All the mammals, many of the birds, the reptiles, amphibia and fish, have been directly brought into the islands by man; and a very large proportion of the insects, in fact, almost all the European forms are such as might easily be introduced in the ordinary traffic with the mainland. Four hundred out of the four hundred and eighty species of plants we have seen also belong to south-west Europe. We have further seen evidence to prove how rapidly a soil is formed even upon recent lava beds, and how excellent that soil is. At the present moment plants from every quarter of the globe are artificially cultivated there. The climate is very mild; the mean annual temperature being 63.8° F. When first discovered these islands were completely clothed with a native forest and underwood, but immediately on their colonisation, orange-trees were introduced from Portugal, and the cultivation of that fruit was carried on to such an extent, that in a very short space of time the whole of the native wood was exhausted to afford material for orangeboxes, and the space so cleared was covered with orange groves. So great was the scarcity of native timber and shrubs that the deficiency had to be supplied from Spain and Portugal, and shiploads of young trees were imported to afford protection to the more delicate orange-trees, and furnish wood for the manufacture of boxes. Knowing, from Mr. Darwin's patient researches, how great a number of seeds and organisms may be borne from one country to another in little cakes of earth attached to a bird's foot, and carried in the cracks of floating timber, we cannot, I think, but admit that here we have the all-sufficient cause of the European character of the flora and fauna of the Açores; and that it is to this fact and the subsequent limitation of trade to Portugal and its colonies (thus accounting for the presence of one or two Brazilian species), and not to the exceptional gales or atmospheric currents that we must attribute the peculiarities in the distribution of life on these islands; while the absence of African forms is at once explained by the fact that no similar trade existed with that country. Further, the European character of the flora and fauna is now maintained by the constant traffic between the Continent and the islands in the transport of the fruit for which the Açores are so famous. The gradation in number of the species from the eastern islands westwards, made so much of by many writers, may of course be explained by the fact that they were discovered in that order, and also the traffic is greatest with the more eastern islands; communication is only monthly, in fact, with Flores and Corvo, sometimes less frequently. In conclusion, I am inclined to think that the original life on these islands had probably a strong resemblance to that of America, although, perhaps, their recent origin, and the physical conditions then obtaining there, prevented that flora and fauna from being of any great extent. As glacial times arrived, not only would the American plants and animals disappear, but, owing to the fact that the equatorial current would no longer split into two parts on the Cape of S. Roque, the Gulf Stream would cease to flow, and thus one important agency of American immigration would have been removed. Further, the icebergs which stranded on the Açorean shores, and which have now left as erratic boulders, "the large fragments of granite and other rocks, which do not occur in the Archipelago," no doubt, as Mr. Darwin says, "partly stocked these islands with ice-borne seeds," which they had gathered in their northern and European homes, remnants of which, it is possible, may exist in the evergreens peculiar to the islands. On the recurrence of warm conditions and the return of the Gulf Stream, I think it more than likely that the fauna and flora partook again, at least partly, of an American character, and we have no evidence to prove that it was not so, since no records are extant of the original nature of the flora and fauna when the Açores were first discovered; and I further believe that this primitive life has been entirely obliterated, partly, perhaps, by volcanic outbursts in the interior, but more especially by the introduction, as we have seen, of European plants and animals by human agency; and that the ease with which these have established themselves explain why they are now so abundant, and why they have killed out the original population and any American forms that may have been, from time to time, washed ashore. I am indebted for much information to Mr. A. Hoffnung, of London, Mr. F. Hepburn, of Sutton, Surrey, and to Rev. C. Watson, of Cardross. I desire also to return my thanks to Mr. Alex. Sinclair, Liverpool manager of the African Steam Navigation Company, for permission to consult the logbooks of the steamers of that line. THE REFORMATION IN ITS RELATION TO BY REV. S. FLETCHER WILLIAMS. It is an utter mistake to suppose, as some modern historians do, that the English Reformation in the sixteenth century was a royal caprice, a political act, viewed with indifference by the nation. The English Reformation was the result of the convictions and deliberate resolutions of the wisest and best; it sprang from the influence of religious truth upon the consciences of men. Its opponents did not attribute it to political causes. They found martyrs ready in numbers to seal the truth with their blood long before Henry VIII gave his adherence to it; and they declared that the inexplicable stubbornness of the Lollards, the Psalm-singers of old, had returned upon England with tenfold force. So far, indeed, was England from being the only nation which looked upon Church reforms with indifferent acquiescence, that nowhere can these reforms be proved to have met with more lively and general interest and sympathy. But while this is undoubtedly true, it must be understood with limitation. The heart of the nation was with the reform movement, but could do little more than beat in sympathy. Although the numbers and the influence of the middle-class greatly increased during this reign, yet its existence as a power in the State must be referred to a later period. By a rare combination of circumstances, however, we are enabled, at the Reformation, to trace the history of the masses in that of the kingly power; and here we have the origin of that vulgar error of attributing solely to the kingly power the success of a movement which engaged the attention of all classes alike. At that time the interests of the king and those of the people were singularly united. The wars of the Roses, succeeded by the cautious and proscriptive policy of Henry VII, had effectually broken the power of the nobility. The age of the king-makers, of allpowerful coalitions on the part of the aristocracy, had passed away for ever; and the new element of democracy, destined one day to crush royal prerogative in England, was rising in the social world, fostered and patronised by royalty itself. Nearly all the acts of the Tudors, intentionally or not, had a tendency to develop this new power; for the suppression of the great houses, by whatever means, became a traditional policy with them. Never were English sovereigns so absolute as from Henry VIII down to Elizabeth; but then, it must be added, never were they so popular. Hence it will be seen that the Court fairly represents, on the whole, the activity of the nation at the time in question. And this idea must never desert us. I may add to the Court the Universities, which were the scenes of strong reformatory agitation, and which witnessed the preaching of Latimer, the lectures of Sandford, and the disputations of Cranmer. In the history of these centres of influence may be found the history of a movement which was almost simultaneous with the revival of learning, and always enlisted in its cause the most learned men, as well as the most honest thinkers. Nothing, in fact, is more noticeable in the Reformation than this, that the Reformers were all men of learning. The history, therefore, of learning at the time, and some estimate of its results, will claim our first attention. About fifty years before had occurred the catastrophe of the Turkish capture of Constantinople. That event scattered the whole Greek nation over Europe. Their noble literature, after an absence of about seven hundred years, thus suddenly re-appeared. It created everywhere new habits of thought, |