'BRADSHAW'S RAILWAY GUIDE.'

IT may be well to correct an error, even though unimportant, which will otherwise be

come permanent.

The first issue of Bradshaw's Railway Guide was more than a year earlier than that which Mr. Madan decides upon as the first. Mr. Robert D. Kay is quite right in saying that

there was an issue in 1838. At that time I was

a civil engineer, engaged on the London and Birmingham Railway, as it was then called, under Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Fox. Before the end of September, 1838, I left for the purpose of joining the staff of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at Worcester. I have a distinct recollection that before I left I saw Bradshaw's Time Tables at the Euston Station. How much earlier this may have been I do not know, but it was certainly before the end of September.

HERBERT SPENCER.

THE HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION.
THE COKE PAPERS,

THE present collection of state papers, one of the largest in private possession, is a monument to the official zeal of Sir John Coke, the wellknown naval administrator during the reigns of the last Tudor and first two Stuart sovereigns. His career is another example of the failure of honesty and diligence in office to cope with the gigantic abuses of those times. What Hawkins was not able to accomplish under Lord Burleigh, nor Pepys under Lord Danby, was a hopeless task for the amateur reformer whose only means of drawing attention to his plans was by appealing to the interest of one patron and to the vanity of another. It is probable that, like most official successes, Coke's promotion was due to zeal and ability displayed in a great crisis. Amongst the crowd of volunteers whose patriotism was aroused by the Armada, the peculiar genius for organization possessed by the methodical Cambridge scholar excited the notice of Lord Burleigh. There are several distinct reasons for believing that Coke began to take an interest in naval affairs as early as 1585, and that in 1589 he was already attached to the Lord Treasurer's suite. In 1591 he resigned his fellowship to enter the Navy Office at Deptford, where he soon found a new patron in Fulke Greville. From this time, until his preferment through the influence of the favourite Buckingham, Coke worked at his new profession in the intervals of farming and literature; but as yet his services, though frequently employed by the Crown, were only requited with indefinite promises. At length the joyful day came when, after a decisive explanation with his patron, Coke was able to write to his wife that "with God's blessing we shall have means to live together here or in the country where we think fit, and in a better fashion than we have done heretofore, or haply you expect, and shall be able to settle our children at the University, and you shall be freed from those drudgeries and domestic cares which now take up your time against my will, and which disquiet your mind." Henceforth his prospects were assured at least in proportion to his ambition, which was easily satisfied with the successive appointments of Master of Requests and Secretary of State.

The above passage is a good specimen of Coke's epistolary style, and it also affords an insight into his character. He was, if we may use the word without reproach, uxorious-a model husband as he was a model father, master, and official; a disciplinarian without austerity, and methodical without offensiveness-such a man, in short, as would have satisfied even the high moral standard of his contemporaries Fuller and Walton, and who should appear to us in pleasant relief to his social and official surroundings. Coke was a little over thirty when he married, or, as a fellow worthy terms it, was "fast tied in that golden and blessed link that all honest

men much triumph in." At this time he was settled in Herefordshire, where he had some difficulty in making a living out of the conflicting professions of practical farmer and theoretical reformer; but as soon as a settled official income was secured to him he seems to have resided more permanently in London. He had purchased a house in St. Martin's Lane, and "he might look to have it blown down on his head in a tempest," according to the disparaging estimation of his model servants, who would have preferred a more humble and godly lodg ing nearer Westminster, "where they should have the Church to their minds." Some years later, however, Coke acquired the estate of Melbourne, which has since continued in his family, together with a more eligible town residence at Tottenham High Cross. Of the details of Coke's domestic life these papers are full. In the midst of his official cares we find him actively concerned in the welfare of his family-now writing to desire his wife to comfort a sick maidservant, and now to complain of the household work; now to remind her to air the new tutor's bed, "least at his first day and change of air he find inconvenience in his health"; and now wrangling with the same individual in choice Latin about the insufficient progress of his pupils until he was obliged to resign in despair. His wife did not even venture to buy the children's clothes without consulting her husband, so that "if you do not buy them hats, you may send me word what hats I shall buy for them." In spite of these assiduous attentions, Coke was not exempt from domestic afflictions. His eldest son died of the "spotted fever" during a Christmas holiday, and his wife died in childbirth from the shock. This excellent lady seems to have been a most suitable partner to the industrious secretary, for, besides her ceaseless household drudgery, she usually farmed the estate singlehanded, and was even capable of designing a new sheepfold. From these agricultural details we gather that the rate of carriage varied from 4s. per cwt. between midsummer and Michaelmas to 6s. between Michaelmas and May-a sure sign of the condition of Derbyshire roads in the seventeenth century. We also learn that the proper plough-land in these parts for eight oxen was seven score and ten acres, fifty acres to an odd-marke." Some six months after his wife's death Coke married again, and resumed his life of toil and devotion in all its insipid tranquillity. The truth is that the academical spirit was stronger in Coke than the worldly or purely domestic, and it was because he could never forget he had been a Don that he failed to make either a successful courtier or a reasonable master. Thus he writes to a relative that it is "no small satisfaction to a man estranged and banished from the hopes and ambitions of learning to see them transplanted into another branch of his own tree"; while a still later letter of exhortation to a confirmed scapegrace might serve as a model to college tutors for ever. Many interesting details of university life may be drawn from these pages, though it must be premised that the young Coke's college bills do not represent a normal undergraduate expenditure in respect of such items as "A horse to take the air, 1s."

