This There was no loom in the house, and the boy was never put to one. rests on the authority of the Professor's sister, who was ten years older than himself. It is time that the fiction should disappear from Porson's biography, yet it is in Watson's life of the celebrated Greek scholar, and in the "Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography," both recent works. South African Diamonds.-An official statement informs us that during the year 1869 there were shipped from the Cape to Europe 141 diamonds, valued in the aggregate at £7,405, and that the shipments for 1870 were 5,661 diamonds, estimated as worth £124,910. The mere official returns of exports are short of the truth, many shipments being made without register or record. On a rough estimate, it is calculated that the aggregate value of the diamonds sent home during the last twelve months must have exceeded £200,000.—Times. THE LIBRARY. THE CRAWFORD COLLECTION. An important Collection of Books, Pamphlets, Manuscripts, Broadsides, Newspaper Cuttings, and Plates, relating to modern changes in the Criminal Law, the Condition of Prisons and the Treatment of Prisoners, has been placed at the disposal of the Managers of this Institution by Miss REW, of Finchley, in accordance with the recommendation of her cousin Mr. CRAWFORD BURKITT, a Proprietor. This Collection is a secondary result of the philanthropic labours of Mr. WILLIAM CRAWFORD, whose earnest attempts to reform the penal system of his day ultimately led to his appointment as one of the two Government Inspectors of Prisons. In this office he continued to work unremittingly for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, until the sudden close of his useful life in 1847. At his death his books and papers became the property of his nephew, the late Mr. WILLIAM ANDREW REW, whose expressed wish that this curious and instructive collection should be placed in a public library has just been carried out by his sister. The Honorary Secretary, in conveying to Miss REW the thanks of the Board of Management, assured her that "the intelligent and humane character of the Collector was well known to some of their number, particularly to Mr. JULIAN HILL, whose near relative was for some time associated in public duty with the late Mr. CRAWFORD." The work of cataloguing the collection will be commenced immediately, and the Principal Librarian hopes to be able to indicate clearly its scope and character in an early communication to the Journal. NOTES ON BOOKS. Elementary Treatise on Natural Philosophy. By A. Privat Deschanel. Translated and edited, with extensive additions, by Prof. J. D. EVERETT. In Four Parts. Part I. Mechanics, Hydrostatics, and Pneumatics. London: Blackie and Son. Received from the Publishers. The treatise of Prof. Deschanel, though only published in 1868, has. deservedly obtained a high reputation in France, and was adopted by the late Minister of Instruction as a text-book for Government schools. Dr. Everett, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Queen's College, Belfast, states that he did not consent to undertake the labour of translating and editing it till a careful examination had convinced him that it was better adapted to the requirements of his own class of Experimental Physics than any other work with which he was acquainted. All who are familiar with the treatise in its original form, will admit that Dr. Everett deserves the thanks of English teachers and students generally, for having furnished them with an admirable translation of three sections of a work which is characterised by those good qualities that are summed up in the old English word "thoroughness." Dr. Everett's book, however, is not a mere translation. He has suppressed and modified many of Deschanel's statements, and has added much new matter, which is properly distinguished from the original text. This single part, comprising mechanics, hydrostatics, and pneumatics, is illustrated by no fewer than 181 engravings on wood, besides a coloured plate. These engravings are remarkable for their artistic beauty, and for their truthful representation of actual apparatus. Take, for example, the engraving of Attwood's machine for verifying the laws of falling bodies, or that of Morin's apparatus, in