NA rURE 



[May 2, 1 90 1 



The western hill, like another Gergovia, is a natural site 

 for a hill fort, while the descending ridge of Ophel, so far as 

 we can infer from our studies of such structures, is exactly 

 the position which their builders would have avoided. 

 Such articles as " Gospels " and " Jesus " introduce us to 

 questions of a character and a theological import which 

 we must not discuss in these columns. Suffice it to say 

 that, while indicating a certain amount of reaction from 

 the extreme vagaries of representatives of the so-called 

 "higher criticism," they express, as a rule, eminently 

 " progressive " views. Some, indeed, are so very advanced 

 that they could not, so far as we can see, be covered 

 by the most liberal interpretation of the Nicene creed. 

 Persons, however, who view with anxiety these removals 

 of ancient landmarks may comfort themselves by ob- 

 serving how many idols of the cave have been set up by 

 one confident discoverer only to be trampled under foot 

 by the next comer. Indeed, on reading some of these 

 efforts of the higher criticism we cannot help being 

 reminded of the famous Historic Doubts, and think that 

 by using similar methods we could prove William the 

 Conqueror to be a person almost mythical and the Battle 

 of Hastings mainly a legend. T. G. B. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Plato's S/aat. F. Schleiermachei. Zweite Auflage. 



C. Th. Siegert. (1901.) Mk. 3. 

 lohn Locke's Versuch iibcr din Menschlichen Verstand. 



Zweiter Band. Zweite Auflage. C. Th. Siegert. 



(1901.) Mk. 3. 

 Berkeley's Abhandlung iiber die Prinsipien der Mensch- 

 lichen Erkenntnis. Dr. F. Ueberweg. Dritte Auflage. 



(1900.) Mk. 2. 

 Berkeley's Drei Dialogs sivischen Hylas und Philonous. 



Dr. R. Richter. (Leipzig : Diirr'schen Buchhandlung, 



1901.) Mk. 2. 

 There is in Germany a widespread appetite for meta- 

 physics. Earlier there than elsewhere scholars and 

 philosophers of an order not far removed from the 

 highest came to recognise that work bestowed on the 

 translation and elucidation of foreign masterpieces in 

 philosophy was the best of trainings in exact thinking 

 and expression. The zeal of von Kirchmann for his 

 educational ideal was untiring, and his industry was ap- 

 palling. In the result, the Philosophisclie Bibliothek 

 has succeeded in combining low cost and high achieve- 

 ment. It is the more to be regretted that its volumes 

 so often come to pieces in the hand. 



Schleiermacher's translation of " Plato's Republic," 

 with von Kirchmann's sporadic notes, "needs no bush." 

 It will not, of course, be much used in England after 

 the labours of Davies and Vaughan and Dr. Bosanquet. 

 It has undergone some revision, but still scorns Greek 

 accents, while its use of breathings is haphazard. 

 Similarly, von Kirchmann's translation of "Locke's 

 Essay " has undergone revision before reissue. Some- 

 thing of the effect of Locke's style vanishes in the trans- 

 lation, but the substance is there. It is only the separate 

 volume of notes which is likely to interest the English 

 public, and that not greatly. Ueberweg's excellent 

 version of the masterwork of Berkeley's earlier idealism 

 has passed into a third edition, advisedly without re- 

 vision. Its incisive notes possess some value even for 

 those who have studied their Berkeley with the aids 

 supplied by Prof Campbell Eraser. It has a worthy 

 successor in Dr. Raoul Richter's translation of" Berkeley's 

 Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous." If we 

 have not been singularly unfortunate —or fortunate — in 



NO. 1644, VOL. 64] 



our sampling. Dr. Richter has succeeded as well as the 

 translator of Berkeley could hope to succeed. He adds 

 a straightforward introduction and some luminous notes 

 chiefly on the usage of technical terms. The new series 

 is, to our thinking, superior in form, printmg and, above 

 all, in stitching, to the old. The student, for whom the 

 reading of Kant or Hegel in the original is only a hope 

 of the distant future, might be worse advised than to 

 take Dr. Richter's version of the dialogues and ground 

 himself in German philosophical terminology by reading 

 it along with the brilliant original, .'^n English trans- 

 lation of a German "minor masterpiece" at once as 

 excellent as this and as cheap is still to seek. 



H. W. B. 



The Fishes of Nor/h and Middle America j a Descriptive 

 Catalogue of the Species of Fish-like Vertebrates, found 

 in the Waters of North America, North of the Isthmus 

 of Panama. By David Starr Jordan and Barton 

 Warren Evermann. Part iv. Pp. ci -f 3137-3315 ; 

 plates I-CCCXCII. (Washington : U. S. National 

 Museum, 1900.) 



The present part concludes this important work, of which 

 we have given a full notice in vol. Ixi of Nature, p. 362. 

 It commences with a systematic arrangement of the 

 fishes described, which serves not only as a table of 

 contents for all the four parts, but also as an exhibition 

 of the views of the authors as to the genetic relations of 

 American fishes. From it it will be seen that the fish- 

 fauna of North and Middle America, as now understood 

 and as stated by the authors, embraces 3 classes, 30 

 orders, 225 families, 1113 genera, 325 subgenera, 3263 

 species and 133 subspecies. "Additional Addenda" 

 follow and occupy some 60 pages ; they comprise a num- 

 ber of new genera and species described since the publi- 

 cation of part iii., the majority being the result of 

 investigations made by Dr. Jordan in Mexico, and by 

 Dr. Evermann in Porto Rico. Other additions or correc- 

 tions regarding nomenclature, relations and distributio-n 

 of previously known species, are duly attended to. 



The bulk of the volume is devoted to the illustrations. 

 In this series are represented ;ibout958 types of fishes, thus, 

 so far as numbers are concerned, surpassing even Cuvier 

 and Valenciennes' " Histoire naturelle des Poissons," in 

 which only about 700 species are figured. With few 

 exceptions, the figures are original, and were drawn for 

 the present work from specimens preserved in American 

 collections, and by means of photography reproduced to 

 a uniform size, the width of an octavo page. As the work 

 has been published by the Smithsonian Institution with 

 the view of bringing it within the reach of the people, no 

 highly artistic and, therefore, expensive finish of the 

 illustrations has been attempted ; but they have not lost 

 in accuracy thereby, and will fully answer the purpose of 

 assisting the student of ichthyology in his initial studies, 

 or the layman who seeks for occasional information. 

 They show well the general appearance of the fish, the 

 structure of fins and the arrangement of scales ; but 

 scarcely any additional details are given to illustrate 

 the characters on which the numerous genera and species 

 distinguished or adopted by the authors are based. 



The illustrations are preceded by an explanatory list, 

 in which the names of the artists, the numbers of the 

 original specimens in the United States National 

 Museum, or other sources whence the drawings were 

 derived, are carefully noted. In fact, no pains have been 

 spared by the authors to render their work instructive 

 and handy for reference and ready use. 



Already in our first notice we have testified to the high 

 merits of the work ; it renders the rich American fish- 

 fauna more accessible than ever before to scientific 

 ichthyologists throughout the world, and cannot fail to 

 give a powerful impetus to the study of fishes in the 

 authors' own country. A. G. 