،،

again, from a port-admiral : "Carpenters and others importune me for their wages. Our beer is spent; and our seamen grow insolent. I shall not keep the common men in order. I do prolong their drink with water and wine beverage; they much repine at it." As no money was forthcoming from the Exchequer, there was a general scramble for the proceeds of prize sales and of the forced loans, which might, after all, have been expended upon less worthy objects.

In 1618 a searching inquiry into the abuses of the navy was set on foot, in which Coke took an active part. Amongst other enormities discovered we read of the following: Brimstone mingled with sand, artisans working for private contractors while paid by the Crown, theft of stores by officers, counterfeit bills; but, above all, waste of all kinds and over estimates were the great cause of a profligate expenditure. Besides these the abuse of patronage in the service was a grave evil, so that "no man is preferred for merit, but for means only." The ships were manned by a "loose rabble," and the captains "almost never come aboard," and "spend never heard of allowances at London or at home," while the ships' companies "run ashore and scatter." The res result, according to Coke and his fellow commissioners, was that they "are ready prizes to any that dare assail them," while pirates were wholly unchecked. If these worthies were called in question, they would either shelter themselves under court favour or "threaten to turn pirate and be as dangerous enemies to this state as ever any were." In another place we find that "there are multitudes of English in foreign service." On the other hand, we read of gallant actions, of resolute promises to shoot away the Hollander's colours unless they lower them in the narrow seas, and even of one captain who boasted that he has not been drunk "for a long time before he came home," and that after he had lost his sailing master he had a hand in navigating the ship successfully. But this was evidently a rare exception. No wonder, then, that "every small fleet on the sea coast puts the people into arms, or rather to their heels." Although Coke was unable, like those who went before and those who have followed him in office, to remove these evils, he deserves praise for his courage in denouncing them; and a portion of this praise may be fairly awarded to his patron Buckingham, whose "quicksilver humour" Coke was skilful enough to "fix" in the direction of naval reforms.

Amongst the matter of general interest in this valuable report may be mentioned the newsletters from the camp in the Isle of Rhé, and a curious estimate of the contemporary state of the East India Company and of the French settlements in Canada.

agreement with me I acknowledged the fact only-but quite sufficiently-in foot-notes.

Again, with regard to Mr. Ward's article, I did not mean to say, as the reviewer appears to understand, that I was not aware of its existence and general purport until a year ago, but merely that up to that time I had not read it with sufficient closeness to have noticed certain passages which were in striking agreement with me.

My object in writing has been merely that of correcting certain gross misstatements upon matters of fact. The answer I receive is: "Mr. Romanes quotes his single partial glimpse of the truth without reference to his general argument." Well, even if this were true, the reviewer would

If you want to find even a tolerable one you have to go to works published in Renaissance days, although there were some good ones in the last century. Indexes, as a rule, should be made by index-makers - let the cobbler stick to his last. The aggravation caused by the dea sane man into Bedlam, and the loss of time incurred by these deficiencies is incalculable. In many modern books of reference, and in reprints of old books, the indexes are left out.

still have been wrong in what he originally said, ficiencies of modern indexes is enough to drive

for in that case he ought to have said that my book is full of flagrant contradictions. But, as a matter of fact, what he now says is untrue. Not only are the few sentences which I quoted in my previous letter direct falsifications of the criticism which I printed above them, but these sentences were only a few samples which seemed sufficient for the purpose. In short, as I previously said, and as every reader can verify, the book in question "is throughout charged with a recognition of the very point which I am accused of ignoring."

For the rest, it would plainly be folly in me to discuss matters of opinion with a man who can gravely tell us that the doctrine of association as held by "the Mills" is "old-fashioned and "completely antiquated," having been superseded by that of "a segmentation of a psychoblast"! Absurdity of this kind is as incompatible with the résumé of psychological science which is given in his favourite authority, the 'Encyclopædia Britannica,' as it is with all other psychological authorities now in existence, e. g., "Hume's likening of the laws of mental association to the principle of gravitation in external nature is perfectly justifiable."

GEORGE J. ROMANES.

