50 Years Ago

The Mango. By Dr. Lal Behari Singh — It is pleasing, as it is unexpected, to find a new series of books on world crops starting off not with such solid fare as wheat or potatoes or cabbage but with something as exotic and appetizing as the mango. This “choicest fruit of Hindoosthan” has spread far beyond the bounds of India and has become one of the most cherished fruits of tropical lands. It is still found in greatest variety and excellence in India, and this book comes, fitly enough, from the pen of a distinguished Indian horticulturist. This book may be counted on to commend itself as the most complete study of the mango so far published ... While the botanical chapters refer mainly to the common mango, M. indica, the author directs attention to fifteen other species of Mangifera with edible fruits. Evidently there is great wealth of related material here, of possible value for future breeding ... The section on utilization is necessarily brief, since the best way to use a mango is still to eat it as promptly and as dexterously as possible, but some mango recipes are also given ... This book deserves to be welcomed and to be gratefully added to the small, but growing, collection of hand-books on the tropical crops.

From Nature 11 March 1961

100 Years Ago

Can any correspondent of Nature recall a case of a cat playing with a shadow? I know of a cat — a blue Persian — which appears to wait until the morning sun throws the shadow of a cage-bird on the wall of a room, and then seems to play at catching the shadow of the bird as it moves about.

From Nature 9 March 1911