594 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1087 



raphy. The shores of these islands include 

 almost every variety of type, and furnish 

 exceptional opportunities for research of 

 a profitable character, especially as lying 

 on the border-line between the domain of 

 the oeeanographer on the one hand and the 

 physiographer on the other. The precise 

 methods of representation which are pos- 

 sible on the land have to give way to a 

 more generalized treatment over the sea, 

 and the shore line is liable to be handed 

 over to the latter sphere, so that there is 

 much interesting and useful work open to 

 any one who will make an accurate and 

 detailed study of a selected piece of coast- 

 line, coordinating it with the phenomena 

 of the land and sea, respectively. 



The teaching of Professor Davis in 

 pressing for the employment of systematic 

 methods in describing the landscapes with 

 which the geographer has to deal has 

 brought about a more rational treatment, 

 in which due recognition is given to the 

 structure of the area, and the processes 

 which have moulded it, so that land forms 

 are now for the most part described more 

 or less adequately in terms which are 

 familiar to all geographers and which con- 

 vey definite associated ideas, in the light 

 of which the particular description is ade- 

 quately appreciated. It has been urged 

 by some that such technical terms are un- 

 necessary and serve to render the writings 

 in which they occur intelligible only to the 

 few ; that any one should be able to express 

 his meaning in words and sentences which 

 will convey his meaning to all. There is 

 no great difficulty in doing this, but in 

 such descriptions to convey all that a tech- 

 nically worded account can give to those 

 who understand its terms would be long 

 and involved on account of the numerous 

 related facts which would be included. It 

 is consequently essential in all accurate 

 work that certain terms should have very 



definite and restricted meanings, and such 

 technical terms, when suitably chosen, are 

 not only convenient in that they avoid 

 circumlocution, but when used in the ac- 

 cepted sense at once suggest to the mind 

 a whole series of related and dependent 

 conditions which are always 'associated 

 with it. 



The compilation of a glossary of geo- 

 graphical terms has been in progress in 

 this country for many years without hav- 

 ing reached finality, and much of the diffi- 

 culty which has been experienced is doubt- 

 less due to the fact that so many words 

 have not been consistently used with a well- 

 defined meaning. Such looseness of ex- 

 pression is more liable to occur in the case 

 of foreign words which have been im- 

 ported in the first case by writers who are 

 not scientifically trained, and therefore do 

 not use them in connection with a specified 

 set of conditions. This, however, is unim- 

 portant if only scientific geographers, when 

 they accept a term as a desirable addition 

 to the geographical vocabulary, will asso- 

 ciate it definitely with such conditions and 

 use it consistently in that connection. As 

 an instance I may quote the word ' ' sadd, ' ' 

 which etymologically means to block, or 

 stop. This term was naturally and rea- 

 sonably used to indicate masses of up- 

 rooted marsh vegetation which had been 

 carried along by the current and, if checked 

 at a sharp bend or a narrow point of the 

 stream, blocked the channel. So long as 

 it is used in this restricted sense it is a 

 useful term to describe a phenomenon 

 which occurs under certain definite condi- 

 tions and which leads to equally well-de- 

 fined geographical results. This use of it 

 is associated with a meandering river- 

 channel in an alluvial flood plain, where 

 shallow lagoons occur, in which such marsh 

 vegetation grows luxuriantly; when this 

 vegetation is uprooted by storms and car- 



