notice. Huizinga (Pflüger's Archiv, x. 1) publishes an additional paper on the subject, in which he endeavours to parry the objections made against he appears to lay most stress is this: a solution his previous researches. The experiment on which containing peptone, inulin, pure glucose, and the necessary mineral salts, is boiled in a glass vessel which is closed, during ebullition, by a cover of porous earthenware, luted on with asphalte. The sealed vessel is then placed in an incubator, and kept at a temperature of 40° C. After three days the clear liquid is found to have become turbid, and to swarm with living organisms, chiefly Micrococcus and Bacterium termo. Solutions con

of biaxal crystals, the dispersion of which in the case of oblique crystals is very well classified according to the three classes called by French writers croisée, inclinée, horizontale. A table is likewise given of the limits between which the optic axes of a considerable number of crystals are inclined to one another. The information contained in this table is, I believe, to be found in no other book, and has evidently been compiled with great care from the various memoirs in which the original observations are to be found. In treating of this part of the sub-taining only two of the above ingredients (peptone ject it is difficult to know how far the phenomena are to be treated as belonging to polarization or to double refraction. Ordinarily all the phenomena shown by crystal plates have been described together, and if this had been done in the present case, conical refraction would have found a place. This would not have been in strict keeping with the title of the book; but as double refraction when separated from polarization would form so extremely small a book that it is hardly likely to be brought out in a popular form, I think it is to be regretted that place has not been found for so interesting a phenomenon, which has supplied so striking a proof of the truth of Fresnel's theory.

W. J. LEWIS.

DR. J. E. GRAY, F.R.S.

SCARCELY had Dr. Gray quitted the position which

he so long held at the British Museum before the melancholy news reaches us that his active life has been brought to a close. It is indeed but a few brief weeks since Dr. Günther was appointed to the Keepership of the Zoological Collections upon the resignation of Dr. Gray, who had occupied this post since 1840.

John Edward Gray, the son of Mr. F. S. Gray, of Walsall, was born in 1800, and educated for the medical profession. At the age of twenty-one he published his Natural Arrangement of British Plants, a work which has the merit of being an early attempt to introduce the natural system to the notice of British botanists. Three years later he entered the Natural History Department of the British Museum, and rose in 1840 to the rank of Keeper. A fine series of catalogues of the collections has been issued under his care, many of the departments having been described by himself; thus, only a few months ago he brought out his Hand-List of Seals, Morses, Sea-Lions, and Sea-Bears. But in addition to these official publications, and to the large number of his communications to learned societies and scientific serials, he found time to write such works as A Manual of British Land and FreshWater Shells; Illustrations of Indian Zoology; and The Knowsley Menagerie. Years of concentration upon the minute shades of difference necessary for the identification of species scarcely tend to broaden a man's views; but it should not be forgotten that Dr. Gray, in addition to his labours as a systematic zoologist, exercised himself in the discussion of wide questions of social importance, such as public education, prison discipline, the postage system, and the organization of museums and galleries of art. His claims to public notice, however, must rest upon the half-century of scientific work which he honestly devoted to the service of his country. F. W. RUDLER.

SCIENCE NOTES.

PHYSIOLOGY.

Abiogenesis. The noise of the spontaneous generation controversy has all but died out; occasionally, however, an echo of it still challenges

and glucose, or peptone and inulin), when treated in exactly the same way, remain free from any trace of life, though affording every facility for the rapid multiplication of microphytes. The absence of organisms in the solutions containing only two of the three ingredients whose conjuncbacteria, is regarded by the author as furnishing tion is essential for the de novo production of better security for the germlessness of the materials employed than the exposure of the test-liquids to high temperatures in a Papin's digester. Two reasons are advanced for this opinion: in the first place, peptone and inulin undergo chemical change when heated to 110° C., and such change may diminish or destroy their nutritive capacity; secondly, the precise temperature required for the thorough destruction of all schizomycetous germs is very uncertain. As regards the latter point, Huizinga finds himself constrained to admit that the absolute destruction of bacteria and their

germs, when suspended in a watery medium, cannot be depended on unless the liquid has been maintained at a temperature of 110° C. for thirty minutes. This conclusion is equally at variance with the statements of observers who are in favour of abiogenesis (Bastian), and of those who are adverse to it (Cohn).

