Among the heterogeneous mass of Baldwin engineering papers which have just arrived in Baker Library — and will be discussed in the next issue of the Bulletin — there is a copy of a Canadian bill which was introduced in 1859. It describes itself as “An Act for the Reform and Regulation of Female Apparel, and to amend and reform the Customs relating to Crinoline and other Artificial Superfluities and the Profusion thereof,” with powers, fines, forfeitures and penalties to be exercised for enforcement.

The volumes are ponderous. The title-page in sonorous and dignified language informs one that this is “A Dictionary of the English Language in which the WORDS are deduced from their ORIGINALS, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers, to which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar. By Samuel Johnson, A.M. In Two Volumes.” The page is then topped off in good Johnsonian style with a nine-line Latin quotation from Horace.