** We really cannot continue this dispute, but shall only remark that Mr. Romanes is mistaken. We did not call the doctrine of association "antiquated," but applied that term to "the older theories of association," and spoke of "the old-fashioned position of the associationists." That Mr. Romanes does not appreciate the difference of standpoint between the position of the Mills and Dr. Bain and that of the German psychologists and Dr. Ward, and its relevance to his own problem, only confirms our impression of his want of mastery of psychological principles. We did not say in our review that Mr. Romanes was in disagreement with Dr. Ward on any specific point, but as regards standpoint. It turns out that so far as he does agree, it may only be a case of what used to be called "unconscious cerebration." If Mr. Romanes does not see how far his view of this point is partial and incongruous with his general psychological standpoint, we cannot help him. We never imagined that Mr. Romanes was claiming originality for the insertion of a middle term between images and concepts, which has become a psychological commonplace of recent years. It is true he speaks of "my views in this connexion, and of persons who had never heard of his views as "my" opponents. But we took all this as part of Mr. Romanes's habit of saying, "La psychologie, c'est moi," and only considered his attempt to apply this psychological commonplace to the problem of the origin of language, for which attempt we gave him full credit in our "not unfriendly" review.

INDEX-MAKING.

150, Harley Street, January, 1889.

Ir is greatly to be deplored that Mr. Heath should have written that part of his letter on index - making that assigns the index to the author. The taste of a single person should not be converted into a general rule. Judging from the extreme badness and insufficiency of indexes,

Locke's plan of indexing a commonplace book which Mr. Heath gives is useful for its purpose, and may be a good plan for all indexes.

While on this subject I may say that it seems as if modern authors, publishers, and printers had entered into a conspiracy to give the greatest trouble and annoyance to those who consult their books. Plates are interspersed with the text, and where a plate occurs no number is put on the printed pages preceding and following the plate. If the work is divided into books and chapters these are not printed on the top of each page or folio, and if the list of contents refers to the page of the book it usually omits those of the chapters; while the list itself, instead of following the title-page, is usually hidden between the preface and the introduction.

We are always reading of the various and incessant demands made on people's time in the present day; but from the books of reference published one would think that the reader had nothing but that one particular book to engage him for the rest of his life, and that he had better make his own index as he reads it.

SARUM HORE.

G. AITCHISON.

Trinity College, Dublin, Jan. 18, 1889.

a

good

I HAVE recently acquired a copy of an early edition of the Sarum Horæ, a description of which may be of interest to your readers. The date is apparently 1488. It is 8vo., size 6 in. by 44 in., the upper margin having been deal cut away. The greater part of the titlepage is occupied with a picture of Adam and Eve holding a shield with I. P. surmounted by a cross, being the printer's device. Under this is "IEHAN POI......VIN Hore ad usu Sarrum impresse pro Iohane Poitevin | comorate parisius [sic] in vico novo beate Marie." On the reverse of title is "Almanach pour xxi. an," viz from 1488 (iiiixx viii) to 1508 (vcens viii), giving the dates of the movable feasts. calendar. The book is ruled throughout with red lines between the lines of printing, and with the capital letters illuminated. There is a border round every page, with woodcuts illustrating Scripture history. There are eight varieties of border and thirteen full-page woodcuts. The number of leaves is 128, signatures a to Q.

Then follows a

Т. К. Аввотт.

Literary Gossip.

THE trustees of the late Sir Robert Peel

(Viscount Hardinge and the Speaker, in succession to Earl Stanhope and Viscount Cardwell) intend shortly to bring out a selection from his papers, so arranged as to give the continuous history of his life. The work, which will include matter of personal as well as of political interest, will be edited by Mr. Charles Stuart Parker, M.P., and published by Mr. Murray.

MESSRS. BLACKWOOD & SONs have in preparation two series of monthly publications, both of which will be commenced during the spring season. The first is a new series of the well-known "Tales from Blackwood," which will embrace a selection of the best short stories that have appeared in the magazine during the last twelve years. On alternate months with the "Tales" will appear the parts of a series entitled "Travel, Adventure, and Sport from Blackwood's Magazine," uniform with the other, and containing a selection of the most interesting papers on these subjects from the commencement of the magazine down to date. As explorers and sportsmen have always been numerous among Blackwood's contributors, the new series has a good chance of proving popular. Though designed for all classes of readers, the publishers in their preliminary announcement state that they have taken the tastes and requirements of boys specially into account.

Blackwood for February will contain an intimate study and personal recollections of Laurence Oliphant, from the pen of Mrs. M. O. W. Oliphant. Mrs. Oliphant will also record her impressions of Laurence Oliphant's first wife, who entered most enthusiastically into her husband's views, and whose influence contributed in a most marked degree to Laurence Oliphant's development of the Harrisian theories into the religious doctrine which he has expounded in 'Sympneumata' and 'Scientific Religion.' Laurence Oliphant's work at Haifa is not, we understand, to be abandoned, and Mrs. Rosamond Oliphant is about to return thither. Two Glasgow gentlemen who have embraced the principles of "Scientific Religion" are to accompany her and take part in the work of the little community.