A number of very careful experiments bearing on this point are described by Roberts (Studies on Biogenesis, Philosophical Transactions, Part II. for 1874). He found that all the organic liquids he employed could be rendered permanently barren by exposure to a temperature of 100° C.; but that the duration of such exposure had to be varied in each case. In other words, slight differences in the aggregation of the materials used, or in their reaction, were sufficient to alter very considerably the amount of heat required for their sterilisation. Degree of heat and length of exposure were found to be mutually compensatory; prolonged exposure to a temperature of 100° C. being as effectual as a shorter exposure to greater heat. The germs of bacteria offered more resistance to heat than those of torulaceous organisms. Hay infusion, rendered slightly alkaline, was found to exhibit the maximum degree of resistance to sterilisation by heat. The juices and tissues of plants and animals never originate organisms unless previously contaminated from without. The general conclusions at which Dr. Roberts arrives are decidedly favourable to the doctrine of panspermism as opposed to that of abiogenesis; nevertheless, on the strength of a few exceptional and unexplained facts, he is disposed to believe in the possibility of an occasional, though very rare, development of organisms without pre-existing germs.

On a Peculiar Butyric Fermentation.—It has been ascertained that the function of the torulaceous organisms by which alcoholic fermentation is set up may also be performed by the living cells of some larger plants, when these are placed under abnormal physiological conditions. Schützenberger (Comptes Rendus, January 25, 1875) describes a somewhat analogous phenomenon. Á vessel filled with a five per cent. solution of cane sugar, and containing several stalks of the Elodea Canadensis, is kept at a temperature of 20°-30° C. and shielded from direct sunlight. After some hours, the cane sugar is found to have been partially transformed

into inverted sugar. Bubbles of gas are seen to adhere to prominent parts of the plant, from which they become detached, and rise to the surface. In about ten hours the gases come off so rapidly that 100 cubic centimètres may be collected in thirty minutes. When analysed, they are found to consist of hydrogen and carbonic acid in nearly equal proportions. The liquid grows more and more sour, and exhales an odour of butyric acid and ethyl butyrate. If neutralised with soda, the butyrate of that base may be isolated. The liquid contains neither bacteria nor vibrios-none of those organisms which Pasteur regards as the special butyric ferment, and which are present during the butyric fermentation of milk. If some of the liquid be decanted while the fermentation is going on, the action ceases in the decanted portion; it will only progress in contact with the Elodea. Some other water-plants and even marine algae have been observed to operate in a similar manner.

On the Presence of Copper in the Human Body.his wife with a salt of copper has given fresh The recent condemnation of Moreau for poisoning mally present in the organism. MM. Bergeron interest to the question whether copper is norand L'Hôte, the experts on whose evidence the with great care (Comptes Rendus, January 25, verdict was based, have investigated the point 1875). The fact that copper, when introduced into the system through the alimentary canal, accumulates in the liver and kidneys-a fact their enquiry. These organs were analysed in fourknown to Orfila-served as a starting-point for teen cases, whose history made it practically swallowed for a considerable period before death. certain that no copper compounds had been They were invariably found to contain traces of the metal, varying in amount from a quantity incapable of being numerically estimated (in a young man of seventeen) to one of two milligrammes (in the body of a man aged seventyeight). The conclusion is, that when the total three milligrammes of the metal, it must have mass of the liver and kidneys contains more than tity. The traces normally present are attributed been introduced into the system in unusual quanby the authors to such accidental causes as the

use of copper utensils for cooking, etc.

