54 Transactions. 



barriers, and the population in these islands, under the present 

 enlightened system of national education, are fast losing their 

 dialectical peculiarities and their various proverbs and folk-lore 

 notions, so far as these have a local colouring. It will by-and-bye 

 be more difficult to distinguish an Annandale or an Eskdale man 

 by his tongue. Differences between groups of men will always 

 exist, but in the future it is likely to take more form than ever 

 from professions and handicrafts, from the conditions of rural as 

 contrasted with the conditions of urban life. The most potent 

 factors for worldly success during these recent decades have been 

 mental rather than physical, belonging to the brain rather than to 

 the body. 



ith March, 1892. 

 Mr Thomas M'Kie, V.-P., in the chair. 



Donations and Exhibits. — A valuable collection of East 

 Anglian plants for our Herbarium from Mr Arthur Bennett, F.L.S. 

 of Croydon ; three photographs of Moffat trees by Mr Robert 

 Brown, of Burntisland ; a jthotograph of the sundial at Munches 

 by Mr W. Maxwell; the 10th Annual Report of the United 

 States Survey, 1888-9 (two parts) ; the Transactions of the 

 Botanical Society of Edinburgh, November and December, 1891. 

 A whetstone found in Crawick Water, Sanquhar, and 10 coins of 

 Edward II. found at the farm of Ingleston, were exhibited by Mr 

 J. R. Wilson. 



Communications. 



I.__,So»<6 Old Sundials of the District. By Mr James S. THOMSON. 

 (Abridged.) 

 A very beautiful and complicated dial stands at Kenmure 

 Castle. It was made on slate by a local schoolmaster whose 

 name is now forgotten. It is in a state of decay, the lettering 

 being nearly unreadable. It seems likely that dials were con- 

 structed under the superintendence of the schoolmaster or his 

 pupils in many cases. Metal dials were done by the engraver, 

 and in the general working of dials the monumental mason, 

 under the superintendence of a builder or architect, would be 

 the chief constructor. One of the finest cut dials that I 



