and that for every locality given for a plant the initials of the name of the observer are attached. The list of birds has been drawn up by R. B. Smith, Esq., of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The notes attached to the name of each bird are interesting, and will be found to make this part of the work much easier reading than the list of plants. It would not perhaps be found impossible in Local Floras to make notes to the plants which might be instructive to the beginner in Botany. The Flora of Surrey is much the most important volume of the two. It is three times the size of the last; has two valuable coloured maps; embraces the plants of a county; has a history; and has been produced by men not unknown to fame. Who that has studied Natural History the last quarter of a century, is not acquainted with the papers of "Rusticus, of Godalming ?" It was the late J. D. Salmon, of Godalming, with a few friends interested in the study of plants, who first resolved, at a meeting held in the town of Guildford, to procure materials for the publication of a Flora of the county of Surrey. Mr. Salmon undertook the task of editing this Flora, and had proceeded to some considerable extent with his task when he died. At the sale of his effects, in the autumn of 1861, all his MSS., and a rich collection of plants which he had formed, were purchased by the Holmesdale Natural History Club, and those materials were placed in the hands of the author of the Flora of Reigate,' for publication. No one could be better fitted for the work, and Mr. Brewer has now produced a Flora which, for accuracy and extent, stands unrivalled amongst the Local Floras of Great Britain. As already stated, this work is accompanied with two maps; on one of them the county is divided into nine divisions, to each of which a letter is attached. Each plant is referred to in the list, as it is found in one or other of these divisions. The second is a geological map, which has been drawn and coloured from one laid down by Mr. Joseph Prestwich. The work opens with an Introduction on the Physical Geography and Botanical Divisions of the county of Surrey, which, we are informed, was written by the late J. D. Salmon. It is an interesting geological and geographical account of the county of Surrey. The list of plants is very copious, and the arrangement and nomenclature generally adopted are those of the fifth edition of the 'London Catalogue of British Plants.' We should have preferred the plan of following some British Manual, and in this respect we think the plan of the Marlborough Flora the best. The notices of localities are very numerous, and the names of the specimens are at once guarantees of the accuracy of the observations. The most interesting parts of the volume to the general student will be found in the Appendices, of which there are four. In the first is given a list of plants introduced to the country, and not thoroughly naturalized. The second contains a list of plants found on the Thames side, near Wandsworth and Battersea, and which are undoubtedly introduced plants from seed brought to this locality by the presence of a large distillery situated at the waterside. They nevertheless have their interest in showing how plants from distant The third counties may be introduced and become naturalized. Appendix consists of a table showing the geological distribution of plants in the county. From this table we gather that the number of plants known to occur on all strata is 117. The number confined to the valley alluvium, 7; to the superficial gravels, 19; to the Bagshot sands, 9; to the London clay, 14; to the Reading and Woolwich beds, 2; to the chalk, 55; to the upper greensand and gault, 5; and to the lower greensand, 28. The last Appendix gives the relative proportion of the plants of the United Kingdom to those enumerated in the Surrey Flora, and also the proportion which the number of species in each natural order in Surrey bears to the total amount in the country. From this table we find that Surrey is deficient in the following natural orders:-Frankeniacea, Tamariscacea, Illecebracea, Plumbaginaceae, Eleeagnacea, Aristolochiacea, Empetracea, and Eriocauloneæ. It will at once be seen that none of these are common orders. The Flora of Surrey contains altogether 984 species, besides 65 wellmarked varieties. The following five plants are believed to be peculiar to Surrey. Impatiens fulva, Teucrium Botrys, Lilium Martagon, Digitalis sanguinalis, and Buxus sempervirens. The latter, the common Box, is well known throughout England, but is not thoroughly naturalized in any other county. From what we have said, it must be seen that the Flora of Surrey is a most valuable and laborious work, and deserves to be in the hands not only of every lover of Natural History in the county of Surrey, but in those of every student of Botany throughout the country. We are glad to observe a good list of subscribers, and wish that our good opinion of the work may be the means of increasing its sale, and encouraging Local Natural History societies to follow the good example of the Holmesdale Natural History Club. NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. On the Highest Magnifying Power