The question when, and by whom, our constellations were invented, will probably never lose its fascination, because it is never likely to find its solution. For those who have allowed themselves to be brought under its spell the name of Cleostratus has a special interest. If we could by any means learn more about the man who is said to have been in some sort the deviser of our zodiac, we might obtain a light upon the history of the celestial globe which at present seems likely to be for ever withheld, unless some Egyptian papyrus should reveal some part of the lost History of Astronomy by Eudemus.

By his careful collection—in the December number of this Journal, 1919—of all the notices that we have of Cleostratus, Dr. W. K. Fotheringham therefore deserves a gratitude which I am the more anxious to express because I cannot at all agree with the theory of Babylonian influence which he deduces from them, nor with the interpretation of Greek and Latin passages which he puts forward in support of that theory. The latter point I could willingly leave to the criticism of scholars abler than myself, whom I cannot think likely to be convinced by Dr. Fotheringham that the passages bear the sense which he has endeavoured to extract from them.