1 66 CHARLES R. KEYES 



these technical names are so difficult to understand is that each 

 is an epitomized history of the special part, its position and 

 function in the complete mechanism. 



In the geological sciences the technicalities play the same 

 role as they do in the arts and in business. To the large 

 majority of people the name Monadnock, for instance, may mean 

 only a big building, a war ship, or an Indian, but to the pro- 

 fessional geographer it has attached to it a special meaning In 

 a single word it sums up the complete life history of a particu- 

 lar kind of relief feature — a history that would require the 

 space of a long chapter to describe in " simple " language every 

 time it is referred to. If such a term chance to be a happy 

 choice, if it save the busy worker the writing of several pages 

 in order to express the same idea in another way, or " if it prove 

 to be acceptable to workers in its field," as its author says, " it 

 will take root and flourish ; if not, it will soon wither away and 

 be seen no more." 



Granite, trap and greenstone, may be good enough "simple" 

 names to apply to certain rocks, but the terms have become so 

 general that in exact work they now mean almost nothing. To 

 the petrographer the'name pegmatite at once suggests a variety 

 of granite that has a long and intricate history, totally different 

 from dozens of other kinds of granite, each having a record 

 equally complicated and equally diverse. This term incor- 

 porates in three short syllables history enough to fill a large 

 volume. But he who wishes to know something about this par- 

 ticular kind of granite called pegmatite, little cares to waste his 

 time in going over the whole literature of granite that he may 

 get a little of the desired information. Likewise, who will not 

 say that such a name as websterite, applied to a dark colored 

 trap-like rock, does not at once separate the mass from a hun- 

 dred other stony aggregates having a similar general appearance, 

 and at the same time indicate a whole train of important events 

 that would be otherwise passed over if the more popular name 

 of trap were used alone. It may be argued that these are useful 

 and necessary new names. Yet who could pass judgment on 