MESSRS. MACMILLAN & Co. have in the press a work on the 'Principles of Inductive or Empirical Logic,' by Dr. Venn, based upon lectures delivered at Cambridge. The general treatment will be somewhat more in accord with that adopted by J. S. Mill than with that of most recent English works on logic. A discussion of the various prerequisites, physical and mental, demanded for a general system of inductive logic is followed by an account of causation, and of the inductive process as employed in common life and in science. Special attention is given to the analysis of the nature and functions of units or standards, as underlying all quantitative inference, and to some of the difficulties commonly felt as to the nature of the data of geometry. Finally, the abstract principles of practice or art are discussed in so far as they involve departure from the purely speculative standpoint.

MR. MOTLEY's correspondence will be published by Mr. Murray in the latter part of February.

Murray's Magazine for February will contain the concluding part of Lady de Ros's 'Reminiscences of Waterloo and the Duke of Wellington,' which have attracted so much attention.

THE library of the Earl of Hopetoun, which Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge will sell at the end of next month, contains many rare and notable books. The Mazarin Bible is fine and very large; the first page

of each volume is illuminated. The existence of this copy was apparently unknown until discovered by Messrs. Sotheby in a cupboard in Hopetoun House; no pedigree to it can be traced. A rarer book still, though not nearly so valuable, is the 'Virgilii Opera,' editio princeps, printed in 1469. The 'Catholicon' of Balbus, printed by Gutenberg in 1460, is a fine copy so far as size goes, for several of the leaves are uncut, but unfortunately it is slightly wormed. There are many first editions of the classics by various printers, including the Vergil (sic) of Aldus on vellum, also the first and second Aldine editions of Petrarcha Cose Volgari,' on vellum; 'Cæsaris Commentarii,' 1471; first edition of 'Euclidis Elementa Geometriæ,' 1482; Martial, first Aldine edition, 1501; and 'Quintiliani Institutiones Oratoriæ,' first edition, 1470. The manuscripts include Bibles, hours, psalters, breviaries, romances, classics, and divinity, and many of them are beautifully illuminated. The volume of Scottish state letters and papers in manuscript, ranging from 1544 to 1591, is most attractive, and contains several royal autographs. In the library are also books of prints, galleries, early plays, antiquarian books, and fifteenth century law books.

An interesting diary of a London citizen of the seventeenth century has recently come into the hands of Mr. Alfred Wallis, of Exeter. The writer was James Lever, of Bolton, Lancashire, whose elder brother Robert was the founder of the grammar school in that town. His sister married Dr. Calamy, the famous Presbyterian, concerning whose death and family there are many

entries of interest. James Lever came to London in 1630, when the diary commences. It not only deals with personal adventures and details of London city life, but abounds in allusion to the stirring national history of the Commonwealth. An article by Mr. Wallis, based on this leiger book, will appear in the next issue of the Reliquary.

CAPT. PASFIELD OLIVER, F.S.A., is preparing and editing a series of works on Madagascar for the Hakluyt Society. The first volumes will contain the personal memoirs of François Cauche, 1638-44, and

a translation of De Flacourt's 'Relation de

ce qui s'est passé en l'Isle Madagascar depuis l'Année 1642 jusques en 1660. Later, Robert Drury's 'Journal' will appear, together with M. de Rennefort's narrative and other voyages to the great African island during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

MR. THOMAS HARDY is at present re

arranging his first novel, Desperate

،

Remedies,' which was published anonymously many years ago in three - volume form. It will be issued shortly, with a

brief preface and in one volume, by Messrs. Ward & Downey. Though it has been known for some years that Mr. Hardy is the author of Desperate Remedies,' this is the first time he has acknowledged the authorship on a title-page. A new three-volume work of fiction by the author of 'Molly Bawn' will be published in February under

the title of 'In Durance Vile.'

of by Messrs. Hodgson at their rooms. The value of these pictures seems to be decadent, for the lot only realized 31. A complete copy, containing all the 917 caricatures published, is a rarity.

Or all the religious orders of medieval Christendom, the only one that had its origin in England and was founded by an Englishman was the Order of Gilbertines, established by Gilbert de Sempringham in the twelfth century. Its once numerous priory churches, with their large range of conventual buildings for both sexes, have altogether disappeared, with the exception of the remarkably fine nave of the priory church of Old Malton. The Rev. A. L. Pitman, Vicar of Old Malton, is collecting for publication materials for a complete his tory of the order, and will be glad of any information. There is a good thirteenth century chartulary of Old Malton at the British Museum.

