2o6 



NA TURE 



[January i, 1903 



of the Botanical Register, 1823, under the name Ocymum 

 febrifugwu, or the " Sierra Leone Fever Plant." This 

 work mentions that the plant is " in request at Sierra 

 Leone for medicinal purposes," and describes the species 

 as an "under shrub 3 feet high," "having in a high 

 degree the smell of common balm." 



The leaves of the plant are highly glandular, and in 

 India an allied species, O. Basilicum, Linn., the 

 "common sweet basil," produces a "yellowish green 

 volatile oil lighter than water, which, on being kept, 

 solidifies into a crystalline camphor, isomeric with tur- 

 pentine camphor" {Gmeliris Handbook, xiv., 359). 1 

 The seeds of this species are widely used in the 



Fig. 1. — Ocymum viride, Willd. Some leaves drawn from a dried specimen 

 brought back by Major Burdon. Below is a raceme of the same plant 

 taken from the " Botanical Register," vol - , ix. Both reduced. 



east as a medicine, and their properties " are said 

 to be demulcent, stimulant, diuretic and diaphoretic." 

 "The juice of the leaves mixed with' ginger and black 

 pepper is given in the cold stages of intermittent fever." 

 The leaves, like those of thyme, are used as a seasoning 

 in cooking. Another Indian species, O. sanctum, Linn., 

 the " sacred basil," is the most sacred plant in the Hindu 

 religion, and is consequently widely cultivated. 



In " Notes on the Medicinal Plants of Liberia," - Mr. 

 E. M. Holmes records that when chewed or rubbed, the 

 leaves of O. vifide. give off a strong odour of lemon 



1 Watts's " Dictionary of the Products of India," v. 1801, p. 441. 

 - Tht Pkarhiatiiutical Join vm/, third series, viii. 1877-78. 



NO. 1 731, VOL. 67] 



ihyme, and mentions that Dr. Roberts, of Liberia, 

 entirely substituted the use of the plant for that of 

 quinine in cases of fever of all kinds, giving it in the 

 form of an infusion. 



There is thus a good deal of evidence that O. viride is 

 a plant of considerable curative value, especially in cases 

 of fever, but the question that interests a large number 

 of people in West Africa is whether it is equally effi- 

 cacious as a preventative. Does it really repel the mos- 

 quito which acts as the intermediary in conveying the 

 malarial haematozoon from man to man ? Further experi- 

 ment on this point is needed, but there is at least some 

 indication that in this easily cultivated plant man has 

 another weapon with which to fight malaria. 



Christ's College, Cambridge. A. E. Shipley. 



TRANSATLANTIC WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. 



T'HE announcement of the successful inauguration of 

 *■ the Transatlantic wireless telegraphic system which 

 we were able to make last week must have come as 

 welcome news to all, but hardly as a surprise to those 

 who have followed with any closeness Mr. Marconi's 

 persevering experiments. Those who have done so and 

 who have seen how, in almost every instance, Mr. 

 Marconi has achieved all that he has said he would 

 achieve can hardly have doubted that in this case also he 

 would be successful. And when once it had been 

 demonstrated that Hertz waves were capable of bridging 

 the enormous distance from the Old World to the New, it 

 was evidently only a matter of time to instal suitable 

 stations on both sides of the Atlantic and to put them in 

 operation. Nevertheless, the greatest interest attaches 

 to the transmission of the first messages ; one cannot help 

 feeling that it is an historic occasion, not only marking 

 an era in the development of wireless telegraphy, but 

 also forging another link between this country and her 

 colonies, and adding yet one more to the many benefits 

 helping forward civilisation which science has conferred 

 on mankind. 



As yet, of course, not much has been done ; a few 

 congratulatory telegrams have passed from one side of 

 the Atlantic to the other, and doubtless there will have 

 to be much more experiment and work before a com- 

 mercially useful system of communication is established. 

 But for this we can wait in patience and confidence. It 

 is easy to see that, though the possibilities are many and 

 great, the difficulties also are formidable and numerous. 

 In the first place, before the system can be commercially 

 important, it is clear that the public must be made to 

 feel confident that it is absolutely trustworthy ; any uncer- 

 tainty in this respect would be fatal to a system which 

 has to make its way against the competition of existing 

 methods. Again, the system is, for the present at any 

 rate, limited in its carrying capacity, since the speed of 

 signalling obtainable is not very great, and from what 

 can be gathered it seems unlikely that multiplexing to 

 any great extent, or even at all, can be regarded as a 

 possibility of the near future. From another point of 

 view also difficulties present themselves, for we have 

 yet to learn what effect will be produced on existing 

 wireless installations by a constant stream of very 

 powerful Hertz waves sent out on either side of the 

 Atlantic. If the Transatlantic signalling seriously inter- 

 feres with the less pretentious applications of wireless 

 telegraphy, there can be little question as to which it is 

 more desirable to retain. But all these problems we 

 may safely leave for the present, for we know that they 

 are in the hands of one who has shown himself fully 

 competent to deal with them. 



Whatever else may be said of his present achievement, 

 all must agree that it is a great personal triumph for Mr. 

 Marconi, and one that he has fully merited by his untiring 



