148 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 291. 



may be a difference as great as that between 

 the work of the sculptor and of the stonemason. 

 Analytical skill is not to be expected of the 

 physicist, whose field of research with the de- 

 velopment of electrolysis begins to encroach 

 more and more upon the domain of inorganic 

 chemistry ; but even without this he can make 

 great attainments in his own province. But 

 physical chemistry is by no means identical 

 with inorganic chemistry ; for inorganic chem- 

 istry, so far from being a secluded science, pre- 

 sents an unlimited number of problems, whose 

 solution must be sought along quite other lines 

 than those indicated by the theory of ions. 

 The really successful carrying out of inorganic 

 chemical research is only possible for the man 

 who is not merely a theoretical chemist but also 

 an expert analyst, not only a practically trained, 

 mechanical workman, but a thoughtful educated 

 artist ; the theory of every operation he carries 

 out must be very clearly in his mind, stoichi- 

 ometry must be transformed for him into living 

 iJesh and blood, and in all that he does, he 

 must be inspired by an esthetic spirit, by a 

 sense of order and neatness, and above all by a 

 desire for the truth." 



J. L. H. 



NOTES ON OCEANOGRAPHY. 



THE NOMENCLATUEE OF SUBMARINE RELIEF. 



At the Berlin International Geographical 

 Congress a committee was appointed to discuss 

 methods of naming the forms of submarine re- 

 lief. That some common system should be 

 adopted is plain, yet a vigorous paper by Dr. A. 

 Supan sustains the thesis that the existing no- 

 menclature is both insufiicient and ill-advised. 

 He proposes an almost wholly new scheme in- 

 tended to remedy these shortcomings (Peter- 

 mann's Geog. Mittheilungen, vol. 45, p. 177, 

 1899, with map). In several important respects 

 his system stands in contrast with the usage 

 which has gradually grown up and has crystal- 

 lized in the maps published by Sir John Murray 

 in the Summary Report of the Challenger Ex- 

 pedition and in Murray's supplementary chart 

 recently printed in the Geographical Journal 

 (Vol. XIV., p. 426, 1899). 



The depressions are, by Murray, in the main 

 generically differentiated and named on a 



purely bathymetric basis, forty-three of them 

 over three thousand fathoms in depth being 

 called ' deeps,' and each of fourteen shallower 

 depressions receiving the name ' basin.' Supan 

 objects to this method and emphasizes the ex- 

 pedience of so naming these forms that their 

 orographic relationships may appear. Thus 

 his ' Atakama-Graben ' is so distinct an oro- 

 graphic unit that it does not seem well to refer 

 to this great trench only under the names of 

 the five ' deeps ' which Murray has mapped off 

 the coast of Chili. Throwing out the term 

 ' deep ' entirely, Supan has used ' Becken ' 

 (basin), ' Graben ' (trough), ' Mulde ' and 

 ' Bucht ' (for which satisfactory translations 

 into English are desired). These are intended 

 to describe all the types of depression yet 

 discovered outside of the continental shelf. 

 They are distinguished by form, not by absolute 

 depth. The principle is a good one ; yet it 

 does not follow that the bathymetric element in 

 our charts should be entirely restricted to what 

 the isobaths tell us. Murray's ' deeps ' are far 

 too interesting and important not to deserve 

 special names, and his sj'stem might well be 

 combined with that of Supan. We think it 

 would be to their mutual benefit. 



The chief difference in the naming of eleva- 

 tions appears in Supan's ' Schwelle ' (Swell) for 

 Murray's ' Plateau ' ; the German term cer- 

 tainly seems the more fitting. 



But a still greater contrast between the two 

 systems subsists in the names given to indi- 

 vidual elevations and depressions. Here again 

 it is a matter of the principle involved. Mur- 

 ray has watched the growth of the older nomen- 

 clature, and, with the traditon of the naturalist 

 in his support, has given preference to names 

 having the priority. These names were given 

 at various times and but slowly. Exploring 

 vessels, commanders and naturalists were com- 

 monly honored in the application of their names 

 to the newly discovered basins, deeps, ridges 

 and plateaus. Supan properly dwells upon the 

 fact that these names give no clue to the loca- 

 tion of the corresponding forms. He, on the 

 other hand, employs the one principle of giving 

 submarine forms names which will relate them 

 at once to well-known parts of the continents 

 or to the grand ocean basins. His ' Fidschi- 



