completed the Victoria Bridge as it now stands, the presiding genius was Mr. Hodges, as the engineer of the contractors, Messrs. Peto, Brassey, and Betts.

Mr. Hodges was born on the 6th April, 1814, in Queenborough, in the county of Kent, where he was educated at the grammar school of that town. After going through the scholastic duties of a grammar-school of that day, he was removed, in order to receive a government appointment which some of his Parliamentary friends had promised, but which promise was never redeemed. After waiting until his patience was exhausted, he apprenticed himself, at the age of seventeen, to a builder, residing at Brompton near Chatham. Having served four years in this trade, he commenced his railway practice under Mr. John Rowland, the agent of Macintosh, the contractor of the Greenwich Railway, his first essay in railway work being the centring for the arches. this he went to Shard, and, at the age of twenty-two, had charge of the building of the union houses of that place. These finished, his next work was at the Shakspeare tunnel, Dover, which he superintended at first as the agent of the contractor, Mr. Rowland; but, on his death, Mr. Hodges assumed the charge of the work in concert with the resident engineer of the South-Eastern Railway; and it is not a little remarkable, that every ounce of gunpowder used in the large blasts was deposited in its place by his own hands. During the progress of this work he attracted the attention of the late Sir Wm. Cubitt, then engineer-in-chief of the South-Eastern Railway, to whom Mr. Hodges has frequently stated he is more indebted for his subsequent rise and progress in his profession, than to any other man. The pupil in this case is a worthy disciple of a very worthy master.

It was at this time that a curious resolve was made by young Hodges, and it was this, that, if spared, he would work until the age of thirty-five, for whatever amount of remuneration others might think his labor worth, but, after that time, he should name the price at which his services were to be obtained. And to this end he steadily kept on progressing, so that by the time this period of his life was reached-having superintended the driving of the Abbott's Cliff, Seaham, and Archcliff Fort tunnels, and the erection of the Shakspeare viaduct, along with the blasting of the Rounddown Cliff, and several other works in that neighborhood, as well as the erection of swing bridges at Norwich, Needham, and Somerleytou, as the agent of Sir Morton Peto, Bart., with whom, about this time, he became acquainted-his resolve was no castle in the air on his part, but a firm determination to work up by hard industry and integrity to the point which he himself had chosen, and which he attained whithin the time he had himself specified. A handsome testimonial from Sir William Cubitt, at the termination of their business relations as to his worth, gave him a fresh

start as it were in his upward tendency, and the next appointment he filled, was that of resident engineer, under Mr. G. P. Bidder, on the Norfolk Railway. The trammels of daily routine, and on so limited a scale, were not in consonance with his feelings, and, retiring from that position, we next find him as the engineer of the Lowestoft harbor; after which, in connection with Mr. James Peto, the brother of Sir Morton Peto, he contracted for and built fifty miles of the Great Northern Railway, on behalf of his principals, Messrs. Peto and Betts.

After so many years of active life, under which his health suffered to some considerable extent, Mr. Hodges, determined on retiring into private life, and, with that view, purchased a small estate, near Bagshot, Surrey, where he at present resides; but no sooner had he completed his arrangements, in 1853, for enjoying his otium cum dignitate, than the organisation of the Grand Trunk Railway Company, with its Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence, afforded him, as the agent of the contractors who had undertaken the work, the opportunity of handing his name down to posterity, associated with an undertaking which will last through all time. Such an opportunity was not to be lost sight of by the active and genial temperament of such a man, and it was at once embraced. The good he has done in the field of his labors, between that time and the present day, may be summed up in the words of the metropolitan bishop of Canada, who spoke them on the occasion of the workmen in the employ of Messrs. Peto and Betts erecting a stone -a granite boulder, weighing thirty tons, taken from the bed of the river to preserve from desecration the remains of six thousand emigrants, which were found in digging the foundations of some of the Grand Trunk Railway works. The right reverend gentleman said: "He was there because he wished to pay the tribute of his personal respect to Mr. Hodges, to testify his high sense of that gentleman's integrity, and of the Christian principle with which he had always acted towards all employed under him. He had provided for their spiritual and educational supervision; and his otherwise high moral principles, his Christian philanthropy, and his munificent liberality to the charities of their city, would remain on perpetual record."

DR. GEORGE LAWSON,

QUEEN'S COLLEGE, KINGSTON.

GEORGE LAWSON was born in the year 1827 at Maryton, a beautiful village on the banks of the Tay, not many miles from Flisk. The family, soon after his birth, removed to Dundee, but most of his childhood summers were spent with a relative in a secluded cottage on the Newton Hill, not far from Kilmany. There ample opportunities were afforded for the observation of the wild plants and animals of the neighborhood, and his solitary rambles on the hill sides were no doubt instrumental in laying the foundation of that love of nature which seemed in after life to grow up with him as a deeply rooted instinct rather than as an acquirement. During these summer visits to the Newton Hill, although he was not then more than six or seven years of age, his industry speedily filled the cottage with natural products of all kinds from the neighboring woods and fields; and tiny gardens, cut out of the turf on the hill sides, were made the receptacles of wild orchids and other flowers from the neighboring valleys. After a suitable education, Mr. Lawson was apprenticed to a solicitor in Dundee, with the view of following the legal profession; but his private readings were not confined to "Erskine's Institutes" and "Blackstone's Commentaries." The discovery in the Watt Institution Library of such works as "Loudon's Magazine. of Natural History" and "Fleming's Philosophy of Zoology," opened up a more congenial line of thought, and led him to pursue natural history as a science. His excursions in the neighborhood resulted in the addition of many new plants to the district. His first excursion, in 1843, was to the Sidlaw Hills, where he gathered, along with many other plants, &c., Archemillae alpina, which had not previously been discovered on the Sidlaw range. For some time his natural history studies were pursued alone, and were greatly prompted by the excellent selection of natural history books which lay unused in the Watt Institution Library of Dundee. He soon made the acquaintance of Mr. William Gardiner, the poetbotanist of that town, and enjoyed one or two excursions with him, chiefly for the collection of mosses and lichens. While pursuing his own researches Mr. Lawson adopted various means to enlist others, in the pursuit of which he found so much gratification. One of these was the establishment of a monthly manuscript periodical, called the "Dundee Natural History Magazine," which was circulated gratuitously to all who would permit their names to

