126 



NA TURE 



yDcc. 9, 1880 



common to Madagascar, Mauritius and Bourbon, but not 

 elsewhere known, such as Pitlospoi-uin Senacia, Aphloia 

 matiritiaiia, Goiiania maitriiiaiia, Nesaa triflora, Lobelia 

 serpens, and Btiddleia madagascaricnsis ; thirdly, of 

 species that spread across Tropical Africa, such as 

 Haronga painatlaia, Dcsmodium iiiauritianum and 

 oxybracteiim, Cyntira cerjuia, Brehmia spinosa, and Miis- 

 soenda araiata ; fourthly, of species spread universally 

 through the tropics of the Old World, but not reaching 

 America, such as Croialaria stricta, Oxalis scitsitiva, 

 Nyinpliaa stcllata, Trichodesma zeylanica, Iiidigofiia 

 enncaphylla, Avicennia officinalis, and Rhizophora iini- 

 cronata; and fifthly, of species spread universally through 

 the tropical zone of both hemispheres, such as Elcusinc 

 iiidica, Tip/tivsia purpurea, Drymaria cordata, Elephan- 

 topus seaber, Teraiinnus labialis, Zor)iia depJiylla, 

 Waltheria amerieana, Sida rltoinbifolia, and Neplirodiuin 

 molle. In Mauritius and the Seychelles there are 145 

 species which occur also both in Asia and Africa,in addition 

 to 225 which arc spread all round the world in the tropical 

 zone, and nearly all these 370 species are now known in 

 Madagascar also. A small proportion of the Madagascar 

 genera and species are Asiatic but not African, and these 

 present collections add to the island flora Lagcrstroinia, 

 Buchanania, and Strongylodon, three well-marked Indian 

 types. 



But perhaps still more interesting, in the light that it 

 throws on the past history of the island, is the relation- 

 ship of the comparatively limited flora of the mountains 

 of the interior to that of othei parts of the world. A 

 certain number of the plants, especially the ferns and 

 fern-allies, are widely-spread temperate species, which 

 now have their head-quarters in the temperate regions of 

 the northern hemisphere ; we have instances of this in 

 Nephrodiuiu Filix-inas, Aspidium aculeatum, Osinuiuia 

 regaiis, Lyeopodiuiii elaratiiin, L. coiiiplanatu)ii, Saiiieula 

 europcca, Poiaiiiogeton oblongus, Sonclius aspei; S. oler- 

 aceus, Polygonum minus. Alost of the characteristic 

 types of the Cape flora are represented on the Madagascar 

 mountains, but nearly always by species which are 

 distinct from those which are now found in the extra- 

 tropical regions of the main continent : for instance, the 

 Aloes by a couple of species of Eualoe ; the Heaths by 

 several species of Philippia and Ericinella ; the bulbous 

 Iridacere by species of Gladiolus, Geissorhiza and Aristea : 

 the saprophitic Sercphulariacece by Harveya obtusifolia : 

 the special Cape ferns b\- Mohria caffrorum, Cheilaniltes 

 hirta, Pellaa hastata, and/", calomclanos ; the ProteaceK 

 by the curious genus Dilobeia (which Du Petit Thouars 

 found at the beginning of the century, and of which Dr. 

 Parker has now sent home the first specimens which ha\e 

 been seen in England) ; and the Selaginea- by Selago 

 muralis of Bcntham, which grows in the grounds of the 

 Queen's palace at Antananarivo. But perhaps the most 

 interesting feature of all is the occurrence of several 

 striking cases of specific identity between plants of the 

 Madagascar mountains and those of the tropical zone 

 of the African continent. The only Madagascar violet 

 {Viola emirnensis, Bojer, = /'. abyssinica, Steud.) only 

 occurs elsewhere high up amongst the mountains of 

 Abyssinia, at 7000 feet above sea-level in the Camaroons, 

 and at 10,000 feet above sea-level at Fernando Po. The 

 only Madagascar Geranium {G. eiuirnense, H. B. = G. 

 conipar, R. Br. = G. simense,lafis/ipulalum a.ndfrigidum. 

