National Monument at Rome.--With
full page engraving.

On the Evolution of Forms of Art.--From a paper by Prof.
JACOBSTHAL.--Plant Forms the archetypes of cashmere
patterns.--Ornamental representations of plants of two
kinds.--Architectural forms of different ages.--20 figures.

VI. NATURAL HISTORY.--The Latest Knowledge about Gapes.--How
to keep poultry free from them.

The Voyage of the Vettor Pisani.--Shark fishing In the Gulf
of Panama.--Capture of Rhinodon typicus, the largest fish in
existence.

VII. HORTICULTURE, ETC.--The Proper Time for Cutting Timber.

Raising Ferns from Spores.--1 figure.

The Life History of Vaucheria.--Growth of alga vaucheria
under the microscope.--4 figures.

VIII. MISCELLANEOUS.--Fires in London and New York.

The Greely Arctic Expedition.--With engraving.

The Nile Expedition.--1 figure.

* * * * *

LINKS IN THE HISTORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.

It is, perhaps, more difficult to write accurate history than anything
else, and this is true not only of nations, kings, politicians, or wars,
but of events and things witnessed or called into existence in every-day
life. In _The Engineer_ for September 17, 1880, we did our best to place a
true statement of the facts concerning the Rocket before our readers. In
many respects this was the most remarkable steam engine ever built, and
about it there ought to be no difficulty, one would imagine, in arriving at
the truth. It was for a considerable period the cynosure of all eyes.
Engineers all over the world were interested in its performance. Drawings
were made of it; accounts were written of it, descriptions of it abounded.
Little more than half a century has elapsed since it startled the world by
its performance at Rainhill, and yet it is not too much to say that the
truth--the whole truth, that is to say--can never now be written. We are,
however, able to put some facts before our readers now which have never
before been published, which are sufficiently startling, and while
supplying a missing link in the history of the locomotive, go far to show
that much that has hitherto been held to be true is not true at all.

When the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened on the 15th of
September, 1830, among those present was James Nasmyth, subsequently the
inventor of the steam hammer. Mr. Nasmyth was a good freeha