[1] For a brief review of the pharmacology of purin derivatives see F. Francis and J.M. Fortescue-Brinkdale, The Chemical Basis of Pharmacology (1908).
FISCHER, ERNST KUNO BERTHOLD (1824-1907), German philosopher, was born at Sandewalde in Silesia, on the 23rd of July 1824. After studying philosophy at Leipzig and Halle, he became a privat-docent at Heidelberg in 1850. The Baden government in 1853 laid an embargo on his teaching owing to his Liberal ideas, but the effect of this was to rouse considerable sympathy for his views, and in 1856 he obtained a professorship at Jena, where he soon acquired great influence by the dignity of his personal character. In 1872, on Zeller’s removal to Berlin, Fischer succeeded him as professor of philosophy and the history of modern German literature at Heidelberg, where he died on the 4th of July 1907. His part in philosophy was that of historian and commentator, for which he was especially qualified by his remarkable clearness of exposition; his point of view is in the main Hegelian. His Geschichte der neuern Philosophie (1852-1893, new ed. 1897) is perhaps the most accredited modern book of its kind, and he made valuable contributions to the study of Kant, Bacon, Shakespeare, Goethe, Spinoza, Lessing, Schiller and Schopenhauer.
Some of his numerous works have been translated into English: Francis Bacon of Verulam, by J. Oxenford (1857); The Life and Character of Benedict Spinoza, by Frida Schmidt (1882); A Commentary on Kant’s Kritik of Pure Reason, by J.P. Mahaffy (1866); Descartes and his School, by J.P. Gordy (1887); A Critique of Kant, by W.S. Hough (1888); see also H. Falkenheim, Kuno Fischer und die litterar-historische Methode (1892); and bibliography in J.M. Baldwin’s Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology (1905).
FISH, HAMILTON (1808-1893), American statesman, was born in New York City on the 3rd of August 1808. His father, Nicholas Fish (1758-1833), served in the American army during the War of American Independence, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. The son graduated at Columbia College in 1827, and in 1830 was admitted to the bar, but practised only a short time. In 1843-1845 he was a Whig representative in Congress. He was the Whig candidate for lieutenant-governor of New York in 1846, and was defeated by Addison Gardner (Democrat); but when in 1847 Gardner was appointed a judge of the state court of appeals, Fish was elected (November 1847) to complete the term (to January 1849). He was governor of New York state from 1849 to 1851, and was United States senator in 1851-1857, acting with the Republicans during the last part of his term. In 1861-1862 he was associated with John A. Dix, William M. Evarts, William E. Dodge, A.T. Stewart, John Jacob Astor, and other New York men, on the Union Defence Committee, which (from April 22, 1861, to April 30, 1862) co-operated with the municipal government in the raising and equipping of troops, and disbursed more than a million dollars for the relief of New York volunteers and their families. Fish was secretary of state during President Grant’s two administrations (1869-1877). He conducted the negotiations with Great Britain which resulted in the treaty of the 8th of May 1871, under which (Article 1) the “Alabama claims” were referred to arbitration, and the same disposition (Article 34) was made of the “San Juan Boundary Dispute,” concerning the Oregon boundary line. In 1871 Fish presided at the Peace Conference at Washington between Spain and the allied republics of Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia, which resulted in the formulation (April 12) of a general truce between those countries, to last indefinitely and not to be broken by any one of them without three years’ notice given through the United States; and it was chiefly due to his restraint and moderation that a satisfactory settlement of the “Virginius Affair” was reached by the United States and Spain (1873). Fish was vice-president-general of the Society of the Cincinnati from 1848 to 1854, and president-general from 1854 until his death. He died in Garrison, New York, on the 7th of September 1893.
His son, Nicholas Fish (1846-1902), was appointed second secretary of legation at Berlin in 1871, became secretary in 1874, and was chargé d’affaires at Berne in 1877-1881, and minister to Belgium in 1882-1886, after which he engaged in banking in New York City.
FISH (O. Eng. fisc, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch visch, Ger. Fisch, Goth. fisks, cognate with the Lat. piscis), the common name of that class of vertebrate animals which lives exclusively in water, breathes through gills, and whose limbs take the form of fins (see [Ichthyology]). The article [Fisheries] deals with the subject from the economic and commercial point of view, and [Angling] with the catching of fish as a sport. The constellation and sign of the zodiac known as “the fishes” is treated under [Pisces].
The fish was an early symbol of Christ in primitive and medieval Christian art. The origin is to be found in the initial letters of the names and titles of Jesus in Greek, viz. Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Ὑιός, Σώτηρ, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour, which together spell the Greek word for “fish,” ἰχθύς. The fish is also said to be represented in the oval-shaped figure, pointed at both ends, and formed by the intersection of two circles. This figure, also known as the vesica piscis, is common in ecclesiastical seals and as a glory or aureole in paintings of sculpture, surrounding figures of the Trinity, saints, &c. The figure is, however, sometimes referred to the almond, as typifying virginity; the French name for the symbol is Amande mystique.