MESSRS. SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & Co. will issue shortly 'The Dead Leman, and other Stories from the French,' by Mr. Andrew Lang and Paul Sylvester. The volume contains nouvelles by Mérimée, About, Théophile Gautier, Th. Bentzon, Tolstoi, and Balzac, and an introductory essay on the place of the novelette in literature by the authors. The same publishers have almost ready 'John Newbold's Ordeal,' a new novel in two volumes by Mr. Thomas Pinkerton, author of 'The Meadowsweet Comedy.'

'THE LAST VOYAGE, 1886-7,' by Lady Brassey, which will be published by Messrs. Longman next week, is very fully illustrated, there being forty monotone pictures (twenty full-page) and nearly two hundred woodcuts in the text from drawings by Mr. R. T. Pritchett. Mr. Mudie has subscribed for one thousand copies.

A CORRESPONDENT writes :"Loftie's 'Kensington: Picturesque and Historical' was published by subscription at 28s. 6d., and the prospectus stated that the published price would be 45s. Before the list was closed some of the stores took orders for this book at 27s., and at the present moment copies can be obtained through any bookseller at 28s. 6d. Worse still, there is at least one bookseller in my neighbourhood who is selling copies at even a lower figure. Perhaps the next thing will be the flooding of the book market with 'remainder' copies at about half a sovereign each. I await the publishers' explanation with some curiosity."

MESSRS. W. H. ALLEN & Co. are on the point of issuing the first number of the Civil Service Directory, to be published

annually. It will contain a list of all the Government offices and the officials doing duty therein, together with a detailed statement of their services. In an appendix will be given the regulations and subjects of examination of the various permanent appointments, and other information-Acts of Parliament, Treasury minutes, &c. -relating to the Civil Service.

COMTE DE FRANQUEVILLE is continuing his volumes upon England. He is at present at work on 'Justice,' after which he will

turn to Local Government.'

Poet-Lore, "a monthly magazine devoted to Shakespeare, Browning, and the comparative study of literature," is about to be published at Philadelphia by the J. B.

Lippincott Company. The chief editor is Miss Charlotte Porter, late of the American periodical Shakespeariana. Among the contributors will be Dr. W. J. Rolfe, Dr. H. H. Furness, Dr. D. G. Brinton, Mr. W. H. Wyman, Prof. W. T. Harris, and Prof. Hiram Corson.

MR. MONCURE CONWAY's biography of Edmund Randolph (of which the second edition is ready) has had the good fortune to make an impression on the United States Senate, which passed a resolution calling on the Secretary of the Treasury for information as to the errors (alleged in the book) by which Randolph has been charged for over ninety years as a defaulter in his office of Secretary of State. The answer of the Department to the resolution has sustained Mr. Conway's facts and figures in every particular.

THE most important candidates for the Laudian Arabic Professorship vacant at Oxford are Dr. R. Brünnow, son of the late Astronomer Royal at Dublin; Prof. H. Ethé, of Aberystwith University College; Mr. D. Margoliouth, Fellow of New College, Oxford; and M. Salmone, of the London University.

We regret to state that the great Icelandic scholar Dr. Gutbrandr Vigfusson is seriously ill.

MR. J. STANLEY LITTLE'S new story, Doubt,' illustrated by Mr. Maurice Grieffenhagen, will be published by Mr. Spencer Blackett in the course of a few days. Mr. Blackett has also in the press a volume called 'A Babe of Bohemia,' the author of which, Mr. F. Danby, for the purpose of gaining information, joined the Salvation Army, went through their training home at Clapton, in connexion with which is a refuge, and finally became attached to the depôt of the so-called "Gutter, Slum, and Garret Brigade" in Newport Buildings, from which the work among the very poorest is carried on. Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton are going to issue a book by a popular Methodist minister, the Rev. H. Price Hughes, entitled 'Social Christianity,' being a selection of Sunday afternoon addresses delivered by Mr. Hughes in St. James's Hall.

THE free library system at Nottingham is about to be extended by the establishment of the eleventh branch.

THE Critic, a weekly journal of Richmond, Virginia, devotes one or two columns of each issue to genealogies of " first families" of Virginia, the Randolphs, Lees, &c. The

papers are generally prepared with care, possess considerable historical interest, but now and then an error appears, as recently in the notion that Benjamin Harrison, President elect, is descended from the Critic follows a privately circulated volume by Mr. Wyndham Robertson; but the theory is not correct. It rests on the supposition that Governor Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independence (great-grandfather of the President elect), married a Randolph, through which family alone the descent from Pocahontas would be possible. But the "signer" married a Bassett; his father (also Benjamin) married Anne Carter (daughter of "King Carter," representative of Lord Fairfax); and President

Indian princess Pocahontas. In this the

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE. - Jan. 23.Dr. W. Knighton in the chair. A paper was read On Ariosto and the Romance of Chivalry in Italy,' by Mr. C. H. E. Carmichael, Foreign Secretary.

