Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/320

 314 Roller In matters of form, Dr. K. overlooked two minor blemishes that lend even to a book meant for reference an appearance of laxity or carelessness of style. One is the frequent use of "cf. " in the body of the text; such is found on pages 10 (bis), 11, 13, 15, 29, 36, 43, 67, 79, 95, 100, 104, 123, 130, 132, 162, 168. These should have been relegated into the footnotes or put in parenthesis if retained in the text. Abbreviations in the text like "bk." for book and those of the names of the months also occur often. The other is the employment of references to section, volume, and page by figures as an integral part of the text, without, and instead of, mentioning the title of the work referred to or whatever fact is suitable in a given instance; for example, "IV, 28, 272" (p. 47), "in II, 4, 74 is found" (p. 59), "According to III, 9, 330" and the like on pages 67, 89 (bis), 111 (bis), 122, 117, 129, 147, 154 (bis), 155, 157, 162, 175, 178, 183 (ter); those numbers should have gone down into the foot- notes. There are no misprints to speak of. "Gluht" on page 53 should read "Gluth," "1876" on the next page should be "1776," "Jan" on page 160 is meant for "January." On several pages, the footnote numbers are blurred near the bottom of the page. On page 144, in the last footnote, "137" is an error for "143," and on page 6, twelfth line from the botton, "chapter" is an error for "part of a chapter," as the opening pages (64-70) of the fifth chapter are here alluded to. In some of the German citations, the reproduction of Goethe's orthography is inconsistent; e.g., Goethe writes "Gedachtnisz" (p. 158), " AstronomUon " (p. 173); why not modernize the spelling in all quotations entirely? A final statement or chapter where all the results gained would at least be summarized is wanting. Some might be inclined to censure Keller for a lack of a general historical background and for an assumption in his readers of a fresh knowledge of Greek and Latin literature; there are traces of his possessing the requisite knowledge and ability to write such background and to supply the missing account on the Greek and Latin side. But the reviewer believes that an author has the right to set himself limits he deems proper and then be judged fairly on the performance of his self-appointed task. Dr. Keller has acquitted himself creditably in this very indus- trious piece of work; he collected his facts with great diligence which he presents, without any attempt at a literary style, in a ^ well-ordered arrangement; he adheres strictly and closely to his facts and spins no theories whatever. His assiduity is the more laudable if we remember that in the Weimar edition of Goethe's works, the one he used, index volumes were available to him only for Sections II (Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften)