NOVEMBEE 6, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



683 



ber of Spanish- American topograpliic terms 

 are now brought together by R. T. Hill, 

 who illustrates their value by using them 

 in a few sample descriptions {Nat. Geogr. 

 Mag., yiL, 1896,291-302): ''An appro- 

 priate generic term should be provided for 

 every possible form of the earth's surface, 

 so that when referred to it may be as readily 

 recognized as are the parts of a building in 

 an architectural description." 



It is to be noted that the terms quoted by 

 Hill are purely empirical, connoting in 

 their original usage no explanation, al- 

 though Hill now gives them certain physio- 

 graphic limitations. They are thus like 

 delta, atoll and drumlin, and are quite unlike 

 anarregmatic and heteroptygmatic, invented by 

 Lowl ; anaclinal and cataclinal, proposed by 

 Powell, and beheadland and inface, of other 

 authors. The precise definition of the 

 Spanish-American terms by an expert fa- 

 miliar with the ground is a valuable contri- 

 bution to exact geography ; but it is ques- 

 tionable whether a wholesale introduction 

 of foreign words from a single language (if 

 this be contemplated) is desirable in reports 

 on our western country, where such terms 

 may have a certain currency. Instead of 

 adopting Spanish-American words, let us 

 imitate their methods and evolve our own 

 words ; or let us be more cosmopolitan and 

 take appropriate words from many lan- 

 guages. For the Spanish teta, the Scotch 

 have pap ; for huerfano, there is the French 

 temoin, if our own outlier does not suffice ; 

 for caleta, we could import beck or gill, from 

 north England ; for plaza, there is the 

 Hindu khadar, or the Scotch strath, and so 

 with many others. The chief advantage of 

 foreign words is that they are to us mean- 

 ingless, except in their special use. This 

 advantage is indeed shared by terms like 

 symptygmatic, diaclinal and obsequent; yet 

 such terms are for some reason hardly used 

 by others than their inventors. After all, 

 terms will grow rapidly enough if we have 



term-users, studious observers of the face of 

 the earth. Without these the richest 

 terminology is of no avail. 



MATURE AND IMMATURE GEOGRAPHY. 



The current style of geographical descrip- 

 tion is essentially immature, in that it differs 

 from the geography of school years in 

 quantity rather than in quality. There is 

 no reproach in designating the geography 

 appropriate to school children as ' childish, - 

 but it is a reproach to the science of geo- 

 graphy to find so great a quantity of ma- 

 terial not beyond childish quality in geo- 

 graphical journals intended for mature 

 readers. The general phrasing is, of course, 

 more mature than that adapted to school 

 use, but the geographical terms are hardly 

 increased beyond the small stock gathered 

 from elementary text-books, and the rela- 

 tion of earth and man often has to be in- 

 ferred by the reader from the diverse and 

 disconnected facts reported by the writer. 

 Mountains and valleys, plains and plateaus, 

 rivers and lakes ; high and low, broad and 

 narrow, imposing and tame, fertile and bar- 

 ren — these are fair samples of the nouns 

 and adjectives used by explorers in describ- 

 ing the varied features of the land. Mani- 

 fest relations, such as the avoidance of rug- 

 ged mountains and the occupation of fertile 

 valleys, the location of trails over passes, 

 the migration of wandering tribes with the 

 seasons, are commonly enough stated expli- 

 citly, as they might be in an elementary 

 school book; but the more advanced dis- 

 cussion of the relation of earth and man is 

 seldom consciously undertaken. 



It is plain that the advance of geography 

 to a mature stage, appropriate to the age of 

 adult students, explorers and readers, re- 

 quires serious preparatory discipline in vari- 

 ous directions : First, in the systematic, 

 scientific study of land and water forms, so 

 that new examples of known kinds may be 

 easily recognized and briefly named, and 