be added to the list of local naturalists. This humble publication continued in existence for eighteen months, and afforded some beneficial results-one of the most gratifying of which was the ultimate establishment of a natural history society, consisting of a large number of working members, and which may be familiar to many by name (who now learn its origin for the first time), as the Dundee Naturalists' Association. Mr. Lawson also acted as secretary to several literary societies. It may be mentioned that many of the papers which appeared originally in the "Manuscript Magazine" were in after years published in the "Phytologist," and other scientific journals. Having removed to Edinburgh, he was in the spring of 1849 elected to the office of assistant-secretary and curator to the Botanical Society, and at the same time to a similar office in the Caledonian Horticultural Society. He was also elected a fellow, and subsequently assistant-secretary of the Royal Physical Society. His position in these societies brought him in contact with scientific men, and afforded many advantages for improvement in addition to those of the university. In 1850 Mr Lawson published a small volume on water-lillies, containing a full description, with drawings of Victoria regia, which had flowered in England, and was therefore exciting much attention. In 1854 he took an active interest in the establishment of the Scottish Arboricultural Society, and was appointed assistant-secretary. In that capacity he edited the society's transactions up to 1858. In the autumn of 1856 he was elected by the Royal Society to the office of assistant librarian, and the catalogue of the society's library was completed and printed under his care. While in Edinburgh, Mr. Lawson's great aim had been to qualify himself as a teacher of science. The classes which he atter ded in the university, &c., and his private studies, must have been selected with this view. In 1852, he gave a course of lectures on botany, in connection with Mr. Hope's abstinence movement; and during the two subsequent years, conducted public classes of a similar kind in Edinburgh, which were very largely attended. In 1855, he commenced a class for practical histology, under Professor Balfour's superintendence, in connection with the botanical class of the university; and it is worthy of remark that the three gentlemen who obtained gold medals at the graduation in 1858 were all students under Mr. Lawson. In 1857, on the unexpected death of Professor Fleming, a committee of Church college was appointed to make arrangements for conducting the class during the winter session. They selected Mr. Lawson to conduct the botanical part of the course, and the zoological part was conducted by Mr. A. Murray, W. S. In 1857 the university of Glessen conferred on him the degree of doctor of philosophy. Mr. Lawson's writings are very voluminous, but almost entirely anonymous. With the exception of a few papers published in the Botanical Society's

transactions, most of his writings have appeared in literary journals and reviews, such as Chambers's Journal, Chambers's Information for the People, The Eclectic Review, Saturday Magazine, Hogg's Instructor, The Scottish Review, The Scottish National Journal, The Paladium, The British Journal, Titan, The Leisure Hour, The Illustrated London News, Illustrated Times; also, North British Agriculturist, Scottish Gardener, Scottish Florist, Gardeners' Chronicle, The Gardeners' Companion, The Phytologist Annals of Natural History, Scottish Agricultural Journal, &c. Many papers on sanitary and general subjects have appeared in the Commonwealth and other newspapers. In addition to all these, about 150 closely printed felios anonymously in Bailey's Monthly Circular. In 1858 he was elected professor of chemistry and natural history in Queen's college, Kingston, C.W. In all the situations which Dr. Lawson has filled, he has acquitted himself in such a manner as to secure unqualified approbation. He is enthusiastically fond of natural science in all its departments, and he has devoted special attention to botany. His kind and obliging manners, his modest Christian deportment, his indefatigable zeal, his laborious and painstaking exertions, and his thorough scientific knowledge, have deservedly placed him in an eminent position in the Scottish metropolis and in Canada, and have secured for him a large circle of friends.

CHEVALIER FALARDEAU

Is a Canadian artist of some eminence. He was born at Quebec, where he received his education; and, at an early age, (about 1844) he made his way to Italy, to study; and, after innumerable hardships, he accomplished the object of his journey, and settled at Florence, where he has become famous as a painter. It is mentioned in Bibaud that he made a present of a picture to the Grand Duke, for which Don Carlos of Spain offered him a great price. In return, he was created a chevalier. It is certain, however, that he possesses the title. Nearly all Canadians travelling abroad visit him. In 1857, Hororable Henry Black, of Quebec, paid his studio a visit, the particulars of which, we extract from a Quebec paper: "I. In the first hall the visitor sees a pretty numerous collection of the portraits of the first masters, such as Leonardo de Vinci, Raphael, André, del Sarte, Guido, Rubens, Vandyke, Titian, Paul Veronése, Sir Joshua Reynolds, &c., &c. These are esteemed excellent copies, and are executed with great care and zeal.