September 28, 1905] 



NA TURE 



551 



scientific direction of tlie farm acquired for the purpose of 

 experiment and demonstration by the Northumberland 

 County Council. The new calendar contains full inform- 

 ation of all the courses of work arranged for the coming 

 session. The Plymouth directory contains an excellent 

 diagram showing in a graphic manner the arrangements 

 made by the local education authority to coordinate the 

 work in all Plymouth schools. The classes at the school 

 of science and technology make it possible for any work- 

 man anxious to acquaint himself with the scientific prin- 

 ciples of his calling to do so easily. 



In order to facilitate the adoption by secondary schools 

 of systematic courses in geography, the Board of Education 

 has issued a circular indicating in outline the points to 

 which the attention of inspectors will be directed when 

 inspecting classes in this subject. Each school desiring 

 the approval of the Board for its course in geography 

 should be prepared to submit a course providing, first, an 

 outline scheme dealing with the great land and water 

 areas in such a way that on completing the course the 

 pupils shall have gone through the geography of the 

 world ; and, secondly, a suitably graded series of exercises 

 connected with the subjects included in the course. The 

 Board lays it down that the aim of the teaching should be 

 to produce a vivid impression of connected facts through 

 considerations, such as those of cause and effect, and the 

 practical bearings of the facts selected. Referring to the 

 exercises, the circular states that these may consist of 

 (a) questions and answers designed to elicit, through 

 causes and consequences, subject-matter for entry in the 

 pupils' note-books ; (6) notes and diagrams which should 

 include worked-out problems together with original maps 

 and plans : (c) mapping ; and (d) field work, excursions, 

 factory visits, &c. Suggestions for a four-year course in 

 geography, together with an outline plan for preliminary 

 instruction, are also given. The work suggested for the 

 preliminary instruction as suitable for children from eight 

 to twelve, and the statement of what these pupils should 

 be expected to know before entering upon the four-years' 

 course, presume a standard of attainment which the Board 

 can scarcely expect to be realised at present. The know- 

 ledge of physiography, for instance, to be expected of these 

 young people would be a credit to students several years 

 older. As so few teachers of geography understand what 

 is meant by the scientific study of their subject, it would 

 have been an advantage if the instructions as to the prac- 

 tical work to be done could have been made more explicit. 

 The circular refers to " worked-out problems," but it 

 might with advantage have included a few typical examples 

 of the problems required. The real difficulty will be to find 

 teachers capable of acting in the spirit of the suggestions 

 made by the Board ; but it is something for them to have a 

 method indicated which not only is sound in principle, but 

 is being put into practice here and there. The circular 

 is a decided step in advance, and brings nearer the time 

 when scientific instruction in geography will be general in 

 schools of all grades. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, June S. — " The Pharmacology of Indaconi- 

 tine and Bikhaconitine." By Dr. J. Theodore Cash, 

 F.R..S., and Prof. Wyndham R. Dunstan, I-".R.S. 



The present paper deals with the physiological action of 

 two new " aconitines," which have been isolated at the 

 Imperial Institute from two varieties of Indian aconite. 

 One is an alkaloid, which has been named indaconitine. 

 It was found in the roots of the Indian aconite, called by 

 Bruhl Aconitum napellus, var. hians, since identified by 

 Stapf as a new species which has received the name of 

 Aconitum chasmanthum. The other alkaloid has been 

 named " bikhaconitine," being derived from one of the 

 highly poisonous forms of aconite known in India under 

 ihe vernacular name of '" Bikh." This aconite was named 

 by Bruhl Aconitum ferox, var. spicatum, but has been re- 

 named Aconitum spicatum by Stapf, who regards it as a 

 distinct species. 



Results of experimery:s with these two substances are 

 summarised as follows : — 



NO. 1874, VOL. 72] 



The two aconitines, indaconitine and bikhaconitine, agree 

 in their qualitative effects with the other alkaloids of this 

 series, aconitine, japaconitine, and pseudaconitine, which 

 have been dealt with in our previous papers. 



The toxicity of indaconitine is less than that of bilcha- 

 conitine towards warm-blooded animals ; in this respect 

 the former stands very near to the aconitine of .1. napellus, 

 whilst the latter, being somewhat stronger than japaconi- 

 tine, is to be referred to a position between this alkaloid 

 and pseudaconitine from forms of .4. ferox, which is much 

 the most active of the series. 



The depression of the respiratory function by indaconitine 

 is less than that produced by bikhaconitine, and to this 

 the greater toxicity of the latter is referable. Repeated 

 doses of alkaloids administered at regular intervals and 

 in similar fractional proportions of the lethal dose are 

 followed by a more marked toxic effect when bikhaconitine 

 is administered rather than indaconitine. Towards frogs 

 the toxicity of the two alkaloids under discussion is prac- 

 tically equal ; bikhaconitine is more active than indaconi- 

 tine in reducing the respiratory activity. On the other 

 hand, it is somewhat less active in abolishing the excita- 

 bility of muscular and intramuscular motor nervous tissue 

 {immersion experiments), and in reducing the ability of the 

 muscle-nerve preparation poisoned in situ for the perform- 

 ance of work sufficient to cause fatigue. The local effect 

 of the two aconitines when applied to the skin by inunction 

 is equal and similar to that of the aconitines already 

 considered. 



Indaconitine and bikhaconitine may therefore be sub- 

 stituted for aconitine and pseudaconitine for internal use, 

 indaconitine being administrable in the same dose as 

 aconitine (from A. napellus) and bikhaconitine in propor- 

 tion of 075 of the unit dose of the former, whilst for local 

 application they may be used as constituents of ointments 

 in similar proportions to aconitine. 



Pseudaconine from Pseudaconitine and Bil;liaconitine. 



The action of these is, towards frogs, identical. Their 

 to.xicity appears to be practically equal and their effect 

 generally similar to that of aconine (from aconitine). 

 Their action is in the mam curari-like in character. 



" On the Physiological Activity of Substances Indirectly 

 Related to Adrenalin." By H. D. Dakin. Communi- 

 cated by Prof. E. H. Starling, F.R.S. 



The following deductions are made provisionally, until 

 further experimental evidence is available : — 



(i) It appears that the catechol nucleus is essential for 

 the production of physiologically active substances of the 

 type of adrenalin. 



(2) It is of importance that the hydrogen atoms of both 

 hydroxyl groups in the catechol nucleus be unsubstituted. 



(3) An alkyl group of low molecular weight (e.g. methyl, 

 ethyl) attached to the nitrogen tends to produce a much 

 more active substance than when an aromatic group is 

 attached, whilst derivatives of piperidine, heptylamine, and 

 benzylamine occupy an intermediate position. 



{4) The reduction of ketonic bases of the type 



KO 



ho/ ^.C— CHoR, 

 \ / II 



where R is a simple aliphatic group, results in the pro- 

 duction of bases with enormously increased physiological 

 activity. 



(5) in the subs'tances examined there appears to be a 

 connection between chemical instability and physiological 

 activity, and vice versa. 



July 8. — " An Experimental Inquiry into the Nature of the 

 Substance in .Serum which influences Phagocytosis." By 

 Dr. George Dean, Communicated bv Prof. J. Rose 

 Bradford, F.R.S. 



The author's conclusions are as follows : — 



(i) As has been shown by a number of workers, e.g. 

 Denys, Metchnikoff, Savtschenko, Levaditi and others, 

 there is produced in the blood serum of animais actively 

 immunised by bacterial injections a specific immune sub- 

 stance which has among its properties that of preparing 

 the microbe for phagocytosis. 