which a weight falling freely reveals the law of its descent by tracing a curve on a revolving cylinder. Either of these might be safely placed in the hands of an intelligent mechanic as a working drawing. Again, look at Figure 57, illustrating the experiment of Pascal's vases. The details of the balance, down to the smallest screw, may be made out, while the construction of the vases and the manner of using them to illustrate a fundamental principle of hydrostatics, can be readily understood without dipping deeply into the descriptive text. In Figure 154, showing the ascent of soap-bubbles filled with hydrogen, the engraver really seems to have reached the limit of the pictorial capabilities of black and white. A Manual of Botany: including the Structure, Functions, Classification, Properties, and Uses of Plants. By Robert Bentley, F. L.S., M. R.C.S. E., Professor of Botany in the London Institution, etc. Second Edition. London: Churchill and Sons. Presented to the Library by the Author. Professor Bentley's well-arranged and comprehensive class-book of Botany is specially distinguished from most manuals by its practical notes on the Properties and Uses of Plants. It is much used by medical and pharmaceutical students, and may be safely recommended as a work of reference for those engaged in commercial pursuits who are constantly handling substances derived from the vegetable kingdom. The entire work has been revised, while portions of it have been re-written; and the Second Edition "is sent forth in the full belief that it will be found to represent, as far as possible, the state of Botanical Science at the time of its publication." The author expresses his obligations to his friends Dr. Trimen and Mr. H. B. Brady-to the former, for the revision of the section on Physiology; and to the latter, for supplying him with some new drawings for woodcuts. The work is a portly volume of 832 pages, illustrated with 1,127 woodcuts. MEMORANDA FOR MARCH. I WEDNESDAY-London Institution: Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Royal Society of Literature at 4.30.-Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society at 8: Anniversary.— Society of Arts at 8: Rev. W. H. Brookfield, On the Principles of School Organisation and Instruction as advocated by the Society of Arts.-Obstetrical Soc. at 8.-Pharmaceutical Society at 8.30: Dr. Carpenter On the Microscope. 2 THURSDAY-London Institution: Prof. J. E. Thorold Rogers On the Colonial Question (First Lecture of the Travers Course) at 7.30.-Royal Institution at 3: Prof. Odling On Davy's Discoveries.-Linnean Society at 8.-Chemical Society at 8.-Royal Society at 8.30.-Antiquaries at 8.30. 3 FRIDAY-London Institution: Prof. Huxley's Sixth Lecture On the First Principles of Biology at 4; Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Archæological Institute at 4.Geologists' Association at 8.-Philological Society at 8.15.-Royal Institution at 9: Capt. Noble On the Pressure of Fired Gunpowder. 4 SATURDAY-Royal Institution at 3: Prof. Jowett On Socrates. 6 MONDAY-London Institution: Committees at 3; Mr. Proctor's First Lecture On Astronomy at 4; Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Royal Institution at 2: General Monthly Meeting.-Asiatic Society at 3.-Entomological Soc. at 7.-British Architects at 8.-Medical Society at 8.-Victoria Institute at 8: Rev. B. W. Savile On the Evidence of the Egyptian Monuments to the Sojourn of Israel in Egypt.-Anthropological Institute at 8. 8 7 TUESDAY-Royal Institution at 3: Prof. M. Foster On Nutrition.-Civil Engineers at 8 9 THURSDAY-London Institution: Prof. J. E. Thorold Rogers On the Colonial Ques II SATURDAY-Royal Institution at 3: Mr. O'Neil, R.A., On the Spirit of the Age.—Roya Botanic Society at 3.45. 13 MONDAY-London Institution: Mr. Proctor's Second Lecture On Astronomy at 4 Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Medical Soc. at 8.-Royal Geograp. Soc. at 8.30. 14 TUESDAY-Royal Institution at 3: Prof. M. Foster.-Civil Engineers at 8.-Photographic Society at 8.-Royal Medical and Chirurgical Soc. at 8.30. 15 WEDNESDAY-London Institution: Conversazione at 6.30; Mr. Henry Holiday's Lecture, Stained Glass asthetically considered with reference to Modern Art, at 7.30. -Meteorological Society at 7.