748 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 593. 



sequently, nothing is left of de Vries's muta- 

 tion theory but the bare facts represented by 

 his experiments, which, indeed, are valuable 

 for the study of variation, but belong to a 

 class that was already known to Darwin when 

 he wrote his ' Origin of Species ' and ' Varia- 

 tion under Domestication.' For the rest, I 

 do not see that there is anything in the muta- 

 tion theory which might advance our gen- 

 eral knowledge of the factors cooperating in 

 evolution. 



A. E. Ortmann. 

 Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg, Pa., 

 April 26, 1906. 



MISREPRESENTATIONS OF NATURE IN POPULAR 

 MAGAZINES. 



From the numerous and conspicuous mis- 

 takes made by the popular magazines when 

 treating of geographical and geological sub- 

 jects it would appear that there is occasion 

 for more careful editing by men conversant 

 with scientific afPairs. 



Many of the mistakes are more than simply 

 inaccuracies of statement or occasional exag- 

 geration. They are often the most conspicu- 

 ous thing in the magazine. 



Take, for example, the finely colored full- 

 page picture in the Century (Vol. XLVIL, 

 p. 553) entitled ' Sulphur Deposits at the 

 Crater Vesuvius.' The fact is that there are 

 no sulphur deposits at Vesuvius. Not only 

 are there no deposits, but even a trace of 

 sulphur is difiicult to find. Unless the volcano 

 changes its chemistry to accord with the 

 Century there will be none from this last 

 eruption. The artist evidently mistook the 

 lava which had been bleached by chlorine to 

 be sulphur; the editor allowed the mistake to 

 pass; and all who gain their idea of Vesuvius 

 from that source will have much to unlearn 

 when they hear the facts. 



The Outing Magazine, edited by men who 

 have more than an indoor acquaintance with 

 nature, begins this year with a frontispiece 

 (January number) entitled ' Bridger was the 

 first man to gaze on the Great Salt Lake' and 

 represents Bridger standing on the shore while 

 his horse, with nose deep in the lake, is eagerly 

 drinking! We have seen many wonderful 



bronchos, but never one that could drink the 

 water of Salt Lake. 



A well-written article in McClure's (Vol. 

 XXV., p. 504) is illustrated by many pictures 

 of the Grand Canon of the Colorado. The 

 coloring was evidently done by one who had 

 never seen the region. It entirely misrepre- 

 sents the canon and must have annoyed the 

 artist. But even the drawing gives a wrong 

 impression of the greatest of canons, just as 

 would a picture of Broadway or of State 

 Street which represented the high buildings 

 sloping towards each other across the street. 

 There are no narrow gorges in the canon such 

 as those pictured. This style of illustration 

 is a recurrence of the type of picture fur- 

 nished by Eglofistein in 185T for the Ives 

 Eeport published by the United States gov- 

 ernment. It was hoped that misrepresenta- 

 tions of that character would end with that 

 century. 



Nature is as interesting and impressive as 

 are exaggeration and misrepresentation. A 

 picture may have the educational value of 

 many pages of sentences, since it so readily 

 catches the eye. Many people will see a pic- 

 ture, while few read the text. Consequently 

 it is important that pictures should represent 

 facts and it behooves the popular magazines 

 to have not only careful literary, but scien- 

 tific editing as well. 



A. E. Crook. 



ALLUVIAL SLOPES. 



One of the commonest topographic features 

 of the western part of the United States, par- 

 ticularly of the arid west, is the characteristic 

 sloping plain which fringes the flanks of the 

 mountain ranges and is formed by coalescent 

 alluvial fans. Many terms have been used 

 to denote this sloping plain, among which are : 

 alluvial slope, alluvial apron, alluvial pied- 

 mont plain, compound alluvial fan, wash 

 apron, debris apron, detrital slope, wash plain, 

 out-wash plain, foot slope, aggradation plain, 

 boulder wash plain and others. It seems de- 

 sirable that such a typical feature should bear 

 a more specific appellation. The consensus 

 of opinion of the geologists of the United 



