262 On the Botanical Origin of Wheat. 



from near the village of Gorse to the city, a distance of about 

 six French leagues. About twenty arches of this great work 

 still remain. Naval fights were frequently exhibited on water 

 supplied by this aqueduct. 



The two great modern schemes for supplying the metro- 

 polis with water are those of Mr. Bateman and Messrs. 

 Hemans and Hassard. The former gentleman proposes to 

 bring the water from the "Welsh hills — the sources of the 

 Severn — a distance of 183 miles ; the other project is to bring 

 the water of the lakes in the north of England, a distance of 

 240 miles from London. As to the respective merits of these 

 bold projects we offer no opinion. The question of an abun- 

 dant supply of pure water to the metropolis is one whose 

 importance is becoming every day more and more felt, and we 

 trust that after the Reform question is settled, the Government 

 will turn their immediate attention to the future water supply 

 of London. 



ON THE BOTANICAL ORIGIN OF WHEAT. 



BY JOHN E. JACKSON, 

 Curator of Museum, Royal Gardens, Kew. 



The origin of species is a subject which has recently occupied 

 the attention, more or less, of every thinking man. The 

 opening of this question is chiefly due to Mr. Darwin, the 

 appearance of whose book some few years since caused such a 

 sensation in the scientific world. What changes or variations 

 have been proved or supposed to have taken place in the 

 animal kingdom we are not prepared to discuss ; we know that 

 a strong inclination prevails amongst many, perhaps most, 

 botanists of note to accept Mr. Darwin's theories abstractedly, 

 if not in their entirety, and lumping is more in fashion just 

 now than splitting. No doubt much good will be derived 

 from this system, which is now being adopted in most botanical 

 works of authority, and it will help much to facilitate the -study 

 of plants to a beginner. It is an old story how that our choice 

 cultivated forms of apples look to the common crab as their 

 first parent, or the numerous varieties of plums came from one 

 common stock. These are facts which, having become popu- 

 larly known, are consequently accepted as true; but the 

 question as to the origin of the most important of all the 

 cultivated plants of Britain, namely, the wheat, is one of very 



