chemistry, experimental physics, practical mechanics, and metallurgy, elementary singing, physical geography, animal physiology, geology, practical plane and solid geometry, &c.  The general position of the Institute with regard to finance was as follows:—­Gross receipts in General Department, L3,281 5s. 6d.; expenditure in this department (including L998 1s. 6d. deficiency at the close of the year 1882), L3,088 17s. 2d.; balance in favour of the General Department, L192 8s. 4d.  Gross receipts in Industrial Department, L1,747 13s.; expenditure in this department, L3,173 7s. 10d.; deficiency, Ll,425 14s. 10d., met by a transfer from the funds of the General Department.  The total result of the year’s operations in both departments left a deficiency of L1,233 6s. 6d.  The amount due to bankers on the General Fund was L863 13s. 6d; and the amount standing to the credit of the Institute on the Repairs Account is L440 12s. 2d.  It is much to be regretted that there is a total debt on the Institute, amounting to L19,000, the paying of interest on which sadly retards its usefulness.  Many munificent donations have been made to the funds of the Institute from time to time, one being the sum of L3,000, given by an anonymous donor in 186[**], “in memory of Arthur Ryland.”  In August, same year, it was announced that the late Mr. Alfred Wilkes had bequeathed the bulk of his estate, estimated at about L100,000, in trust for his two sisters during their lives, with reversion in equal shares to the General Hospital and the Midland Institute, being a deferred benefaction of L50,000 to each.

Midland Metropolis.—­Birmingham was so entitled because it was the largest town, and has more inhabitants than any town in the centre of England.  To use a Yankeeism, it is “the hub” of the Kingdom; here is the throbbing heart of all that is Liberal in the political life of Europe; this is the workshop of the world, the birth-spot of the steam-engine, and the home of mock jewellery.  In all matters political, social, and national, it takes the lead, and if London is the Metropolis of all that is effete and aristocratic, Birmingham has the moving-power of all that is progressive, recuperative and advancing.  When Macaulay’s New Zealander sits sadly viewing the silent ruins of the once gigantic city on the Thames, he will have the consolation of knowing that the pulse-beats of his progenitors will still be found in the Mid-England Metropolis, once known as the town of Burningsham or Birmingham.

Mild Winters.—­The winter of 1658-9 was very mild, there being neither snow or frost.  In 1748 honeysuckles, in full bloom, were gathered near Worcester, in February.  In the first four months of 1779 there was not a day’s rain or snow, and on the 25th of March the cherry, plum, and pear trees were in full bloom.  An extraordinary mild winter was that of 1782-3.  A rose was plucked in an open garden, in New Street, on 30th December, 1820.  In December, 1857, a wren’s nest, with two eggs in it was found near Selly Oak, and ripe raspberries were gathered in the Christmas week at Astwood Bank.  The winter of 1883-4 is worthy of note, for rose trees were budding in December, lambs frisking about in January, and blackbirds sitting in February.