-Society of Arts at 8: Mr. F. Kohn On the Different Methods of Extracting Sugar from Beet-root and Cane.—Royal Society of Literature at 8.30. 16 THURSDAY-Royal Institution at 3: Prof. Odling.-Numismatic Society at 7.-Linnean Society at 8.-Chemical Society at 8.--Royal Society at 8.30.-Antiquaries at 8.30. 17 FRIDAY-London Institution Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Philological Society at 8.15.-Royal Institution at 9: Mr. J. Norman Lockyer On the Eclipse. 18 SATURDAY-Royal Institution at 3: Mr. O'Neil. 20 MONDAY-London Institution: Mr. Proctor's Third Lecture On Astronomy at 4 Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Asiatic Society at 3.-Entomological Society at 7. -British Architects at 8.-Medical Society at 8.-Anthropological Institute at 8. 21 TUESDAY-Royal Institution at 3: Prof. M. Foster.-Statistical Society at 7.45.-Civil Engineers at 8.-Pathological Soc. at 8.-Zoological Soc. at 9. 22 WEDNESDAY-London Institution; Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Society of Arts at 8: Major-Gen. Eardley-Wilmot On Drill, the Complement of the Present School Teaching.-Geological Soc. at 8.-Archæological Association at 8.- Hunterian Soc. at 8. 23 THURSDAY-London Institution: Prof. Bentley's First Lecture On Economic Botany; or Vegetable Substances used for Food, and in the Arts and Manufactures, at 7.30.— Royal Institution at 3: Prof. Odling.-Royal Society at 8.30.-Antiquaries at 8.30. 24 FRIDAY-London Institution: Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Quekett Microscopical Club at 8.-Royal Institution at 9; Prof. J. Clerk Maxwell On Colour. 25 SATURDAY-Royal Institution at 3: Mr. O'Neil.-Royal Botanic Society at 3.45. 27 MONDAY-London Institution: Mr. Proctor's Fourth Lecture On Astronomy at 4 Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Institute of Actuaries at 7.-Medical Society at 8.Royal Geographical Society at 8.30. 28 TUESDAY-London Institution; Meeting of Visitors at 1.--Royal Institution at 3: Prof. M. Foster.- Civil Engineers at 8.-Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society at 8.30. 29 WEDNESDAY-London Institution: Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Society of Arts at 8: Mr. A. V. Newton On the Patent Laws. 30 THURSDAY-London Institution; Prof. Bentley's Second Lecture On Economic Botany at 7.30.-Royal Institution at 3; Prof. Odling.-Chemical Society at 8: Anniversary. —Artists and Amateurs at 8.-Royal Society at 8.30.-Antiquaries at 8.30. 31 FRIDAY-London Institution; Class for Analytical Chemistry at 6.-Royal Institution at 9: Prof. Max Müller On Solar Myths. Secretaries of Learned Bodies are requested to communicate the subjects of promised Papers or Lectures, with any other information that may be profitably employed in the compilation of our "Memoranda, To Correspondents.-Communications intended for publication in the Journal, Queries, Books for review, etc., should be addressed to the Principal Librarian. A Catalogue of the Books acquired for the Permanent Circulating Library, to the end of 1871, was printed in No. 1, page 8. UNWIN BROTHERS, MAGAZINE AND GENERAL PRINTERS, OXFORD COURT, CANNON STREET, E.C of the London Enstitution A Programme and Record of Proceedings. No. 4. SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1871. VOL. I. MEETINGS OF MANAGERS, VISITORS, AND PROPRIETORS. Committees.-Monday, April 3, at Three o'clock. Audit Committee.—Wednesday, April 5, at Two o'clock. Joint Meeting of Managers and Visitors.-Wednesday, April 5, at Three o'clock. Audit Committee.-Wednesday, April 12, at Two o'clock. Monthly Board.—Wednesday, April 12, at Half-past Two o'clock. Special Board.-Wednesday, April 26, at Half-past Eleven o'clock. Annual Meeting of Proprietors.