14 4 Retrospective Criticism, Queries, Obituary. 



of them was described as being agreeable. Specimens of the tiles and the 

 model of a cottage roofed with them were exhibited, and have been lodged in 

 the museum. As in some parts of the country the appearance and cost of 

 tiles affect both the economy and beauty of our cottages, this new contrivance 

 appears to be deserving of attention both by tile-makers and builders. 



[Of these tiles which are as beautiful as they are economical, engravings will 

 be found in the Supplement to our Encyclopcedia of Cottage Architecture, 

 and we hope soon to be able to name some places in England where they are 

 manufactured.] 



Sir John Robison described a box-bedstead suited to cottages, proposed 

 by Dr. Charles Wilson, Kelso ; the peculiarities of which consist in having 

 openings which can be made at pleasure in the top, back, and one end, 

 whereby not only a perfect ventilation can be effected through it in case of 

 sickness, but easy access afforded for the medical man to his patient. By a 

 contrivance for advancing the rod from the front of the bed, a screened space 

 is obtained, which answers the purpose of a dressing-room. If the box form 

 of bed is to be retained in cottages at all, the arrangement of the curtain is 

 worthy of general adoption. {Scotsman, Jan. 12. 1842.) [This, also, will be 

 figured in the Supplement referred to.] 



Art. IV. Retrospective Criticism. 



Erratum. — In the Vol. for 1841, p. 603., line 14. from the top, for "Blue Clay 

 from a tilled field," read " Blue clay from a tile-field." 



Mode of preserving Seeds for a Number of Years, (p. 47.) — Since I sent the 

 paragraph (p. 47.), respecting the preservation of seeds for experiments on 

 their vitality, there has been a meeting of the Committee in London to con- 

 sider the same (on Friday last, Dec. 10th), when it was resolved that the 

 seeds should be kept in jars made of coarse pottery, and with one aperture ; 

 not in a mass, as indicated in that paragraph, but in papers, each paper to 

 contain only a sufficient quantity of seed, mixed with a proportion of dried 

 sand, for one experiment : they are then to be placed^one species in ajar, and 

 covered to the depth of 1 in. with dried sand; the mouths of the jars being 

 covered with strong paper dipped in corrosive sublimate. Other modes are 

 to be tried, but this is to be the most general one. — W. H. Baxter. Botanic 

 Gardens, Oxford, Dec. 6. 1841. 



Art. V. Qtieries and Answers. 



The Weather of 1841. — Now that we have left 1841 behind us, will your 

 correspondent N. condescend to inform me, from his own observation, what 

 has been the average temperature of every day during the past year ? — 

 N. M. T. Folkstone, Jan. 1842. 



Art. VI. Obituary. 



Died, Jan. 10., Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq., F.R. S., G.S., &c, for many 

 years Vice-President of the Linnean Society ; and universally respected by 

 botanists, for the kindness and liberality with which he allowed the use of his 

 valuable library and extensive herbarium. Mr. Lambert is also advantage- 

 ously known to the botanical world by his splendid work on the Genus 

 Vinus, which doubtless laid the foundation of the present very general taste 

 for planting pinetums. 