NUMISMATIC.-Jan. 17.-Dr. J. Evans, President, in the chair.-Mr. P. G. Cotton was proposed as a Member.-The Rev. G. F. Crowther exhibited a series of pennies, halfpennies, and farthings of Henry VI.--Mr. L. A. Lawrence exhibited an Oxford penny of Charles I., of the Declaration type, 1644, and a farthing of Edward IV. -Mr. Montagu read a paper on the gold coins of James I. with new and unpublished mint-marks, supplementary to a previous paper on the same subject. The total number of new mint-marks noticed by Mr. Montagu amounted to as many as forty.-Mr. A. E. Packe communicated a paper on the lis mint-mark on gold coins of Henry VI.'s restoration, October, 1470-April, 1471, in which he gave it as his opinion that the coins with the lis preceded in point of time the issue with the cross mint-mark, which he proposed to limit to the last month of Henry's reign, the indenture with Sir Richard Tunstall, Master of the Mint, bearing date March 7th, 1470/1. Mr. Packe also threw out the suggestion that the lis coins were struck at the York mint.

LINNEAN.-Jan. 17.-Mr. W. Carruthers, President, in the chair. The following were elected Fellows: Messrs. J. R. Green, R. J. H. Gibson, J. W. White, and H. Stone. The following recently elected Fellows were formally admitted: Messrs. A. B. Rendle and H. P. Greenwood. - On behalf of M. Buysman, of Middleburg, Mr. B. D. Jackson exhibited a series of careful dissections of Nymphæa cærulea, collected by Dr. Schweinfurth in Egypt.Mr. D. Morris exhibited specimens of drift fruit from Jamaica, where he had collected no fewer than thirty-five different kinds brought by the Gulf Stream from the mouths of the Orinoco and Amazon. Although the species exhibited had not been determined with certainty, it was believed to be probably Humiria balsamifera, Aud. (the flower of which is figured by Eichler, 'Flora Brasiliensis,' vol. xii. part 2, p. 420, pl. xcii. fig. 1), but the fruit undescribed. It was commonly known in French Guiana as bois rouge, and from it was obtained a gum used medicinally and burnt as incense. A discussion followed, in which Messrs. J. G. Baker, Rolfe, and Breese took part.-A paper was read by Mr. J. G. Tepper On the Natural History of the Kangaroo Island Grass Tree, Xantharrhæa tateana.' This tree grows abundantly in Kangaroo Island, South Australia, in poor gravelly and sandy soil, intermixed with ferruginous concretions, and attains a height of from 6 to 14 ft. with a diameter of 6 to 18 in. and a floral spike of from 10 to 19 ft. It is thus a most conspicuous plant, and lends a peculiarly weird aspect to the country it occupies. Its rate of growth is described as very slow, old settlers having remarked but little change in individual trees after thirty years' observation. The most remarkable feature in the structure of the stem is the formation of a dense ligneous central core immediately above and connected with the roots, exhibiting numerous annular zones traversed by transverse (medullary) fibres. The flowers are borne in a dense spike upon a smooth peduncle. Individually they are inconspicuous, of a whitish colour, and develope a strong odour and abundant nectar during the warmer part of the day, when they are visited and fertilized by hymenopterous insects, the most remarkable being a large metallic-green carpenter bee (Xylocapa). which tunnels out cells in the dead flower-stalks.-A discussion followed upon the botanical position of the grass trees and the antiquity of the type, in which the President, Messrs. A. W. Bennett, J. G. Baker, Morris, and Rolfe took part.

ZOOLOGICAL.-Jan. 15.-Prof. Flower, President, in the chair. The Secretary read a report on the additions made to the menagerie during December, and called attention to a young chimpanzee purchased on December 6th, which was undoubtedly of the same species as the specimen purchased on October 24th, 1883, still living in the Society's gardens, and was, so far as could be at present ascertained, referable to the bald-headed chimpanzee, Anthropopithecus calvus. - Prof. Newton exhibited a specimen of Pennula millsi, Dole, brought from the Sandwich Islands by Mr. S. B. Wilson, remarking that it seemed to be identical specifically with Rallus obscurus, Gmelin, a species which has not been lately recognized.-Letters and communications were read: from Heer F. E. Blaauw, of Amsterdam, containing an account of the development of the horns of the white-tailed gnu as observed in specimens bred in his menagerie, - by Prof. Bell, on the question of the food of Bipalium, -by Canon Tristram, on a specimen of Emberiza cioides, a bunting of Siberia, of which a specimen

at Flamborough in October, 1887, -by Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, on the echinoderm fauna of the Bay of Bengal, -by Mr. F. E. Beddard and Mr. F. Treves, on the anatomy of the Sumatran rhinoceros as observed in two specimens of this animal that had lately died in the Society's gardens; the muscular anatomy of the limbs of this rhinoceros was especially treated of, and by Prof. Newton, on the breeding of the seriema (Cariama cristata) in the Society's gardens.

