ture as we have done in engineering. To call architecture back within the domain of common sense is what is most wanted on the part of the engineers to complete the services they have rendered and are rendering to mankind."

Whether brought about by architects or engineers, there is, however, a great change for the better in the artistic treatment of mill buildings. Mr. Fairbairn gives us a sketch of a very slight attempt at architectural effect with which he succeeded, in 1826, in replacing the old boxlike form of mill, and there is no doubt that much of the credit of modern improvement in this respect is due to him. There is still room, however, for the advent of that architect of the future alluded to by the writer from whom we have quoted above.

Among the most interesting descriptions of mills actually erected by our author which occupy the larger and latter half of his second volume is the Taganrog Corn Mill, on the north shore of the Black Sea, constructed for the Russian Government, and originally intended for the double purpose of supplying the Russian navy with biscuit, and facilitating the export of Russian grain in the shape of flour. The terms of the Paris treaty of peace, stipulating that no vessel of war should be retained on the Black Sea, have modified the original objects contemplated in the erection of these mills, and they are now used only for the purpose of grinding, dressing, &c. The mill contains 36 pairs of stones arranged on Mr. Fairbairn's longitudinal principle, and possesses every requisite for grinding 180 to 200 bushels of wheat per hour.

During the siege of Sebastopol it was determined by the English Government to supply the troops daily with fresh flour from the grain of the surrounding country, and the description of the Bruiser floating mill and bakery is one of the most generally interesting in the book. This vessel was fitted up internally precisely in the same manner as an ordinary mill, the power being derived from her screw engines. Without the sketches it is difficult to extract an intelligible description of the floating mill, but we learn that, "During the time the vessel was in Balaclava harbour, the daily produce of flour was about 24,000 lbs. It was originally intended that the mill should be capable of producing 20,000 lbs. of bread per day, but it proved equal to a considerably larger production. The total quantity of bread turned out in the three months from January to March, 1856, was 1,284,747 lbs., and the expenses of working were 2,0177. or 38. 2d. per 100 lbs. of bread made. The quantity of flour ground in the same time was 1,331,792 lbs., with 358,172 lbs. of bran; the expenses of working were 2,050l., or 38. 1d. per 100 lbs. of flour produced. The total cost of the flour produced was about 258. 3d. per 100 lbs., the wheat costing about 188. per 100 lbs. The grinding of the wheat was found to be performed quite satisfactorily while the vessel was at sea, even in a heavy swell causing an excessive motion."

Bearing in mind the success of this experiment and the importance of fresh flour and bread to the health of troops, Mr. Fairbairn suggests the propriety of "a light portable steam-engine and mill for grinding being constantly attached to the camp whenever an

army takes the field. The whole affair would not exceed the weight of one of our heavy siege-guns, and there would be no practical difficulty in the way of introducing an engine capable of supplying newly-baked bread from an oven constructed in the smoke-box of a portable locomotive engine, mounted on wheels and prepared to grind at the same time." Here is another direction in which the ingenuity of mechanicians may be made to serve the interests of military practice, somewhat more peaceable than that which is leading many of our best mechanical engineers to become either artillerists or armourmakers.