of the Microscope yet employed. IN giving a very brief summary of my recent observations upon the mode of termination of the nerves in voluntary muscle, the editor of Cosmos,' for August 28th, 1863, remarks:-" Nous regrettons pour notre compte que M. Beale n'ait pas dit dans sa note avec quel genre d'oculaires et avec quel jeu de lentilles il a pu obtenir le prodigieux grossissement de 3,000 fois." I propose in the present short communication to describe briefly how my drawings representing objects magnified to this extent were obtained. In making drawings of microscopical objects, it is usual to represent the image the size it appears when thrown upon paper with the aid of the camera or neutral tint glass reflector at the distance of 10 inches from the eye, the arbitrary point at which the magnifying power of object-glasses is measured. If the image be taken at a point nearer to the eye it appears smaller; while, at a greater distance, it of course appears much larger than at the arbitrary distance above stated. Large diagrams may indeed be made direct from the microscope, by placing the diagram paper at the distance of 3 feet or more from the eye, and tracing upon it with a long pencil the object as reflected from the neutral tint glass reflector. In practice, I have often found it almost impossible to represent, in drawings, lines as fine as those seen in the preparation. A certain coarseness is inevitable. The copied lines and markings appear rougher and thicker than the real ones. But this defect is to some extent removed by drawing the object somewhat larger than it appears to be magnified at the distance of 10 inches from the eye; and, in order to obtain uniform results, I always draw the object the size it would appear if copied on the same level as the stage of the microscope. The scale for measurement is copied at precisely the same distance. A glass which at 10 inches is said to magnify 200 diameters will magnify 215, and my high power, which was made for me two years since by Messrs. Powell and Lealand, instead of magnifying about 1,600 diameters, increases the image of the object to 1,800 diameters. By increasing the length of the tube of the microscope between 4 and 5 inches, I obtain an amplification amounting to 3,000 diameters, and the 1 of an English inch becomes 3 inches in length. With care in illumination, I have been able to see points in an object magnified with this power which I had failed to observe under a power of 2,000. It seems to me probable that I may succeed in increasing the power to 5,000 diameters; and with this object I am trying different plans, the results of which shall be recorded shortly. The common paraffin lamp gives a very white and good light for working with these high magnifying powers. I have tried the lime light, but have as yet reaped no advantages from its use. So far I have certainly obtained better results by increasing the length of the tube of the microscope than by increasing the magnifying power of the eyepiece, which accords with the results of some experiments performed many years ago by Dr. Carpenter. Of course, the practical utility of increasing the magnifying power entirely depends upon the character of the specimen. Into the question of preparing specimens I must not, however, now enter, further than to say that my specimens are immersed in the strongest glycerine that can be procured. I never represent a structure more highly magnified than is necessary to bring out the points; but I find that, with an improved method of preparation, I desire higher magnifying powers; and I am quite certain that great advantages will be reaped when powers far higher than any yet made or thought of shall be brought to bear upon many structures. The question of preparation is scarcely more than a mechanical one, and new and more exact means of preparation will soon follow improvements in the optical part of the microscope. It should be stated that many specimens of muscular fibre, nerve fibres, nerve cells, &c., have been prepared, so that they can be magnified 3,000 diameters, and points can be made out (as, for example, what appears a single fibre can be resolved into several) which cannot be seen, or, at any rate, have not been observed, by an ordinary magnifying power. The object-glass I have employed is the first twenty-sixth made for me by Messrs. Powell and Lealand, which is a most excellent working glass. That it defines exceedingly well, and admits plenty of light, is obvious from the fact that it will allow of the tube being increased in length. By a working glass I mean one that can be employed without trouble or difficulty, and does not require any elaborate arrangements with regard to illumination, adjustment, &c. In fact, I use it without even a condenser, employing_only the common concave mirror. There is plenty of room for focussing, although, of course, specially thin glass or mica must be employed. I have made and published many drawings of tissues of the higher animals magnified with this glass, and it need scarcely be said, that as it can be brought to bear upon textures of this class (even bone and teeth), thin sections of which are obtained only with great difficulty, it must be readily