Why the architects have neglected it, they must themselves explain,
since we believe there have been but two in that profession who have
been concerned with the buildings to which we have alluded, the last
named of these being an attempt of a dillettante in the art. As to the
specimens where it has been thought fit to introduce the Egyptian window
or doorway in churches of a Greek design, we consider the attempt faulty
and censurable. This is a false and misplaced ambition after novelty,
which marks far too much of what has recently been effected in our new
churches.--_Westminster Review._


_Coinage._

Coins are generally completed by one blow of the coining-press. These
presses are worked in the Royal Mint by machinery, so contrived that
they shall strike, upon an average, 60 blows in a minute; the blank
piece, previously properly prepared and annealed, being placed between
the dies by part of the same mechanism. The number of pieces which may
be struck by a single die of good steel, properly hardened and duly
tempered, not unfrequently amounts at the Mint to between 3 and 400,000.
There are eight presses at the Mint, frequently at work ten hours a day,
each press producing 3,600 pieces per hour; but making allowance for
occasional stoppages, the daily progress of each press may be reckoned
at 30,000 pieces; the eight presses, therefore, will furnish a diurnal
average of 240,000 pieces.--_Quarterly Journal._


_The Ornithorynous._

This remarkable animal, which forms the link between the bird and beast,