 

 quinine can haemolyse red blood cells, but that a direct 

 action of the alkaloid in the body is excluded, because the 

 concentration of the quinine in the blood plasma of persons 

 under treatment for malaria is utterly insufficient to pro- 

 duce an ascertainable amount of haemolysis. 



Since quinine plays a part in producing this peculiar 

 condition, but does not cause it directly, it was necessary 

 to look farther afield for other aetiological factors. The 

 authors have investigated the condition of the plasma itself, 

 since in another disease, in which dissolved blood corpuscles 

 are seen, the ha;molysis has been proved to be due to a 

 substance in the serum known as haemolysin. No trace 

 of such a substance could be found in the serum of black- 

 water-fever patients. They leave this riddle unsolved, and 

 turn to the question of the situation in which the haemo- 

 globin is set free. Proof appears to have been found that 

 the site is the blood itself, and not the kidneys or urine, 

 as had been supposed. Another fact which has been 

 brought to light by the authors is that the only change 

 which occurs in the kidneys in uncomplicated cases of the 

 fever is the appearance of a brownish material placed in 

 the lumen of the renal tubules. No degeneration or other 

 indications of pathological conditions are to be found. 



Various other points are dealt with, and the reading of 

 the work is materially assisted by the publication of 

 summaries at the termination of each chapter. The 

 theoretical reasoning is well carried out, and the work, 

 while failing to solve a difficult problem, certainly 

 illuminates many contributory factors in the production of 

 blackwater fever. H. W. .\rmit. 



THE ORGANISATIOX OF TECHNICAL 



EDUCATIOS.' 

 HE position of higher education has altered immensely 

 in the last ten years since I ceased to be intimately 

 connected with teaching. In the first place, the number 

 of agencies engaged in the work has multiplied, the 

 number of students they attract has grown, and the funds 

 at their disposal are greatly larger. At that time there 

 were two universities in England, besides the old founda- 

 tions of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham — London Uni- 

 versity, a purely examining body, and the Victoria 

 University at Manchester, uniting the three colleges in 

 Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds. Now, if we may reckon 

 Newcastle in addition to Durham, there are seven, each 

 well equipped, and with a staff of professors competent 

 and anxious to advance knowledge and to train their 

 students for the duties of life. 



But, besides this, there is in almost every important 

 town a technical school or college supported by municipal 

 funds, in two cases at least outside London an integral 

 part of the university, evervwhere doing work which must 

 be done if we are to maintain our position in the world. 



1 " .\n Investigation into the Mechani<:in of Production of Blackwater.'" 

 Py Dr. J. O. Wakelin Barratt and Dr. Warrington Vorke. (Being the 

 Report of the Blarjcwafr Fever Expedition tn Nyasaland of the Liverpool 

 School of Tropical Medicine, 1907-9 >. Annals 0/ Tropical Medicine and 

 Pnrasitology, series T.M., vol. ii'.. No. i, October. Pp. 256 ; with numerous 

 illastrations and table*, &c. (Liverpool : University Press; London: Con- 

 stable and Co., Ltd.. 1000.) Price ioj. 6rf. , _ _ 



2 From the presidential addres* deli\-ered to the Association of Te^nical 

 Institutions on February n by Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S. 



T' 