Rate at which Excitation travels along Voluntary Muscle.-Hermann (Pflüger's Archiv, x. 1) points out that the results obtained by previous enquirers are vitiated by their having employed muscles whose continuity is interrupted by tendinous intersections, and by their adoption of the graphic method. His own experiments were all made with the sartorii muscles of the frog. The mean velocity deduced from a considerable number of observations was 2.698 mètres per second. No difference was found to exist between curarised and non-curarised muscles. The velocity thus determined is only approximative; no such experimental precision being possible as in the measurement of the velocity of nerve-force.

Analysis of the Heart's Impulse.-The tangible beat of the heart against the chest-wall, which seems to our unaided senses to be a simple and momentary phenomenon, has been shown by the conflicting forces, and to coincide in duration cardiograph to be a complex result of various with the entire systole of the ventricles. To analyse the elements of which the cardiographic tracing consists, it is advisable to select the relatively simple heart of the land tortoise, which will continue to beat for a considerable time after its removal from the body if its cavities are kept supplied with defibrinated blood. Its pulsations are perfectly regular, and much slower than those of the human heart. Graphically recorded, its contractions furnish a comparatively simple curve. Marey (Comptes Rendus, January 18, 1875) regards this curve as a product of two factors; the change of volume which the heart undergoes during its alternate contraction and relaxation; and the changes in its consistency, the

3. GREAT WESTERN FAMILY.

F. SOUTH-WESTERN BRANCH.

XI. The Avons English Dialect.—38. The SevernAvon subd., a. Gloucester; b. S.W. Berkshire; c. N. Wiltshire; d. N.E. Somersetshire, 39. The Stour-Avon subd., a. S.W. Hampshire; b. S. Wiltshire; c. Dorsetshire; d. S.E. corner of Somersetshire; e. Axminster, var.

var.

XII. Devon English Dialect.-40. W. Somersetshire subd., a. Wellington; b. Exmoor, var. 41. Devonshire subd., a. N. Devonshire; b. S. Devonshire; c. E. Cornwall.

G. EXTINCT BRANCH.

Ar the usual fortnightly meeting of the above body, Mr. Clements Markham, the Secretary, read an interesting paper on the examination of the southern half of Lake Tanganyika by Lieutenant V. L. Cameron, R.N. He began by stating that Cameron had previously done good work by taking regular astronomical and hypsometrical observations along the trodden route from Bagamoyo to Unyanyembe. Beyond that point his route lay between those of Burton and Stanley respectively, and he was thus enabled to explore the drainage system of the southern part of the basin of the river Malagarazi, the most important eastern tributary of Lake Tanganyika, and a range of mountains along the left bank of the Sindè. Cameron's description of the scenery of the country is most enchanting. On reaching the Malagarazi Cameron came upon the route of Speke in 1858, and it is satisfactory to find that their latitude observations agree within a few seconds. Mr. Markham then gave a brief history of our former knowledge of Lake Tanganyika, from the accounts of Speke, Burton, Livingstone and Stanley, from which it would be seen that the question of an outlet was still one of the greatest uncertainty, all the lake having received examination with the exception of the southern half, along a portion of the south-eastern side of the coast of which Livingstone had journeyed in 1868, but without attempting a detailed survey. Nevertheless, in 1871 Livingstone expressed a decided opinion that the lake had an outlet somewhere. Cameron started from Ujiji on March 13, 1874, to conduct the exploration, having previously fixed the latitude of that place by meridian altitudes as 4° 58′ 3′′ S., and its longitude by lunars as 30° 4′ 30′′ E. He also found its height above the sea, as proved by independent methods, to be 2,710 feet. He hired two guides who were well up in the knowledge of the lake, and, having equipped two boats, commenced by coasting along the east side of the lake. Off Kungwe he was informed that the Lukuga river flowed out of the lake, and in this belief he was confirmed by a consideration of the number of streams flowing through salt soils into the lake, which, if diminished by evaporation alone, would be as salt as brine. On April 14 Cameron sighted the southern extremity of the lake, where the islands off shore were numerous and the scenery remarkable for beauty. He furnishes interesting notes on the floating islands and aquatic vegetation, which here obstructs navigation. On the 21st he reached Akalunga, one of the largest villages he had seen in Africa, and the same day he commenced the examination of the western shore of the lake. The hills which environ Lake Tanganyika first began to disappear after rounding Ras Tembwe, and the land here became low. May 2 the river Lukuga was approached, and the chief informed Cameron that the river flowed

On

from the lake into the Lualaba, and that his people travel for a month by it on their way to Nyangwe to trade. No Arab had ever been down it, which explains their ignorance on the subject. Cameron descended the Lukuga for five miles,

botanical collection.