ENTOMOLOGICAL, Jan. 16.- Anniversary Meeting.-Dr. D. Sharp, President, in the chair.-An abstract of the Treasurer's accounts, showing a large balance in the Society's favour, was read by Mr. O. Salvin, one of the auditors; and Mr. H. Goss read the Report of the Council. It was announced that | the following gentlemen had been elected as officers | and Council for 1889: President, Lord Walsingham; Treasurer, Mr. E. Saunders; Secretaries, Mr. H. Goss and Canon Fowler; Librarian, Mr. F. Grut; Other Members of Council, Mr. H. W. Bates, Capt. H. J. Elwes, Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher, Mr. F. Du Cane-Godman, Prof. R. Meldola, Dr. P. B. Mason, Mr. O. Salvin, and Dr. D. Sharp. Dr. Sharp, the outgoing President, then delivered an address.

METEOROLOGICAL.-Jan. 16.-Anniversary Meeting.-Dr. W. Marcet, President, in the chair.-Rev. J. R. Stratten, Messrs. M. Hall, G. T. Livesey, C. W. Priestlay, and J. Radcliffe were elected Fellows. The Report of the Council showed that a large amount of work had been done during the year, and considerable progress had been made in the investigation of a hitherto neglected branch of meteorology, viz., thunderstorms. Forty-nine new Fellows were elected last year, the total number on the books now being 525.-After the report had been adopted the President delivered an address on 'Fogs,' which he illustrated by a number of lantern slides. After describing various kinds of fogs, Dr. Marcet referred to London fogs. Dr. Tyndall has accounted for them by assuming each particle of condensed vapour to be covered by coal smoke. These fogs usually accompany a high barometer, and are frequently dry in their character. It is a well-known fact that cold air on the tops of hills, being heavier than the air below. slides down the slopes, so that the lower parts of hill-sides are actually colder than the plains at some distance from the hills. Now London, in the Thames valley, is surrounded by hills-to the north,

put under each belong to three different words which have produced nearly eighty forms, and the classification of the meanings is very difficult. Else has two senses-(1) as a neuter adjective used absolutely, (2) as an adverbial genitive; it expresses something of addition, and also something of difference. Elastic, having the power of driving, was not traceable in English much before 1660. It is used by Pacquet in a Latin book of 1651 in nearly its modern sense of " capable of being stretched, and recovering its shape." In words like ecstasy the intermixing of meanings is very puzzling.-Dr. J. A. H. Murray then made his report. Though he had a full staff, yet changes in it had hindered him; still, he had finished 178 pages, to Chest, and got proof and copy in to Choose, 214 pages altogether. Three-fifths of vol. ii. were complete. He had the greatest difficulty in keeping the work down to the limits assigned to it, six times Webster's 'Dictionary.' The fresh rich material could not be enough squeezed; it would run over its bounds. He joined his thanks to the gentlemen named by Mr. Bradley, and to many others-sub-editors, re-sub-editors, and helpers-whose names will appear in the Society's report. The largest reader was still Mr. W. Douglas, but many phrases had yet to be taken from the German Hoppe's dictionary. Dr. Murray then dealt with cherubin (from French), pl. cherubins, which Hebraism had changed into cherub, pl. cherubim. Check in chess he had found very difficult. The history of a bank cheque had been made out with the help of Mr. H. Hucks Gibbs and the Bank of England; it was the counterfoil of the Exchequer bill or draft. One Act of Parliament says there shall be two checks for every bill, one at the Bank, the other in the Exchequer, so that at both places the genuineness of any bill can be tested. More workers are sorely needed.

SOCIETY OF ARTS.-Jan. 21. Mr. A. S. Cole delivered the first of a course of two Cantor Lectures 'On Egyptian Tapestry and Textiles.' The lecture was illustrated by lantern slides and by specimens of ancient tapestry work lent from South Kensington Museum.

Jan. 22.-Sir P. Cunliffe-Owen in the chair.-An address On some Recent Movements in Relation to the Applied Arts' was given by Sir J. Linton before the Applied Art Section of the Society.

Jan. 23. Mr. W. H. Preece in the chair.-A paper 'On Electric Meters for Central Stations' was read