Our limits do not permit us to follow Mr. Fairbairn through the descriptions of flax, cotton, oil, gunpowder, and paper mills, all of which are more than usually valuable, as they contain, in almost every case, the story of his own doings, and the result of his own practice. As the most successful and most extensive master-millwright in the world, Mr. Fairbairn has done good service to the profession of engineering by the publication of this work. The subject is one on which there has been a singular dearth of published information; most other important branches of engineering have been treated at length by more or less able authors, but the mysteries of the millwright's craft have been hitherto preserved mainly in oral traditions and empirical rules. No fitter person than Mr. Fairbairn could have been found to give this floating information a shape. Commencing his work as a millwright some fifty years ago, he found the practice of mill-work in a most primitive condition. By the application of new principles, by the concentration of motive power, the substitution of cast-iron wheelwork for the old and cumbrous forms of wooden gear, the improvement of water-wheels by the invention of ventilating buckets, the use of the steam-engine as a prime mover, and last, not least, the introduction of wrought-iron shafting of small diameter, he brought about just such a revolution in the millwright's art as the increasing commercial activity of his time demanded. Like most men who attain celebrity, William Fairbairn has worked hand in hand with circumstances. His professional career commenced, to use his own words, "just at a time when the country was recovering from the effects of a long and disastrous war, and he was enabled, from this circumstance, to grow up with, and follow out conscientiously, nearly the whole of the discoveries, improvements, and changes that have since taken place in mechanical science." Hence it was that he was enabled to apply his great natural mechanical abilities with so much success towards the further development of our industrial resources and the extension of our trade throughout the globe.

LOCAL FLORAS.*

THE highest attainment of Natural-History science is to describe accurately the living inhabitants of the earth. This can only be done by the slow and laborious process of making catalogues of the plants and animals of particular localities. Such catalogues are of little use to those ignorant of natural-history studies, and can only be compiled by those who have made the greatest progress, and are competent critically to pronounce that the forms alleged to have been found in a particular locality are truly the forms named by some standard authority. It is no wonder then, that so little has been done towards giving an exact account of the animals and plants of any particular district. Of all parts of the world, the British Islands afford the best opportunity for such a study, and perhaps there is no country where so much has been done in this direction. The work is, however, still very imperfect. Our lists of animals and plants, such as are comprehended in our Floras and Faunas, do not pretend to give the localities, excepting generally where any particular species has been found to occur. The relation which a local Flora bears to a general Flora, is well seen in Professor Babington's Manual of the British Flora,' and his list of plants in the 'Flora of Cambridgeshire.' In the one, the species of plants are given which occur throughout Great Britain, and the locality is only generally stated by the county or district in which it grows; in the other, every locality in which a particular plant is known to occur, is given.

It is only when plants and animals are studied in the lastmentioned way, that the causes of their growth and distribution can be expected to be discovered. It is evident to all who pass through a limited or large space of country, that the growth of plants is very varied, and no one can fail to be impressed with the fact, that there are certain causes acting which produce this great variety of distribution. A cursory examination shows that such influences as temperature, moisture, water, and composition of soil are at work, and general laws can be laid down according to which certain groups of plants are found to flourish or disappear. It is, however, as we come to examine individual species, that we find no explanation can be given of their absence and abundance; and closer observation of the connection between each species and the soil, and other conditions of their growth, are demanded for the purposes of satisfactorily affording the basis of the laws of their distribution. Much has been done in this direction, and we are indebted to the laborious efforts of Mr. H. C. Watson, to reduce to something like general order what is at present known of the distribution of English plants.

Apart, however, from the scientific interest that attaches to the

* Flora of Surrey; or, a Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Trees found in the County.' By James Alexander Brewer. London: J. Van Voorst.

Flora of Marlborough; with Notices of the Birds and a Sketch of the Geological Features of the Neighbourhood.' London: J. Van Voorst.

accurate description of plants in particular localities, they have their value in directing the attention of students to places where they can find species which otherwise would escape their attention. It is perhaps to this fact that we are indebted for the publication of local Floras as separate works at all. The publication of such works has been especially called for and produced by the formation of local Naturalists' Field Clubs. These Associations, devoting themselves to the exploration of the natural history of the localities in which they occur, collect a great quantity of information, and it is to such a Society that the public is indebted for one of the Floras named at the commencement of this article.

We are also indebted to other Clubs in various parts of this county for similar works. Nothing can be more conducive to health, both of mind and body, than such Associations, and a public is thus formed capable of appreciating and using Local Floras such as those above mentioned.

It is also very desirable, when the study of Natural History is cultivated in schools and families, that guides to the treasures which are to be found in the immediate neighbourhood should be possessed by the pupils as incentives to the collection of particular or rare kinds of natural-history objects.

