THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 233
of whose family it had been since 1816, and gave a short account of same
as follows:—
"John Galpine's Synoptical Compend of British Botany, published in
1806, is a handy little volume, in which British flowering plants are classi-
fied by the Linnean system. Although purporting to be merely an
English translation of Sir J. E. Smith's Compendium Florae Britannicae
(only the first part of which had appeared when Galpine's book was
published), it has an entirely different arrangement. Instead of the
descriptions being all in short paragraphs, a tabular method is adopted;
on the left-hand pages columns are assigned to the Latin name of the
genus and species, to the English name, to the situation in which the plant
is found, to the colour of the flower, to the time of flowering, to the
duration of the plant, and also to references to illustrations in such standard
works as Smith's English Botany (with Sowerby's excellent drawings)
to the Flora Danica, to Ray's Synopsis, etc. On the right-hand
pages brief descriptions of the diagnostic characters are given. This
method is familiar now from being that adopted by Hayward in his
Botanists' Pocket Book, a work the value of which may be judged from its
having passed through thirteen editions since its first publication in 1872.
As Hayward makes no reference to Galpine's book in his preface, we may
infer that the advantage of a tabular arrangement for such a manual
occurred to him independently. That Galpine's Compend was valued in
the early 19th century is clear from its having passed through three other
enlarged editions in 1819, 1829, and 1834, all after his death, which oc-
curred a few months after the book first appeared. Galpine was an associate
of the Linnean Society, and lived at Blandford, Dorset. That he was a
modest and amiable man may be gathered from the last words of his
Introduction, 'the Author . . . disclaiming any Merit whatever on
his Part, further than endeavouring to promote the Cultivation of one of
the most innocent, rational, and useful Accomplishments'."
Mr. Thompson exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Whitwell, a lithograph view
by Acker man, 1837, showing the railway viaduct between Bow and
Stratford, "as now constructing," and also showing St. Thomas's Mill.
The Curator also exhibited a series of 109 species of Swiss flowering
plants, from Arosa, collected by Dr. Turner in July, 1925, and presented
to the Stratford Museum, where they had been mounted by Miss Prince
and named by Miss Lister; also a number of mammalian remains and flint
implements from the caves of the Dordogne, France, which had been
collected and presented to the Museum by Mr. S. Hazzledine Warren.
Mr. Thompson also exhibited a Little Owl, which had been found dead
in a bedroom on Canvey Island during the late severe frost, and which
had been prepared as an articulated skeleton in the Museum.
Mr. Scourfield exhibited a living specimen of the "Fairy Shrimp,"
Chirocephalus diaphanus, from Savernake Forest.
Thanks were accorded to the various donors and exhibitors.
Mr. S. Hazzledine Warren, F.G.S., read " An Account of Recent Exca-
vations in certain 'Pillow Mounds' at Highbeach," which he illustrated
by an exhibition of the specimens found during the excavations, by a
diagram map, and by lantern photographs.
The President congratulated the author on the thoroughness of his