May 28, I860.] TOPOGRAPHICAL AND STATISTICAL DEPOt. 161 



graphy ; and its value for tlie purpose of copying and printing at a 

 trifling cost facsimiles of ancient MSS. and rare documents, now 

 locked up and inaccessible to the public, must be obvious to every 

 one. 



A specimen of this art is given in the Report on the Survey ; 

 and we have seen several others, which leave no doubt either of 

 the importance of the discovery or of the perfection to which the 

 art has already been brought on the Ordnance Survey. 



Topographical and Statistical DkvbT, 



While the operations of the Ordnance Survey are confined to 

 the production of the maps and plans of the United Kingdom, the 

 Topographical Depot is designed for the collection of the most 

 accurate maps of our colonies and every part of the world, with 

 such statistical information as bears more immediately upon the 

 military resources of every country. 



Within the last year a catalogue has been printed of all the maps, 

 plans of fortified places, and charts which have already been col- 

 lected in the Depot ; and the Secretary of State for War, impressed 

 with the importance of making this collection as perfect as possible, 

 has appropriated an additional portion of the grant for this year 

 for the purchase of such maps and plans as are still wanting. 



The work of the Ordnance Survey is conducted by the officers 

 and men of four companies of the Eoyal Engineers and a great 

 number of civil assistants ; but for the work of the Topographical 

 Depot Sir H. James has the assistance of one officer from each of 

 the following services, viz. Artillery, Engineers, Infantry, and the 

 Navy, the special acquirements of officers from these branches of 

 the service being required for the eff'ective conduct of this branch 

 of the department. 



The Report gives a full detail of the great amount of work which 

 is executed in the Depot, and which includes the plans of colonies, 

 battles, sieges, &c., as well as the vast number of circular letters 

 and orders required by the War Department. 



Among the maps is one of Europe, showing the boundaries of 

 every state as arranged by treaties, with the dates of the several 

 treaties ; and on this map the position of every coal-field in Europe 

 is shown, with returns of the produce and nature of the coal in 

 each. 



Plans of every barrack and fort in Her Majesty's dominions are 



