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of universal application: can the advocates of "practical expe- 

 diency" say as much ? 



As an example of its literary style— and by no means an unfair 

 one — we quote from the article the following sentence, which must 

 come near being the longest on record : — " There are, unfortu- 

 nately, men endowed with antiquarian zeal mated with sentiment 

 which deems the naming of a species honour, and of a genus glory, 

 who ferret through the pages of forgotten or unknown tracts or 

 obscure journals, which perchance may contain a name, given by 

 an author whose work has perhaps had no effect whatever upon 

 the progress of the science, with which, under strict priority 

 rules, they may supplant one custom has made part of popular 

 language; or who rake out of correspondence (alas! that its 

 preservation should serve such end) the history of private quarrels 

 and jealousies of men whose names, as the roll of time has handed 

 them down to us, carry only the attribute of scientific distinction, 

 with the object of showing that one may have ignored the work of 

 another, preceding it by a few days or weeks, and that consequently 

 firmly established names must give place to those which strict 

 priority demands." American papers, please copy ! 



We are glad to see that a " second edition, revised and aug- 

 mented," of the Official Guide to the Timber Museum (No. 3) at 

 Kew was issued in December last. The first edition appeared in 

 1886, and the Guide has long been out of print. The price has been 

 raised from twopence to threepence, but there are 98 pages in this 

 edition against 80 in the former. The Guide is well indexed, and 

 contains a vast amount of the information which has been amassed 

 by Mr. J. R. Jackson during his long connection with the Kew 

 Museums. It can only be obtained at Kew Gardens. 



We are sorry to learn that the Midland Naturalist has " failed 

 to find sufficient support to justify its longer continuance." The 

 December number concludes the sixteenth volume. 



Me. Henby 0. Forbes has been selected by the Library Com- 

 mittee of the Liverpool Corporation for appointment as Director of 

 the Liverpool Museums. 



The general index to the twenty-five volumes of the Nxwvo 

 Ginnuih- Botanico Italiano, issued at the end of last year, forms a 

 fitting conclusion to the labour which Prof. Caruel has bestowed 

 upon that periodical for a quarter of a century. Unfortunately, 

 is arranged only under authors' names, so that one has to know 

 who would be likely to have written on a subject before it is 

 possible to find any information about the subject itself. 



The deaths are recorded of Prof. Robert Bentley, who died at 

 Earl's Court on the 24th of December ; Dr. John Roy, of Aberdeen; 

 and the Rev. George Gordon, of Birnie, Forfar, who died on the 

 12th of December, at the age of 92 years. We hope to publish 

 more detailed notices at a future period ; meanwhile we may note 

 that Mr. Gordon was prematurely included in the Biographical IAst 

 of British Botanists, 



