July 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



51 



omer Airy in 1827. Bifocals were invented 

 and first used by Benjamin Franklin, 1785. 

 As to the selection of the appropriate lenses, 

 this was at first done by the peddlers who sold 

 them. Physicians for a long time paid no 

 attention to it. Even after the epochal work 

 of the astronomer Kepler had opened a new 

 era in optics by demonstrating the physiology 

 of the act of vision, 1604, physicians main- 

 tained their reserved attitude and considered 

 it below the dignity of their profession to have 

 anything to do with the selection of glasses. 

 It was only in the middle of the last century 

 that the change took place. This was due 

 mainly to the labors of Helmholtz and Bon- 

 ders, who laid the foundation for the adjust- 

 ment of lenses according to mathematical 

 and optical principles. The invention of the 

 ophthalmoscope, by which the refraction can 

 be determined objectively; of the ophthal- 

 mometer, which measures the astigmatism of 

 the cornea; and the introduction of remedies, 

 by which the accommodation can be paralyzed 

 followed in rapid succession. By means of 

 these instruments and methods of precision, 

 the medical adviser is governed by well-estab- 

 lished laws in the selection of spectacles, and 

 this now belongs to the domain of science. 

 The lecture was illustrated by a number of 

 copies of old paintings and by drawings. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



GEO-BIOLOGICAL TEEMS. 



The fundamental idea of Mos is not con- 

 veyed by the new terms proposed by Dr. Dall 

 in Science (No. 494) for indicating collec- 

 tively * land and fresh-water organisms.' By 

 analogy with Leibnitz's protogaa, or the 

 primordial world, epigasa would apply to the 

 superficies of the earth, and the literal mean- 

 ing of namatogaea is ' stream-world.' Cor- 

 rectly formed substantives are geobios and 

 limnobios, proposed by Haeckel as the equiva- 

 lents of terrestrial and fresh-water faunae re- 

 spectively. These may be readily combined 

 in GEO-LiMNOBios ; or, if an adjective form is 

 desired, aqua-terrestrial, or compounds of 

 terrestris with mare, fluvius, lacus, etc., sug- 

 gest themselves. Aqua having the general 



significance of fresh water (aqua pluvia, aqua 

 fontana, aqua ccelestis, etc.) as opposed to 

 salt, the distinction between aqua-terrestrial 

 and marino-terrestrial is sufficiently obvious. 

 Shorter than any- of these, however, is the 

 Greek adjective form, Geo-limnous. 



Those who are in the habit of following the 

 discussion of neologisms in Science may recall 

 the sprightly flow of opinion that continued 

 for some time in these columns (Vols. V. and 

 VI.) in regard to certain physiographic ex- 

 travaganza, such as ' Shickshinnies ' for syn- 

 clinal valleys, ' remolino ' for pot-hole, ' cuesta ' 

 for hill-slope, etc. If we may be forgiven for 

 appearing ironical, it deserves to be pointed 

 out that some of the more euphuistic of the 

 terms proposed about that time are preoccu- 

 pied. For instance, a round dozen of soft 

 Spanish exotics were imported by Arthur 

 Schott upwards of fifty years ago (Proc. A. 

 A. A. S., 1856, p. 33), but for some reason 

 they failed to germinate. Priority, strictly 

 enforced, might quicken them with new life; 

 then pot-hole, or ' remolino,' would acquire 

 the chastened form of tinaja, the homely but 

 expressive ' sink ' would give way to charco, 

 and base-level to loma. The first of these is 

 defined as ' a water-hole in solid rock, usually 

 met with in crevices and ravines of rocky 

 mountains.' Charco is a name given to 

 " water-pools found usually in lower and level 

 places. They are formed either by the decay 

 of rocks or by washing out of beds of clay." 

 Loma is ' a long narrow mountain or hill- 

 ridge, with a level horizon.' 



0. R. Eastman. 



Harvard University. 



A reply to certain criticisms of professor 



GIARD respecting THE BOPYRIDS. 



Peofessoe Alfred Giard, a master in the 

 knowledge of the Bopyridae, has done me the 

 favor to examine and criticize the results of 

 my recent studies on that group.* Professor 

 Giard has aptly affirmed that a copy of Bon- 

 nier's volume ' Contribution a I'etude des 

 Bopyridse ' (a)t ought to be found in Wash- 



* See G. R. Soe. de Biologic, LVI., 1904, April 

 22, pp. .591-594. 



t The letters in parentheses refer to the bibliog- 

 raphy at the end of the article. 



