REVIEWS. 



453 



REVIEWS. 



Natural Histori/ of the Em-opeau Seas. — By the late Professor Edward 

 Forbes and R. A. Godwin- Austen, Esq., E.R.S. 



If anytliing could give us pleasure, and at the same time pain, it would be to 

 review a posthumous book of Edward Eorbes — we wite not the prefix " Pro- 

 fessor," for the two simple words are theii' own glory, the reality of which no 

 addition could increase. Amongst the very earliest of our eucouragers in the 

 pursuit of natui-al history we remember, as many, many others in their own 

 cases must do the like, the amiable courtesy and gentleness with which that 

 great man would at all times assist oui- inquhies by the ready explanations 

 wliich his vast-extended knowledge enabled him instantly to give. 



One half the book before us was pemied by Edward Forbes, the remainder 

 has been completed by his friend — indeed a treasurable title — and literary ex- 

 ecutor, Mr. Godwin-Austen. Well-known and appreciated for his scientific 

 acquii-ements, in no better hands than his could such a task have been placed ; 

 but all the world knows how charmingly, and yet how pliilosopliicaUy the 

 professor wi'ote ; and in few tasks, therefore, couli it be more difficult to ac- 

 quire a successful result than in the completion of an unfinished work, however 

 simple might be its character, of a man esteemed ahke as an individual, an 

 author, and a philosopher. 



The history of the present volume, one of Mr, Yan Yoorst's projected 

 series of "Outlines of the Natural History of Europe," is briefly told in the 

 preface. Three books under the above title were proposed some years since to 

 hQ issued ; Professor Henfrey undertook the subject of the " Vegetation of 

 Eui-ope," Professor Eorbes " The Natiu-al History of the Eiu'opean Seas," and 

 the latter suggested to Mr. Austen to do " The Geological History of the 

 European Area," Professor Henfrey's book appeared in 1852, and that by 

 Professor Eorbes was announced for 1853. With the work and engagements 

 then pressmg heavily upon him, no one was surprized at its not appearmg, and 

 indeed it is probable his own additional studies and the further researches 

 desirable might have made him wish for a little delay before he committed 

 himself to any general views on the marine fauna of the European seas. In 

 1855, the life and labours of one of the most eminent naturalists our native land 

 has ever produced were suddenly cut off, and the little book, half -finished, half- 

 printed, of which a few more months of his sojourn amongst us would have 

 sufficed for the perfecting, has passed over to his friend for completion. 



Professor Henfrey, the author of the first of the series of " Outlines of the 

 Natural History of Europe," too, has passed away from amongst us. 



No one element of recent investigation has a greater bearing, or is likely to 

 throw more light upon the ancient geographical and physical conditions and 

 distribution of the ancient extinct creations of our planet than the results of 

 those accurate dredgings of the sea-bottom, to which Edward Eorbes himself 

 gave so strong an impetus, and those notations of organic forms occurring with- 

 in special zones of depth, and the limitations of special groups within certain 

 geographical areas. The bearings of these results upon fossil organic remains 

 is of the highest value, and this book places all that is known before us in a 

 quiet, unostentatious, but powerful maimer. It is in fact a book of reference, 

 but with these exceptions to the almost universal character of books of that 

 class, that it is small, condensed, and not vokimmous, and that it is pleasantly 

 VOL. II. S S 