It is a mistake to suppose that natural objects can only be successfully studied in their larger or more striking forms; it is the objects which are found at every man's door that become the field for the grandest and most important discoveries. Lyonnet has made for himself an undying reputation by the study of the anatomy of the caterpillar of the common privet hawk moth. Huber studied the bees in his own garden and the immediate neighbourhood of his residence. White has made Selbourne a classical spot for all time by the study of the habits of the animals within a mile of his own house. The finest illustrations of his beautiful theory of the origin of species were derived by Darwin, not from his studies as a naturalist who had voyaged round the world, but as a country gentleman who had studied the habits of the tenements of his dovecote, and the relations of the cats, mice, bees, and clovers in his own paddock. Fascinating as the prospect must be to every young and ardent lover of nature to traverse the ocean, and view its wonders under tropical suns, or piercing the rich forests of the torrid zones, to behold for the first time with human eyes, the forms of animal and vegetable life they may contain, there is nothing more certain than that the fixed and quiet study of natural objects at home can be made as rich a source of intellectual pleasure, and important discovery, as traversing distant, though more fertile fields.

It is with much pleasure, then, that we direct attention to two works which have been recently published on Local Natural History. They are both called Floras,' at the same time they are both something more than a mere catalogue of plants and their localities. In both we are supplied with maps of the district, to the elucidation of the botany of which they are devoted. In both we have a sketch of the geology of the part of the country in which the plants are found, a

recognition of the relations of the plants to the soil in which they grow, of considerable importance. To the Flora' of Marlborough there is also added a list of birds found in the neighbourhood of that place. We should be glad to see the practice of combining lists of plants and animals followed up so that every student of natural history may be supplied with a knowledge of whatever forms of life exist around him, in whatever direction his particular tastes may lead him.

Of the two works before us the most unpretending is the 'Flora of Marlborough.' It is the production of Mr. T. A. Preston, who is too modest to place his name upon the title-page, but he dates from Marlborough College. He says, in his preface, the work was "undertaken mainly for the purpose of assisting those members of the College who may be fond of Botany." We are sure all friends of a more extended education than is at present afforded in our great educational establishments, will congratulate Marlborough College on the production within its walls of this contribution to Local Natural History. We do not know whether any direct encouragement is given to the study of Natural History at Marlborough, but we regard this publication as one of many other indications that natural science is beginning to excite attention, and its claims to a place in the curriculum of school studies recognized.

In the list of plants presented by Mr. Preston he confines himself to the limit of a circle with a radius of six miles from Marlborough. This circle is divided into four districts, and lies principally upon the chalk formation, so that little opportunity is given for the comparison of plants occurring on different geological strata.

The arrangement of plants followed is that of Professor Babington, in the fourth edition of his 'Manual of British Botany.' The author has done this from the conviction that, although Bentham's 'Hand Book' is extremely useful for those beginning the study of Botany, and has many excellent points about it, yet the wholesale manner in which Bentham has united what have generally been regarded as distinct species, and described them imperfectly, as varieties, have induced him to prefer Babington's book.

The list of plants is preceded by some remarks on the Geological Features of Marlborough,' by W. G. Adams, Esq. This essay is devoted to the description of too small a portion of the earth's surface to call for criticism, but it is evidently the production of one who has studied the geology of the district, and contains an interesting exposition of the causes that have been at work in the production of the chalk, and the beds that lie above it in the neighbourhood of Marlborough. We may, however, venture to say that we think the Diatomaceous theory of the production of flints in the chalk, as propounded by Mr. Adams, is hardly borne out by the facts of the case. Whether the silex of flints was once in the form of the skeletons of Diatoms is perhaps a question, but we have no knowledge of any facts which could lead to the conclusion that flints are produced as the result of a conglomeration of the skeletons of Diatoms.

Of the list of plants we have nothing further to say than that it is printed on the plan of Professor Babington's Flora of Cambridge,'