Mat 10, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



739 



There are sixteen pages of preface with the 

 title-page, and 112 pages of text and one 

 plate; the size of the printed part of the page 

 measures 2.75 inches wide by 5.5 inches high. 



Why has this translation been overlooked 

 and who was H. 0. ? 



I am not aware that any writer on the 

 history of geology specifically refers to having 

 seen or read this translation. The copy in the 

 writer's possession is bound up as a separately 

 paged tract at the end of a small volume of 

 the celebrated Robert Boyle's ' Essays of 

 EfSuvium,' etc., containing also his ' Essay 

 about the Origine and Virtue of Gems ' of 

 1672. A general title-page gives reference to 

 Steno's work. This title-page is dated 1673. 

 All of the contained tracts appear to have 

 been separately printed at different dates be- 

 tween 1671 and 1673, at which last date they 

 were brought out in the form above described. 



The translation appears to have passed out 

 of sight in the same century for John Eay, 

 elected to the Eoyal Society, 1667, who re- 

 wrote his now curious ' Three Physico-Theo- 

 logical Discourses ' in 1693, twenty-two years 

 after the H. O. translation appeared, does not 

 mention either the original Prodromus or this 

 translation of it. Had he laiown either 

 work probably Eay would not have quoted 

 in his second edition (pages 156-157) Steno's, 

 earlier ' Description of a Shark's Head ' to 

 the neglect of the most important scientific 

 contribution to the discussion of the origin of 

 fossil shells and geological structures which 

 was extant in his time. It is difficult to ac- 

 count for Eay's reticence unless by reason of 

 his living outside of London. But the pub- 

 lication of the H. O. translation of Steno's 

 ^ Prodromus ' as an appendix to Boyle's prolix 

 essays was from the start likely then as now 

 to bury the work out of the sight of any 

 writer on geological subjects. 



As for H. O., the translator, he reveals him- 

 self in a preface of six pages entitled ' The 

 Interpreter to the Eeader' as having recently 

 received a copy of the original Latin work 

 from Italy, as meeting and hearing a declara- 

 tion from ' the excellent Eobert Boyle,' as 

 being familiar with his opinions and writings, 

 and as well with ' Mr. Eobert Hook,' his 



occupation in the ' rebuilding of the city 

 of London, and his attendance on the E. 

 Society,' from which account it is to be in- 

 ferred that H. 0. also was much about the 

 Eoyal Society, and his dealings with Boyle 

 who was one of the founders of that institu- 

 tion strengthens this opinion. We know that 

 during these years Henry Oldenburg^ was sec- 

 retary of the Eoyal Society. It is further 

 known that Boyle was in the habit of employ- 

 ing persons to translate works from one lan- 

 guage into another at his expense. Olden- 

 burg's initials attached to this translation, his 

 conversation with Boyle concerning the latter's 

 Essay on Gems, of which interview he states 

 that Boyle " before he would see or hear any- 

 thing of that Prodromus of Steno, did upon 

 occasion declare to the author of that Eng- 

 lish version the sum and substance of what 

 is deduced at large [regarding gems] in this 

 tract," and the consociation of Boyle as 

 founder and Oldenburg as first secretary of 

 the Eoyal Society at this time and of H. O.'s 

 translation with Boyle's 'Essays' make it 

 highly probable that Henry Oldenburg (c. 

 1626-1678) englished Steno's ' Prodromus.' 



In the interests of a wider acquaintance of 

 many English-speaking students with the 

 path-breakers of modern geology and paleon- 

 tology the H. O. version of Steno's ' Pro- 

 dromus ' might deservedly be reprinted. 



j. b. woodworth 



Geologicax, Laboratory, 

 Harvard University 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY 

 AND MEDICINE 



The twentieth meeting of the Society for 

 Experimental Biology and Medicine was held 

 in the Eockefeller Institute for Medical Ee- 

 search, on Wednesday evening, February 20. 

 The president, Simon Flexner, was in the 

 chair. 



Members present — Adler, Burton-Opitz, 

 Calkins, Carrel, Conklin, Emerson, Ewing, 

 Field, Flexner, Foster, Gibson, Gies, Lee, 

 Levene, Levin, Mandel (J. A.), Meltzer, 



' See Encyclopedia Brittanica, 9th ed., Vol. 17, 

 page 439, Vol. 22, page 401, and index volume. 