applicable to other departments of microscopical inquiry. LIONEL S. BEALE, F.R.S. Scientific Education and NaturalHistory Science in the Kingdom of Italy. GENOA, Nov. 18, 1863. THE state of science and scientific education in Italy at the present moment, when this country is on the point of emergence from political nonentity, and is beginning to feel that it is one of the great powers of Europe, possesses peculiar interest, and may well justify a few remarks in an English journal established to record the progress of science. Itself the birthplace of many departments of human knowledge, as well as of many of those men who have been most distinguished in science as well as art, Italy still contains, or has only very recently lost, men of European reputation in Physics, in Astronomy, in Geology, in Zoology, and in Botany; and though some of the most eminent of those now living have been diverted from their ordinary pursuits by the pressing claims of political events, and the absolute necessity that all true men should unite in securing the one great object of nationality and unity, there is abundant proof of healthy activity which in due season may be expected to yield great results. The Universities of Italy have gradually become lowered in general reputation, owing to the extreme facility afforded to very young men to pass examinations and obtain diplomas. Each seat of education has outbid its fellows in this respect till the result has become very serious, and a great effort is now being made to raise the standard of education throughout the country. The University of Pisa, always among the most celebrated, has especially recommended itself to observation for its efforts in this direction. At first the natural result was to frighten away so many students as to reduce the numbers very greatly; but already it is found that the degree there conferred is much more valuable, and that it is worth while to take the additional trouble to pass. To Professor Matteucci, whose researches in electricity and general physics, are as well known in England as in Italy and France, much of the credit of this is due. M. Matteucci has now left Pisa, and is established at Turin, where he has already occupied for some time the important post of Minister of Public Instruction. It is not unlikely that he may again be appointed, and it would seem that a more fit appointment could not be made. One of the latest improvements in Public Instruction has been the foundation of a normal school at Pisa, on the footing of the upper normal schools of France, but with the object of securing a really wellinformed class of schoolmasters for the education of all classes throughout Italy. Of this establishment, Professor Villari, the able author of the Life of Savaronola,' recently translated into English by Mr. L. Horner, is the director, and he is assisted by an excellent staff of fessors in all departments. During the last academical year, the number of students was only about 20, but the entries for the year now commencing (November, 1863) are already much more numerous. Several of the students have passed their University examinations with honour, and are admitted to the normal school at the public expense. Others pay a sum of 80 francs (31. 48.) per month during their pro residence. All reside in the building, and dine together as in an English college. The system adopted partakes both of the professorial system as carried out in Germany, and of the tutorial system common at Oxford and Cambridge. The public museums both at Pisa and Florence, are admirable. Both are particularly rich in wax preparations, illustrative of Comparative Anatomy and Botany. The former is also rich in geological specimens. The various minerals and rocks of Tuscany, and the fossils of the Valley of the Arno are especially interesting, not only to the general traveller, but to the technical geologist; for Italy is beyond all other countries in Europe that one in which the phenomena of metamorphism can best be studied. The neighbourhood of Pisa, with the country a little to the south towards Volterra, affords indeed the best key to the very difficult and complicated changes that have affected rocks of almost all kinds within periods of very various duration. In this part of the world, mineral character is no guide to the age of rocks, and fossils, though they exist and have proved extremely valuable in skilful hands, are so exceedingly rare and imperfect, that no traveller however acute, who trusted to his own observation, could hope to do much with them in a rapid journey. The labours of Professor Paolo Savi and Professor Meneghini have greatly tended to simplify and explain the matter, and assisted by the memoir and very admirable maps just prepared for publication by Professor Savi, no one need now waste his time. The memoir in question is, however, published in a volume on the general statistics of the district, and is not altogether accessible. It is not generally known that this small corner of Italy around Pisa contains a tolerably complete series of formations. There are old palæozic schists greatly altered, but recognizable, overlaid by carboniferous rocks, in which anthracite represents the coal. Over these |