A discussion followed in which Sir Bartle Frere, Mr. F. Galton, the Rev. II. Waller, Colonel Grant and others took part.

FINE ART.

THE NEW BRITISH INSTITUTION.

It is no longer ago than November 7 that we reviewed one of these exhibitions, held at No. 39B Old Bond Street: now another has opened. This consists, as usual, of a miscellany of native and foreign pictures, the latter making the greater show. Why the name of "New British Institution should be adopted, or retained, may be queried. The number of works is close upon two hundred.

We will attend first to our own artists. Mr. Cave Thomas sends a small work, The Sower--Christ represented as sowing seed, according to the words of his own parable. The painter has combined something of a stalwart rustic character with the typical aspect of the Saviour: the time is sunset, and the nimbus burns red, like the

waning glow of day. This observable little picture is of a broader and less precise manner of execution than usual with the artist. Mr. Smetham is another exhibitor of lofty subjects treated on a small scale. His Orpheus pourtrays the poet kneeling down on the rocky inlet into Hades, and gazing into the unfathomed depth below, down which his hardly-recovered Eurydice has once again vanished: his lyre lies beside him on the crag.

Mr. Smetham has a genuine inventive

gift, traceable in the general quality of this picture-which is not, however, carried very far in execution. The Flight of Apollo, by the same painter, appears to represent the overthrow of the Grecian god at the advent of Christianity. Druid Stones is impressive, better in composition and feeling than in colour. All these three works have more the character of designs in oil-colour, done for the sake and significance of the subjects, than of regular pictures for an exhibition-room. Baby's Bed-time is a sketch by Mr. Frith, evidently produced many years ago: it is an indifferent performance, although the action of the mother and infant is neither hackneyed nor ungraceful. My Lady of Castlewood, a life-sized head and bust by Mr. J. Walker, displays a good

sense for that sort of comeliness which wavers between prettiness and beauty. A little picture by Mr. Stannus, named By Order of the School Board, two female babes toddling along a country road, to be taken care of at the school-house while their seniors are being instructed, is amusingly quaint. The contributions of Mr. C. W. Wyllie, Winter-Urmsereaux; of Mr. J. H. Sampson, Return of the Fishing-boats; and of Mr. Muckley, Rhododendrons, very dexterously handled-deserve mention.

Among the foreign pictures, one of the nicest is a minute specimen by J. F. Raffaelli, Le Bon Fumeur, a free-and-easy gentleman of the sixteenth century, who will not be baulked of smoking his clay pipe in a tapestried chamber, although there is a lady on the sofa hard by. This is equally bright in colour and in touch.

Hushaby Baby, by N. Gysis, is a strong positive piece of work, facile, accurate, and expressive; an American negro dandling his master's baby. The negro is more brown than black, and the baby almost as much brown as white. The Secret, by Mr. Hennessy, shows two old-world lovers pacing by twilight in the grounds of an unpretentious country house; all is so hushed and placid that a white rabbit close behind them squats up on its hindquarters-a pleasant little work from a skilled hand. Great readiness and spirit, not undeserving the name of brilliancy, mark the painting of the Shepherdess of the Abruzzi, by Michetti; the tinting, indeed, is somewhat over bright, and wanting in harmonising tone. In the Studio is a good specimen of Fichel: an artist of the seventeenth century seated before his easel, and attentively considering what he has done, and what remains to do. One of the largest painting in the room is by Professor Verlat. It is named Gluttonous and Lazy-Temperate and Laborious: Repetition of the picture painted for the Cercle Artistique, Antwerp. The personages are a porker and a donkey, broadly and strongly sketched off at a rapid rate: we understand that this was intended as a hit at the non-professional dining members of a club of artists and amateurs, as contrasted with the working or professional members. We are not aware whether, after this picture appeared on the club-walls, the amateurs seceded, or

the Professor was visited with the cold shoulder. A Rehearsal, by A. Robert, exhibits two Domislightly ungainly work, of more than average nicans, a man and a boy, practising a chaunt; a and ability.

