JlAY 3, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



489 



Kercha. The two latter are small streams 

 flowing, one into the Persian Gulf, and one 

 into the Schott el Arab, near the ancient 

 mouth of the Tigris, both east of it. 



Though Professor Haupt supports his 

 opinion with his customary depth of erudi- 

 tion, I doubt if it will be adopted. That 

 part of Genesis was written by the Hebrew 

 author about CSO B. C, and at that pei-iod 

 he certainly knew what he was talking 

 about when he mentioned the Gihon and 

 identified it with the river ISTile. Professor 

 Haupt's former theory, which recognized 

 this, seems much more plausible. 



But all such theories do not touch the 

 kernel of the question. The mj-th of the 

 Paradise, watered by its four streams, is 

 found in native American mythologies as 

 prominently as in those of the Old World : 

 and uo explanation is valid which does not 

 apply to both continents. 



The true inter^^retation is that the four 

 streams refer to the four cardinal points 

 and the four winds, the rain bringers. Thej' 

 are the cosmic and celestial causes of the 

 weather and its changes, and hence of fer- 

 tility and growth. It were easy to prove 

 this by abundant examples. The Hebrew- 

 realist merely endeavored to transport the 

 ancient mj-th iuto terrestial geography. 

 D. G. Brixtox. 



Univebsitv of Pennsylvania. 



JAMES D. DANA. 



We cannot pay a tribute to the memory 

 of Dana more appropriate than the letter 

 addressed to him by a number of his older 

 colleagues on his eightieth birthday and 

 communicated by Prof. George P. Fisher to 

 the Evening Post. 



New Haven, February 12, 189.3. 



Dear Prof. Dana : Having had the pri- 

 vilege for many yeai-s, of being associated 

 with you as colleagues at Yale, we wish to 

 bring you our cordial congratulations ou the 

 occasion of your eightieth birthday. 



It gives great pleasure to your friends 

 that after so extended a period of incessant 

 and most faithful activity you are still able 

 with unimpaired mental vigor to carry for- 

 ward the studies which have contributed so 

 much to the advancement of science and 

 have conferred so great distinction, not on 

 j'ourself alone, but equally on the Univer- 

 sity and on the country. 



We recall the circumstance that it was only 

 four years after your graduation, in 18.33, 

 that the first edition of your work on miner- 

 alogj', a ^\ork which has remained a classic 

 to this day, was issued. Two years later 

 you embarked ou the voyage of discovery, 

 undertaken under the auspices of the 

 government by the American Exploring 

 Expedition, and during four industrious 

 years collected the materials for the subse- 

 quent rei^orts on geology, mineralogy, corals 

 and Crustacea, which established your repu- 

 tation at home and abroad as a scientific 

 man of distinguished ability. 



It is now well-nigh half a century since 

 you entered upon your labors as an editor 

 of the American Journal of Science, your name 

 having first appeared on the title-page of 

 the journal in 1846. The long series of 

 volumes of this periodical are a noble mon- 

 ument of the extent and thoroughness of 

 your labors as a naturalist. 



It is in truth surprising that in connec- 

 tion with this continuous employment and 

 with your work as professor you have been 

 able to send forth from the press, in succes- 

 sive editions, the elaborate text-books and 

 other writings, the solid excellence of which 

 is everywhere recognized. 



We cannot revert without admiration to 

 the universally broad field of scientific in- 

 vestigation in which you have maintained 

 your place as an acknowledged master. 



It would be a signal achievement for any 

 man to hold this position as regards geol- 

 ogj', and the branches of zoology connected 

 with it ; but when, as in your case, the sci- 