Highgate, Hampstead, and Harrow; in a westerly by Prof. G. Forbes, and was followed by a discus

direction, Putney and Wimbledon; and in a more southerly direction, Clapham and Sydenham. The air is colder on these hills than in London, with its millions of inhabitants, its coal fires and factories, hence it is heavier, and will have a great tendency

to slide down the hills towards the town and the river. Should the air in town be on the point of saturation, and the cold air from above saturated with vapour, it is obvious that the increased cold from above will produce a precipitation of moisture, and it will come to pass that a fog is produced. If the hill-tops be not only colder than the air below, but enveloped in a fog, it stands to reason that the fog below will be all the denser, and especially in the neighbourhood of water, such as the river Thames and the ornamental waters in the parks.The following gentlemen were elected the officers and Council for the ensuing year: President, Dr. W. Marcet; Vice-Presidents, F. C. Bayard, H. F. Blanford, W. Ellis, and R. Inwards; Treasurer, H. Perigal; Trustees, Hon. F. A. R. Russell and S. w. Silver; Secretaries, G. J. Symons and Dr. J. W. Tripe; Foreign Secretary, R. H. Scott; Council, E. D. Archibald, W. M. Beaufort, A. Brewin, G. Chatterton, W. H. Dines, F. B. Edmonds, C. Harding, B. Latham, Capt. J. P. Maclear, E. Mawley, H. Southall, and Dr. C. T. Williams.

PHILOLOGICAL. - Jan. 18. - Rev. Dr. Morris, President, in the chair. -The Hon. Sec. read a letter from the secretary to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press stating that during the past year 380 pages of the Dictionary had been finished, "a far better advance than anything hitherto attained"; but the debt on the book is very heavy, and additional assistants, paid and voluntary, are much wanted, Mr. Bradley's staff not being complete.-Mr. H. Bradley, the joint editor of the Dictionary, now preparing vol. iii., reported his progress during the year. He thanked warmly, for their help to him, Dr. Murray, Dr. Fitzedward Hall, Mr. H. H. Gibbs, Mr. Sykes, Profs. Sievers and P. Meyer, and the authorities of the British Museum, who had assigned him a special table in their Large Room, and whose officers had greatly aided him. Till August he had had only one assistant, and still was without half his staff; he therefore could not make proper progress, but 130 pages were in type, 104 being in final form. He had found the commonest words the most difficult: each, either, else look extremely simple, but to classify their uses and trace their etymology and

sion.

HISTORICAL. - Jan. 17. - Mr. C. A. Fyffe, V.P. in the chair.-Mr. H. Haines read a paper On History and Assassination. -A discussion followed, in which Messrs. G. Bertin, G. Hurst, W. Moore, and the Chairman took part.

MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK.

MON. Royal Academy.-4, Demonstrations, Mr. J. Marshall; 8,
Architecture, Mr. G. Aitchison.

London Institution, 5-Modern Wit.' Mr. A. Bakewell.
Aristotelian, 8. The Empiricist Position, Prof. A. Bain.
Surveyors' Institution. 8-Quantity Surveyors: their Duties,
Rights, and Liabilities, Mr. J. Hunt

Society of Arts, 8.- Bgyptian Tapestry and Textiles, Le-
ture II., Mr A. S Cole Cantor Lecture,.

Geographical 84-The Gran Chaco (Argentine Republic) and its Rivers, Capt. J. Page.

TUES. Royal Institution, 3- Before and After Darwin, Prof. GJ. Romanes.

Civil Engineers, 8-The Steep Incline on the Puerto Cabello
and Valencia Railway, Venezuela, Mr. J. Carruthers; Cost
of Working the Hartz Mountain Railway, Mr. R. Wilson;
Further Information on the Working of the Fell System on
the Rimutaka Incline, N.Z., Mr J. P Maxwell.

Society of Arts, 8.- Gold and Silver Mining in Colorado,' Mr.
T. W. Goad.

WED. Royal Academy, 4.-'Demonstrations, Mr. J Marshall.

Society of Arts, 8-Construction of Photographic Lenses, Mr.
C. Beck.

THURS. Royal Institution, 3.-'The Metamorphoses of Minerals, Prof.

J. W. Judd. Royal. 44.

London Institution, 6.-'The Times of the Twelve Apostles,' Rev. Canon Benham.

Royal Academy, 8.-' Architecture, Mr. G. Aitchison. Antiquaries, 8). Discovery of Grave-Covers at Bromfield, Cumberland, Chancellor Ferguson; 'Antiquities from Hawkshead, Lancashire, Mr. H. S. Cowper; Deed of Exchange of the Manor of Lambeth, 1197,' and Sculptured Doorways of the Lady Chapel of Glastonbury Abbey, Mr. W. H. St. John Hope.

United Service Institution, 3.-Coaling Ships, Lieut. T. Y.
Greet.

Geologists' Association. 7 -Annual Meeting.
Philological. 8.- The Names Jah and Jahveh, Mr. T. G Pinches,
Roval Institution, 9- The Life-History of a Marine Food-Fish,'
Prof. W. C. M Intosh.

Royal Academy. 9.- Demonstrations, Mr. J. Marshall.
Royal Institution, 3.- The Great Composers and their Works,'
Prof. E. Pauer.

Science Gossip.

THE papers recently contributed by Prof. Oliver Lodge to the columns of Nature, under the title 'Modern Views of Electricity,' will shortly be republished in the "Nature Series" by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. Their object is to explain without technicalities, and to illustrate as far as possible by mechanical models and