sure-handedness

Washerwomen

Quarrelling and Carlist Priests reading the Esperanza, are clever bits of Spanish character-painting by Yimenes; not particularly attractive to eye, but repaying detailed examination: the same may be said for The Village Lawsuit, by J. Leister.

the

Le Réveil, by Vander Ouderaa, is a tolerably large and worse than tolerably disagreeable representation of two young gallants and two loose women waking or still sprawling after a debauch: there is not any such excellence in the method as would compensate for the low choice of subject. In the Wood, by A. Romako, a forestglade with glinting afternoon sun, on the skirts of wild mountain scenery, and with a couple of figures in the dim-shadowed foreground, has a share of grace and delicacy approximating to the poetic. Van Luppen, Maris, Willroider, and De Schampheleer, contribute works of the landscape class, of respectable, or more than respectable,

merit.

W. M. ROSSETTI.

It having been observed by the intelligent Custodian of the Chapel of the Medici, Giovanni Scheggi, that the statue of Twilight on the tomb of Lorenzo had moved slightly from its position, he drew the attention of the proper authorities to the circumstance, and it was resolved that the figure should be moved from its place to ascertain the cause. This monument, so well known from its noble group of statues, including Il Pensaso and Dawn and Twilight, has always been called by the Italians that of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, and son of Pietro de Medici; but this opinion has been called in question by Hermann Grimm in his excellent Life of Michelangelo. which he assigns, he maintains this monument to be that of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours.

For reasons

On Wednesday, February 24, the statue of Twilight was raised from the lid of the sare phagus in presence of the Director of the Museums, the Commendatore Aurelio Gotti, the Chevalier Giorgio Campani, and the me bers of the Fine Arts Commission. When lifted by means of a powerful bed, it was seen that it was held in its place by

screw from its

a marble tenon about a foot square and one and a half inches in depth, fitting into a mortice in the base of the figure, the tenon forming part of the lid of the sarcophagus, and that nearer the lower part, under the legs, there was a rough piece of wood, twelve inches long, four and a half wide, and one inch deep. This was worm-eaten and in an advanced state of decay. Above the tenon a slight iron pin, leaded into its bed, had been added to secure the statue, but was quite inadequate for the purpose. The piece of wood had been introduced to raise the statue at the lower extremity, and this had the effect of slightly throwing back the shoulders. As it is known that Duke Alexander (Il Moro), son of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, was, after his assassination in 1537, deposited in his father's sarcophagus, it was evident that the statues had been raised to admit of this, and that the piece of wood had not been placed there by Michelangelo, but by the workmen who replaced the statue after the deposit of the body of Alexander. It was next resolved to raise the statue of Dawn and observe whether that was safely fixed in its place. This was done on Saturday the 27th. It was found to be fastened by mortice and tenon in the same way. There was no trace of cement in either, and the gap formed by the piece of wood had not been filled in with cement. The space was full of spiders' web.

