968 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 860 



' ' On Doppler 's Principle in Connection with 

 the Study of the Radial Velocities on the Sun," 

 A. Cotton. 



"On the Magnetic Separation of the Spectral 

 Lines of Calcium and Strontium," B. E. Moore. 



' ' On the Badiation of the Companion of 

 Algol, ' ' Joel Stebbms. 



' ' On Regularities in the Spectrum of Neon, ' ' 

 Herbert Edmeston Watson. 



' ' Application of the Interference Method to 

 the Study of NebulK, ' ' Ch. Fabry and H. Buisson. 



' ' Observations of Nova Lacertas at the Terkes 

 Observatory, ' ' Edwin B. Frost. 



"Photographic Determinations of Stellar Par- 

 allax made with the Terkes Refractor. ' ' VI., 

 Frank Schlesinger. 



The June issue of the Journal of Compara- 

 tive Neurology contains the following articles: 



' ' The Evolution of the Sympathetic Nervous 

 System in Vertebrates, ' ' Albert Kuntz. 



' ' The Olfactory Nerve and the Nervous Ter- 

 minalis of Ameiurus, " Charles Brookover and 

 Theron S. Jackson. 



"The Nervus Terminalis in Urodele Am- 

 phibia," Paul S. McKibben. 



' ' Localization of the Motor Area in the Sheep 's 

 Brain by the Histological Method," Jessie L. 

 King. 



FEE-COLUMBIAN SEFEBENCES TO MAIZE 

 IN PEBSIAN LITEEATUBE 



That maize is of American origin is no 

 longer a disputed question, but the discussion 

 of the possibility of its having been known 

 in Europe and in the east before the discovery 

 of America by Columbus is by no means 

 closed. 



There was much written on this subject in 

 the first quarter of the nineteenth century, 

 and one of the historical references to which 

 much importance was attached is an alleged 

 mention of reus by Mirkhond, a Persian his- 

 torian of the fifteenth century (1433-1498). 

 The authority for the existence of such men- 

 tion by Mirkhond is Herbelot, an orientalist 

 of note, who uses the word rous as syn- 

 onymous with hie de Turquie, which was a 

 name for maize in common use at the time.' 



'Maize: A Botanical and Eco- 

 nomic Study, ' ' University of Pennsylvania, Con- 

 tributions from the Botanical Laboratory, Vol. 1, 



Under the word Rous, in the " Bibliotheque 

 orientale," Herbelot says (italics ours) : 

 " Ecus. Name of the eighth son of Japhet, 

 son of Noah, from whom Russia, which we 

 now call Muscovy, has taken its name. Mirk- 

 hond wrote in the genealogy which he has 

 given us of the Mogols, ancestors of Jenghiz 

 Khan, that Rous was of a very different dis- 

 position from his brother Khozar ... so that 

 Khozar was obliged, in order to live in peace 

 with his brother to yield to him all the islands 

 of this great river (Volga) which empties into 

 the Sea of Khozar which we call Caspian. 

 Rous sowed in all these islands the wheat 

 which we call de Turquie and which the 

 Turks stm call, to-day, in their language, by 

 the name of rous and boulgar." ° 



Bonafous, in his monumental work on. 

 maize quotes the above and says (italics ours) : 

 " The celebrated orientalist, Herbelot, refers 

 to a passage from Mirkhond, a Persian his- 

 torian of the fifteenth century of which the 

 translation, if it is exact, would leave no 

 douit that maize was hnown in the Old World 

 hefore the discovery of the New." ^ Bonafous 

 proceeds to say, however, that after an exam- 

 ination of the text of Mirkhond, at the place 



p. 89 ; Browne, ' ' Maize or Indian Corn, ' ' Amer- 

 ican Institute, Annual Report, Vol. 5, 1847, p. 412. 



^ ' ' Rous. Nom du huitieme fils de Japhet, fils de 

 Noe, duquel la Russie, que nous appellons au- 

 jourd'hui Moscovie, a pris son nom. Mirkhond 

 eerit, dans la gemealogie qu 'il nous a donnee des 

 Mogols, aneetres de Ginghizkhan, que Rous etoit 

 d'une humeur bien opposee a eelle de son frere 

 Elhozar, ... en sorte que Khozar fut oblige, pour 

 vivre en paix avec son frere, de lui ceder toutes 

 les isles de ce grand fleuve qui se decharge dans 

 \^ mer de Khozar, que nous appellons Caspienne. 

 Rous fit semer dans toutes ees isles le hied que 

 nous appellons de Turquie, et que les Turcs appel- 

 lent encore aujourd'huy en leur langue du nom 

 de rous & boulgar." (Herbelot, "Bibliotheque 

 orientale," 1777-78, Vol 3, p. 137.) 



^"Le celebre orientaliste d 'Herbelot rapporte 

 im passage de Mirkhond, historien persan du 

 quinzieme siecle, dont la version, si elle est exacte, 

 ne laisserait pas douter que le mdis n'etait connu 

 dans I'Ancien-monde avant la decouverte du 

 Nouveau." (Bonafous, "Histoire naturelle da 

 Mais," 1836, p. 22.) 



