AmNovr'i92iarmi     Scientific  and  Technical  Abstracts.  805 
A  New  Antifebrile  From  India. — Investigations  are  being 
made  at  present  into  the  medicinal  properties  of  a  forest  tree  in- 
digenous to  parts  of  Bihar  and  Bengal  that  recall  the  circumstances 
under  which  quinine  became  known  to  the  world  as  a  remedy  for 
malarial  fever.  The  late  civil  surgeon  of  Ranchi,  Lieut.  Col.  J.  C. 
S.  Vaughan,  having  noticed  the  occurrence  of  a  large  number  of 
cases  of  malignant  malaria  and  blackwater  fever  in  that  district, 
made  inquiries  among  the  aboriginal  tribes  to  find  whether  they 
used  any  local  plants  as  a  cure  for  these  diseases.  It  appears  that 
there  is  a  tree  whose  leaves,  bark,  and  root  are  all  used,  and  ex- 
periments that  have  been  made  with  the  leaves  raise  the  hope  that 
they  may  prove  to  be  a  valuable  addition  to  our  stock  of  drugs  for 
use  in  the  Tropics. 
The  tree  is  known  by  various  vernacular  names,  but  its  botani- 
cal name  is  Vitex  peduncidaris^  It  is  found  not  only  in  Chota  Nag- 
pur  but  also  in  eastern  Bengal  and  the  Khasia  Terai.  The  simplest 
way  to  use  it  is  to  make  an  infusion  of  the  leaves— 1  ounce  of  leaves 
to  40  ounces  of  infusion.  The  effect  has  been  found  to  vary,  but 
this  is  true  of  quinine  as  well,  and  of  most  other  drugs.  In  most 
cases  larger  doses  or  stronger  infusions  proved  effective  where  the 
ordinary  treatment  had  failed,  and  microscopic  examination  proved 
that  the  malarial  parasites  disappeared  from  the  blood  under  the 
influence  of  the  treatment.  As  these  results  have  been  obtained 
by  using  the  drug  in  its  crudest  state,  it  is  hoped  that  in  concen- 
trated form  it  may  prove  even  more  satisfactory.  It  has  advantages 
over  quinine  in  having  no  bitter  taste  or  toxic  properties,  of  being 
a  stimulant  rather  than  a  depressant,  and  of  being  suitable  for 
children  and  for  people  in  delicate  health.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
useful  in  influenza,  and  in  cases  of  blackwater  fever  it  has  given 
very  good  results. —  (Through  Commerce  Reports,  June,  1921.) 
Sweetening  Agents  ;  Definitions  and  Units  in  Chemistry 
of  .   T.  Paul.    Chem-Zeit.,  1921,  45,  705-706. — The  "degree 
of  sweetness,"  SG  (Siissungsgrad) ,  of  a  substance  is  defined  as  the 
number  of  g.  of  pure  sucrose  which,  in  a  given  volume  of  water, 
has  the  same  sweetening  effect  as  1  g.  of  the  substance.  The  de- 
gree of  sweetness  of  dextrose  was  found  to  be  0.52,  that  of  lsevu- 
lose  1.03,  lactose  0.28,  mannitol  0.42,  and  that  of  a  starch  syrup 
containing  78  per  cent,  of  solids  0.26 ;  these  values  appear  to  be  inde- 
