July 14, 1910] 



NATURE 



)5 



portant or constant to justify their separation into two 

 genera, but a very strong protest must be made 

 against tiiis autlior's practice of reviving tlie obsolete 

 generic name Solanderia for Ceratella and tlirowing 

 the literature into confusion thereby. M. Haime, who 

 examined the type-specimen of Solanderia (Duch. and 

 Michel.), declared that it was undoubtedly a Gorgonid. 

 The genus was therefore rightly ignored by Gray, and 

 the magnificent memoir by Baldwin Spencer on Cera- 

 tella fiisca has firmly established the proper generic 

 name once and for all time. 



Of the other memoirs in this series, the space at 

 our disposal does not allow us to make more than 

 passing notice. We observe some excellent coloured 

 plates in the account by Maas of the Japanese 

 medusK, and we are glad to observe that the wander- 

 ing genera Gonionemus and Olindioides are becoming 

 more definitely settled in the order Trachomedusse. 

 The Ctenophora do not seem to be very well repre- 

 sented in the Japanese fauna, but Dr. Fanny Moser's 

 memoir on this group is a very important contribution 

 to our knowledge of several of the important genera, 

 as the author takes the opportunity to give a 

 critical summary of all the known species of the 

 LobatJE, Beroidee, and Cestidse. 



Silberfeld adds to his account of the few new- 

 Japanese .^ntipatharia a useful list of all the species 

 of the order that have been described since the pub- 

 lication of Brook's Challenger monograph. 



The memoirs by Augustin on the Holothuria, and 

 by W'assiliefif on the sea anemones, fully maintain 

 the high standard of excellence that marks the earlier 

 numbers. S. J. H. 



THE CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC ORATOR. 

 Orati'Jues cl Epistolae Cantabrigienses (1876-1909). 

 By Dr. John Edwin Sandys. Pp. xiv-l-290. 

 (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 19 10.) Price 

 los. net. 



THIS Tery attractive volume, bound in the light 

 blue which stands for the colour of Cambridge, 

 contains the Latin speeches and letters which for 

 thirty-three years Dr. Sandys has delivered as public 

 orator for the University of Cambridge. In 1909 Dr. 

 Merry, the public orator of Oxford, published his 

 admirable orations, delivered in the Sheldonian 

 Theatre during thirty years, and in the same year, bv 

 a curious chance, appeared a volume containing 141 

 brief speeches delivered by three successive public 

 orators of Trinity College, Dublin — Drs. Palmer, 

 Tyrrell, and Purser. 



It was a strange coincidence that in the course of a 

 year the two great universities of England and the 

 most ancient university of Ireland should have given 

 to the world these characteristic effusions of university 

 sentiment. This form of literary composition will 

 appeal in a different way to different minds. But 

 none will fail to see in it a somewhat interesting 

 specimen of an art now obsolescent and destined, per- 

 haps, soon to pass away, which recalls the time when 

 Latin was the lingua Jranca of the learned world, and 

 when the universities affected to convey their senti- 

 ments only in the learned tongue. 

 NO. 2124, VOL. 84] 



So long as this time-honoured custom is observed, 

 it will recommend itself by the happy classical turn 

 of phrase and the ingenious adaptation of Latin idiom 

 to very post-classical themes, to which the public 

 orator must often have recourse ; and of these arts 

 Dr. Sandys is a past-master. His career in Cam- 

 bridge was most brilliant, and among other distinc- 

 tions he won the coveted Porson prize. He was at 

 once designated successor as public ora'tor to that 

 great composer in Greek and Latin, the late Sir 

 Richard Jebb. His orations are characterised by an 

 elegance of Latinity and a felicity of allusion quite 

 worthy of his distinguished predecessor. The public 

 orations not only excite the interest of scholars, but 

 sometimes evoke humorous comment from the under- 

 graduates, as when Dr. Travers-Twiss at Oxford 

 found a flight of superlatives (in which such speeches 

 naturally abound) capped from the gallery by a new 

 adjective. '" Illustrissimus, praeclarissimus," said the 

 orator; " et Travers-Twissimus " was the contribution 

 of an inglorious undergraduate rival. 



The iloges in the volume before us are not only 

 charming examples of polished Latinity, but they are 

 admirable specimens of brief and pointed criticism. 

 A man's work is often summed up in a few words 

 which could not be bettered in as many pages. One 

 specimen of this delicate art will serve instar omnium. 

 The great poet and critic, Matthew Arnold, writes 

 thus to Dr. Sandys : — 



".A thousand thanks for the printed copies of your 

 speeches which you have so kindly sent to me. I am 

 glad the speeches are in this permanent form. For 

 myself I can only say that I could wish the next age 

 (if the next age 'inquires at all about me) to read no 

 other and no longer character of me than yours." 



The reader should turn to the iloge (No. 71, p. 39) 

 to see that the words of Matthew Arnold are justified. 

 For those who have not the book w-e will make an 

 extract, which shrewdly characterises Arnold's deal- 

 ings with the Philistines, his (vrpmrfKia, ''cultured 

 insolence," as Aristotle calls it, and another which 

 compares his style to the Thames by which he was 

 born, "Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not 

 dull" :— 



"Ouam suaviter subamarus est quotiens Attico 

 quodam lepore et salibus quicquid insulsum est irridet, 

 Graeca quadam elegantia quicquid barbarum est con- 

 temnit. De gravioribus vero argumentis, quanto 

 animi candore, quanta subtilitate, disputat. Idem 

 poeta quam venustus, quam varius." 



"Equidem crediderim Thamesin ipsum inter rura ilia 

 fluentem, ubi poeta ipse natus erat, alumno suo 

 exemplar suum praetulisse, suum ingenium inspirasse; 

 qui amnis, poetarum laudibus celebratus, tranquillus 

 at non tardus it, profundus at pellucidus idem est." 



How happily he alludes to the work of Hu.xley : — 



" Olim in oceano Australi, ubi rectis ' oculis monstra 

 natantia ' vidit, victoriam prope primam, velut alter 

 Perseus, a Medusa reportavit; vnrias deinceps animan- 

 tium formas. quasi ab ipsa Gorgone in saxum versas, 

 sagacitate singulari explicavit; vitae denique universae 

 explorandae vitam suam totam dedicavit." 



And we must quote his reference to Joseph Cham- 

 berlain's "grand refusal" of the Home Rule Bill, and 

 his allusion to the great statesman's love for orchids. 