The statues being raised, it was resolved to slide off the lid and ascertain the contents of the sarcophagus, and so settle the question whether the monument was that of Lorenz or Giuliano. Two bodies would be found if it was that of Lorenzo. As I was permitted the privilege of ascending the scaffold, and standing at one end of the sarcophagus, I am able to describe the scene that followed. The lid being slid off, rough boards were seen fitting together, and closing and Covering the receptacle. I was struck by seeing a workman at the other end with a crow-bar, and his face almost entirely enveloped in his handkerchief, but I was informed that this was because the opening of another Medicean tomb had nearly poved fatal to the workman. With his face thus bandaged he raised the planks at his end, and I helped by lifting at mine, and so they were removed. The sight within was strange. Two bodies were distinctly visible. They had fallen flat, but at one end of the sarcophagus lay a skull with a black cap upon it, and the body and arms in what seemed to be a white shirt, whilst close to me was a headless body in a black tunic, the form of which was plain enough, with a white embroidery at its lower extremity. The Professor destined to examine the bodies was summoned, and raised the black tunic. Under it was the skull of Lorenzo, for now there can be no doubt that this monument is that of the Duke of Urbino. The Professor, after gathering a few fragments of the clothing, which came to pieces in his hand, called for the help of the muffled workman, who stooped down and brought out the remains in handfuls. I saw with regret that by this process the bones of the two men would be mixed together, and opportunities of observation lost; so I gathered and tried to put in one place the bones near me. On each side the chest and head of Lorenzo were the legs and feet of Alexander, who apparently was the taller man, unless when he was buried the head of Lorenzo was pushed down under his tunic, where it was found, which is not unlikely. The bones of the legs of Alexander were in white linen hose, if it was linen, and under his head was a white pillow; a stout iron spike projected from the bottom of the marble sarcophagus, apparently put there when Alexander was deposited. The remains of a similar spike were also observed at the other end where the head of Lorenzo should have rested. It is probable that these spikes had something to do with the fastening of the first lid, removed to make way for Alexander. The spike was fastened in its place with mortar, which glistened with a gum probably used in embalming

the father. The skull of Lorenzo is large and well-formed, with fine teeth of which about eight seemed to be absent. He was born in 1492 and died in 1519, aged twentyseven. The Professor was therefore right in exclaiming, "This is the head of a young man." The other skull was smaller, the forehead lower, the nose must have been aquiline; the hair, some of which remained, black, coarse, and curled (I Moro). The bones thus gathered were arranged on one of the long seats of the chapel; they were a dark brown, black in some places, and looked bituminous; both skulls were dark brown. These were taken by the Professor and duly measured with callipers, and their proportions registered, whilst the bones and fragments of garments were put back into the sarcophagus, it having clearly been proved that the monument by Michelangelo with the statues of the Pensoso, Dawn, and Twilight, is that of Lorenzo,the Duke of Urbino. CHARLES HEATH WILSON.

by M. Alma Tadema, the most important is the Or two pictures now at the point of completion Candidate. Within the court (vestibulum) of the house of a Roman patrician stands the candidate for office. He is robed in the toga chalked, as was the custom for this special occasion, to a point of whiteness conspicuous beyond the natural tone of white wool. He is accompanied by his father and his sister, who bears a costly gift destined to propitiate the powerful patron whom they seek. The three are grouped together on the right hand against the pedestal, on which towers a large statue of Augustus, behind which we see the wall of the house. On the left runs up a broad flight of steps leading to the ostium, or entrance to the house. The great man comes forth, the doors are open yet behind him, and at the top of the steps is revealed the entrance hall thronged by a bowing crowd of parasites. The sunlight falls gleaming in long rays across the pillars of the atrium, suggesting light, and air, and space, affording an outlet to the eye beyond the moving figures. As the great man slowly descends, his librarii, the private secretaries who are sitting at a table on a landing near the bottom of the flight, drop their tablets, and rise, bending down with due obeisance, the young candidate, half eager, half afraid, is thrust forward by his father, the sister lifts her gift. The second picture is of lesser size and moment. M. Tadema gives us a young girl of ancient Rome, lying upon a leopard skin. Her left arm is cast above her head, her hand is toying with a black kitten approaching close to her head. The head is thrown backwards, following the direction of her arm. The play of the expression in her face, the fall and rise of the curves of her body as she turns half over towards us, are full of the lazy amusement of idle play. She is robed in pale green, the fillet in her hair is green, her tawny locks repeat the tone of leopard's skin on which she lies extended, the black girdle loosely knotted about her waist spreads the jet colour of the kitten's coat. Warm greys in wall and pavement relieve the group. Just above her naked feet through the wall breaks out an opening, and shows a bright bit of sculptured vase standing against the fresh green and flowers of a near garden. Both these pictures belong to 8 class with which M. Tadema has long rendered us familiar. They present us with many features which involve the possession by the artist of special antiquarian and archaeological knowledge; but they do not depend for their interest on the expression of this knowledge, nor is it through the amount of knowledge conveyed in them that their value as works of art consists.. Our knowledge of any given period of antiquity is necessarily so imperfect, that it is wholly inadequate to serve the purpose of completely accurate reproduction. As a portion of the history of the past, this knowledge, imperfect as it is, has its own value, but in