 Hochst.) has a precisely similar area of distribution. Cau- 

 calis mclanantha of Bentham is only known in Madagascar 

 and amongst the mountains of Abyssinia. The Mada- 

 gascar Drosera {D. madaj^ascarieusis, D.C. = D. ram- 

 entacea, Burch.) reappears at the Cape and the moun- 

 tains of Angola and the west tropical coast ; Agauria 

 snlici/olia. Hook, fil., which we noted lately as having 

 been gathered by i\Ir. Thomson on the high plateaux (^f 

 Lake Nyassa, is found in the Cameroons and on the 

 mountains of Madagascar, Mauritius, and Bourbon; 



Croialaria spinosa reappears in Nubia, Abyssinia, 

 Angola, and Zambesi-land; Aspleniicm Mannii, Hook., 

 on the mountains of Zambesi-land, the Cameroons, and 

 Fernando Po. .^s a whole, it would seem that the flora 

 of the Madagascar mountains corresponds closely with 

 that of the great ranges of the tropical zone of the tnain 

 African continent. J. G. Baker 



BENJAMIN COLLINS BRODIE, BART., 1 



F.R.S., D.C.L. l^- 



/~\N Wednesday, November 24 last, died Benjamin 

 ^^ Collins Brodie the younger, a worthy son of a dis- 

 tinguished sire. Born to affluence, but early imbued with 

 the liberal and high-minded views of the great surgeon, 

 he determined to devote his life and energies to the 

 prosecution of science for its own sake, and well has he 

 done his work. Brodie was born in London in 1S17, and 

 educated first at Harrow under Longley, and afterwards 

 at Balliol, taking his Master's degree in 1842. In those 

 days it was absolutely impossible to carry out original 

 chemical work at Oxford, and Brodie naturally betook 

 himself to Giessen, where Liebig's name drew students 

 from all parts of the world. There in the summer of 

 1845 Brodie, at Liebig's suggestion, carried out analyses 

 of certain waxes obtained by Gundlach by feeding bees 

 on different kinds of sugar. The results thus obtained 

 led him to continue his examination of bees'-wax on his 

 return to England, and from his private laboratory in the 

 Albert Road now came forth his well-known researches 

 on the Chemical Nature of Wax [P/iil. Trans. 1848, 

 147-170; 1849, 91-108), for which in 1S50 he received the 

 well-merited reward of the Royal Medal. These re- 

 searches will always remain not only remarkable as 

 having given a successful solution of a difficult problem, 

 but as having proved, by careful preparation and exact 

 analysis, the existence in wax of solid bodies which play 

 the part of alcohols, and of which common spirit of wine 

 is a direct lineal descendant. This unexpected discovery 

 of solid alcohols containing respectively twenty-seven and 

 thirty atoms of carbon in the molecule completely con- 

 firmed the truth of the views concerning the existence of 

 an homologous series of alcohols first enunciated by Schiel 

 and Gerhardt, and thus placed in firm position one of the 

 chief pillars of the organic portion of our science. 



Brodie' s next work was not inferior either in importance 

 or in workmanship to his first. In 1S50 he published his 

 memoir " On the Condition of certain Elements at the 

 Moment of Chemical Change " (/"///V. T"/-,?;/.?., 1850, 750- 

 S04), in which he carefully investigates the remarkable 

 reducing action exerted by peroxide of hydrogen. Not 

 only does this body lose half its oxygen when brought in 

 contact with oxide of silver, but reduces this oxide to 

 metal. This anomalous action was satisfactorily ex- 

 plained by Brodie, who pointed out that the second 

 atom of oxygen in these peroxides is not only re- 

 tained in an unstable state of combination, but that 

 when brought into contact with silver oxide a true 

 synthesis of oxygen occurs, two atoms of this element 

 uniting to form one molecule of free oxygen. That this 

 reaction really takes place was shown by Brodie to be the 

 case by careful experiment. These results led him to 

 consider the constitution of the alcohol radicals (C/icin. 

 ■S'lh-. Journ. iii. 405), and to assert in 1S51 the important 

 fact, now universally admitted, that the molecule of the 

 radical ethyl contains four atoms of carbon. To him 

 too we owe the prediction of the possibility of the. 

 existence of the mixed radicals, a prediction so soon 

 afterwards experimentally verified by Wurtz. Next 

 we find him active as secretary of the Society of 

 which he afterwards became president, viz. the Chemical 

 Society of London ; also in lecturing at the Royal Insti- 

 tution on the allotropic changes of certain elements, on- 

 jhe formation of hydrogen and its homologues, in which 