-Wednesday, April 26, at Twelve o'clock. The next number of the Journal will contain the Annual Report, and will be issued on or before Monday, April 17. CONVERSAZIONE. MR. TOM HOOD'S LECTURE ON WALLER. The Fourth and last Conversazione of the present Session will be held at the House of the Institution, on Wednesday, April 12. At Half-past Six tea and coffee will be served in the Library, and at Half-past Seven Mr. TOM HOOD will deliver a Lecture entitled, "Edmund Waller, M.P., Poet, Courtier, Wit, Lover, and Sinner." To the collection of objects exhibited on this occasion, Mr. C. BAILY has promised to contribute his series of drawings of the ancient glass in Long Melford Church, Suffolk. Some interesting sketches, paintings, and statuettes, by the late T. H. Nicholson, will be contributed by Mr. EDWARD DRAPER. PROFESSOR OF MUSIC. The Board of Management, with the power derived from the Royal Charter of Incorporation, have appointed Mr. JOHN ELLA, Professor of Music in the London Institution. By this appointment the Managers have manifested their high appreciation of Mr. ELLA's past services, and their desire to secure to the Institution the advantages of the direct counsel and practical instruction of a musician of great experience and learning ΤΗ THE MARCH CONVERSAZIONE. HE Third Conversazione of the Session, held on Wednesday, March 15, had a decided æsthetic character. An important branch of decorative art was the subject of the lecture, and most of the objects exhibited were illustrations of the fine arts or artistic manufactures. The time allowed for the examination of all the beautiful things that had been so rapidly brought together was by many felt to be inadequate, and the announcement that the collection would remain on view during the whole of Thursday, seemed to give general satisfaction. The following works by the Lecturer, Mr. HENRY HOLIDAY, may be said to have formed the nucleus of the Exhibition : A full-sized copy of a fresco by Giotto, at Assisi, representing St. Francis healing a wounded man. "The Annunciation," an original picture in watercolours. Three Muses, painted on a panel for a music cabinet. A series of Pompeian studies. A design for domestic stained glass, representing a lady with a hawk. Numerous designs for painted tiles, consisting of female figures and heads. "The Study of Decoration," a specimen design for a panel. These varied works were exhibited in the Library. Many large cartoons of stained-glass windows, by Mr. HOLIDAY, and his finished design for the mosaic reredos of St. Lawrence, Jewry, were displayed in the Theatre. Some of the works enumerated were lent by the artist; others were contributed by Mr. G. E. Cook; by Messrs. GREEN and KING, and by Messrs. HEATON, Butler, and BAYNE. A small characteristic collection of paintings and drawings, by Mr. S. SOLOMON, attracted much attention. It comprised the well-known work exhibited at the Royal Academy, under the title of "A Youth relating Tales to Ladies," and a fine study of the head of a young Jewish priest. These works were contributed by the artist, and by Mr. T. M. KITCHIN. Mr. E. J. POYNTER, Á. R. A., was represented by a picture entitled "Heaven's Messenger;" by a series of cartoons for stained glass; and by a specimen panel of decoration for the Theatre Royal, Bath. The last-mentioned work was exhibited by Messrs. GREEN and KING; the others were lent by the artist. The admirers of Mr. BURNE JONES were delighted to have the opportunity of seeing his beautiful picture of "The Story of St. Dorothea," lent by Mr. T. M. KITCHIN, and his masterly cartoons for stained glass, contributed by Messrs. MORRIS and Co. The firm just named also supplied the Lecturer with a few striking cartoons by Mr. WILLIAM MORRIS, better known to the world as the author of "The Earthly Paradise," than as a painter. Some excellent designs for domestic stained glass, by Mr. LEWISs F. Day, were exhibited by Mr. G. E. Cook, and by the artist. Mr. J. M. ALLEN contributed his design for the west window of Guildhall. A series of water-colour drawings by the Rev. J. RAVEN, and an exquisite study of rocks and clouds, in oils, by Mr. J. S. RAVEN, were lent by Mr. HOLIDAY. Some beautiful landscapes by Mr. ALFRED HUNT and Mr. J. B. BEDFORD were also exhibited. Mr. JOHN O'CONNOR showed a series of effective sketches made by him at Paris and St. Cloud, to illustrate the closing scenes of the War. He also contributed highly-finished drawings of Buckingham Water Gate and Amiens. The following paintings included in the Exhibition claim special notice :Portrait of Mrs. Hogarth by her Son, William Hogarth; and oil-painting of a Cottage, by Cotman; contributed by Mr. THOMAS JECKYLL. Portrait of Sheridan Knowles, by W. Trantschold; lent by Mrs. NOSEDA. "River Scene," by Mr. John Thewenetti; lent by Messrs. GREEN and KING. |