648 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 515. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, SECTION OF 

 BIOLOGY. 



The meeting of October 10 was devoted to 

 reports oa summer work by members. In the 

 absence of Professor Underwood, Professor 

 Sumner was elected temporary chairman. The 

 members reported as follows: Professor E. B. 

 Wilson worked at the Naples, Sorbonne and 

 Eoscoff laboratories, continuing his studies of 

 germinal localization in moUusks. Professor 

 Bashford Dean attended the zoological con^ 

 gress at Berne and the British Association 

 meeting in Cambridge, and later visited places 

 of scientific interest in France. Professor 

 Bristol worked at the Bermuda Biological 

 Station, of which he was one of the directors. 

 Mr. Yatsu worked at the Tufts College labo- 

 ratory in Maine. Mr. Kellicott worked at the 

 Cedar Point laboratory, in Ohio, completing 

 his studies of the development of the vascular 

 system of Ceraiodus. Dr. Dublin continued 

 his studies of germ-cells at the Cold Springs 

 Harbor laboratory. Dr. Townsend superin- 

 tended the remodeling of the water-supply 

 apparatus at the New York Aquarium. Mr. 

 Bigelow conducted special courses for teachers 

 in the summer school of Columbia University. 

 Professor Sumner directed the laboratories 

 and the biological surveys of the Bureau of 

 Fisheries at Woods Hole. 



M. A. Bigelow, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



the earliest mention of fossil fishes. 



For the satisfaction of those interested in 

 verifying a disputed reference of high an- 

 tiquity, one, too, which possesses the distinc- 

 tion of including the first mention of fossil 

 fishes in literature, it may be profitable to in- 

 dicate the source of Dr. Emmons's statement 

 in regard to ' Origines,' briefly noticed in two 

 articles that have appeared in Science (Nos. 

 502, 508) under the caption of ' Variae Aucto- 

 ritatis.' 



Dr. Emmons has been good enough to in- 

 form the writer that the authority upon which 

 he relied for the remarks in question was the 

 abridged translation of von Zittel's ' History 



of Geolog-y and Paleontology.' The German 

 edition of this work briefly summarizes the 

 opinions of Xenophanes on fossils ' as reported 

 hy Origen,' the learned third-century theolo- 

 gian. But here endeth not the first lesson, 

 since there is no doubt that the lamented pa- 

 leontologist was mistaken as to the author 

 who has preserved for us the views of the 

 enlightened Eleatic. 



None of the writings of Origen contains the 

 fragment of Xenophanes which treats of the 

 nature of fossils, but we must turn for it in- 

 stead to the ' PhilosopJiumena ' (or ' Refuta- 

 tion of all Heresies,' i., 14) of Hippolytus, 

 Bishop of Portus, a voluminous third century 

 writer, and the first great scholar of the Ro- 

 man church.* The rescue of this valuable 

 work from oblivion through the discovery of 

 a medieval manuscript at Mt. Athos, its publi- 

 cation at Oxford in 1851 under the guise of 

 a continuation of Origen, and subsequent de- 

 termination of its true authorship, constitute 

 an interesting chapter in the history of pale- 

 ography. 



The scientific fragments of Xenophanes and 

 various pre-Soeratic authors have been conven- 

 iently brought together, with copiovis anno- 

 tations, in the works of Hermann Diels,t Paul 

 Tannery,:]: Mullach and others, and are briefly 

 discussed in the first volume of Zeller's ' Phi- 

 losophy of the Greeks.' None of these frag- 

 ments, however, can compensate the loss of 

 the historical compendium drawn up by 

 Theophrastus, which contained abstracts of 

 the scientific views in vogue prior to the 

 Alexandrian age, and is known to us (save 



* Concerning Origen and Hippolytus one may 

 consult Sehaff's ' History of the Christian Church,' 

 Vol. II. (New York, 1883). Their writings have 

 been extensively published in this country and 

 abroad. 



t'Doxograhi Graeci ' (Berlin, 1879). lAem, 

 ' Die Fragmente der Vor-Sokratiker, Grieehisch 

 undDeutsch' (Berlin, 1903). 



% ' Pour THistoire de la Science Hellfene, de 

 Thalfes a Empgdocle' (Paris, 1887). The ap- 

 pendix contains a translation of the important 

 treatise by Theophrastus ' On the Sensations.' 

 Additional references are given in the bibliography 

 of Osborn's excellent conspectus, ' From the 

 Greeks to Darwin' (New York, 1894). 