a work of art it is precious only accidentally, as being the medium through which the given painter thinks. It is not an integral part either of the artistic thought, or of the artistic form, and in these alone resides the essential value of any work of art. Indeed, one may generally be assured, that whenever attention is clamorously demanded in the first place for points of only relative importance-such, for instance, as that the sackcloth and ashes of Job were painted in Syria, or the necklace and earrings of Cleopatra were copied from ornaments found in a tomb of her day-some lack of proper claims to admiration will be found. This is not, however, the case with M. Tadema's work. His knowledge of and interest in Roman antiquity is never displayed at the expense of his art; it is a source which feeds (as all true knowledge must) the springs of invention, and flows obeying the direction given by the predominant artistic intention. The motive implied in the subject of the Candidate, for example, depends for its interest, not on the accidents of classic costume and surroundings, but on the sympathy with which the artist has felt the situation, and rendered the various shades of nervous expectancy in those who compose the little group which awaits the moment of the great man's approach, as contrasted with the calm indifference of him on whom their hopes depend. And next, in the manipulation of the is not so much "correctly" to delineate them, as costume and accessories, the dominant intention to elicit in dealing with them such tones and forms as shall best represent the pictorial idea. In the present picture one of the most striking points is the way in which the full value of the white robe of the Candidate is got, as given against the white pedestal and statue on which it is relieved, and this, of course, M. Tadema would have done just as triumphantly, and the triumph would have been just as complete, had it been of any other cut. In the tone of this white robe lies the keynote of the picture in relation to which every other tint has to be considered. It is rendered with the same apt and admirable technic which is always to be expected from M. Alma Tadema. The same which is noticeable throughout, in the varying red brilliant certainty of skilful and adequate handling, dyes of the great patrician's garments, in the shifting colours seen through the open door, or if we turn to the lesser picture, in the green shades of the garden, in the clinging folds of the young girl's robes, or in the dexterous modelling of her outstretched arm.

Mr. Prinsep's painting of a Minuet de la Cour promises to be a thoroughly complete and charming picture. Two couples are standing up dancing. Behind them is a background of lookers on, ladies and beaux, some standing, some sitting beneath walls hung with dim-hued tapestry. Both couples are in the act of making the half turn preceded by, and preceding a low curtsey. In the centre, fully turned towards us, stands a lovely figure in white; she turns her head lightly over her right shoulder towards an older man in blue, in whose hand her fingers rest, and whose back is turned towards us. Över the shoulder of the lady in white, and in the space crossed by the extended arms of herself and her partner, we catch sight of a rose-coloured lady, one of the opposite couple. But the two groups are seen, as we say, in perspective, and thus we get a clear view of the second lady's partner, a young gentleman in canary colour, who stands a little up the picture on the left hand of the lady in white. The skill shown in this arrangement of the two couples results in an impression of delightful waving movement, and of graceful interchange of slightly varied curves, which is thoroughly full of dance sentiment, and gives the special character and charm to the whole picture. The painting of the white gown of the principal figure, the way in which Mr. Prinsep has got the relations of the differing tones and textures of the material, and the trimmings of the petticoat, is sure to command admiration. Altogether this painting will pro