December i^, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



299 



only true and genuine edition of Richard de Bury's treatise. All 

 the early printed editions, without exception, have been found full 

 of errors, and the trnnslations based upon them are of course in- 

 correct. The new book will be furnished to subscribers as soon as 

 it can be properly done, about April i, 1889. Subscriptions will 

 be received up to the lolh of January next, when the lists will be 

 closed, and the printing proceeded with without delay. 



— The Atlantic Monthly for 1889 (published by Houghton, Mif- 

 flin, & Co.) will contain in addition to the short stories, essays, 

 sketches, pcetry, and ciiticism, three serial stories, — 'The Tragic 

 Muse,' by Henry James ; ' The Begum's Daughter,' by Edward L 

 Bynner; and 'Passe Rose,' by Arthur Sherburne Hardy (this 

 story began in the September number, and will continue until 

 April). American subjects will be discussed by Mr. John Fiske, 

 whose articles on these topics are equally thoughtful and engaging. 

 Several novelettes, in two and three parts, will appear during the 

 year. From time to time The /lllantic has contained important 

 papers on topics relating to education, by men of large experience 

 and of exceptional ability to discuss educational principles and 

 methods. It will contain similar papers in the future, as iinportant 

 questions shall arise; also occasional poems by John G. Whittier, 

 essays and poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes, occasional papers 

 and poems by Jaines Russell Lowell, and several poems by Thomas 

 Bailey Aldrich. Contributions during the year 1889 may be ex- 

 pected from John G. Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James 

 Russell Lowell, Francis Parkman, Charles Eliot Norton, "T. W. 

 Parsons, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, P. G. Hamerton, Charles 

 Dudley Warner, E. C. Stedman, F. Marion Crawford, Harriet W. 

 Preston, Sarah Orne Jewett, ' Charles Egbert Craddock,' Mrs. L. 

 C. Wyman, Edith .M. Thomas, Horace E. Scudder, J. P. Ouincy, 

 George E. Woodberry, Herbert Tuttle, William C. Lawton, George 

 Frederic Parsons, Maurice Thompson, Lucy Larcom, Celia Tha.x- 

 ter, Julia C. R. Dorr, Agnes Repplier, Olive Thorne Miller, Brad- 

 ford Torrey, Percival Lowell, Octave Thanet, Margaret Deland, 

 and many others. The Andover Revieiv (published by the same 

 firm) is a religious and theological review, under the editorial con- 

 trol of Professors Smyth, Tucker, Churchill, Harris, and Hincks, 

 of the Andover Theological Seminary. The November and De- 

 cember (18S8) numbers of both magazines will be sent free of 

 charge to new subscribers for 1889 whose subscriptions are re- 

 ceived before Dec. 20. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. publish also The 

 Journal of American Folk-Lore, a quarterly magazine, each num- 

 ber containing about ninety-six pages, octavo, edited by Dr. Franz 

 Boas of New York ; Prof. T. F. Crane of Cornell University ; the 

 Rev. J. Owen Dorsey of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 

 D.C. ; and Mr. W. W. Newell of Cambridge, Mass., general editor. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*J^Corresponde}its are requested to be as brief as possible. The writer's navte is 

 in alt cases required as proo/ o/ good faith. 



Twenty copies of the number containing /lis communication wi/i be furnished 

 free to any correspondent on request. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 0/ 

 the journal. 



The Moon's Light for Geodetic Signals. — Electric Storms on 

 High Peaks in Nevada and Utah. 



Trials of the moon's light with a view of determining its effec- 

 tiveness for signals in the primary triangulation of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey were undertaken by William Eimbeck, assistant 

 in the survey, in 1883, at Pioche station, Nevada. The results ob- 

 tained over a line of twenty-tw'o miles in length were sufficiently 

 promising to warrant a resumption of the experiments over longer 

 lines. 



In 18S7 the occupation of Mount Nebo — a station of the trans- 

 continental triangulation in central L'tah, at an elevation of twelve 

 thousand feet above sea-level — afforded the desired opportunity. 

 At three of the stations of the triangulation connecting with .Mount 

 Nebo the heliotropers were duly instructed to show the moon's 

 light for two hours continuously between the 29th of June antl the 

 4th of July, the moon's age between these dates ranging from first 

 quarter to full nioon. They were to begin during twilight, or about 

 forty-fi\e minutes after sunset, and to substitute for their heliotrope- 

 mirrors reflf ct'irs of extra size, proportioned to the length of the 



respective lines of sight. These were forty-eight statute miles to 

 Draper, seventy to Onaqui, and ninety-seven to Ogden ; and the 

 diameter of the mirrors ranged from six to eight inches at Draper, 

 eight to ten inches at Onaqui, and twelve to eighteen inches at 

 Ogden. 



The atmospheric conditions proved unfavorable, high winds, a 

 murky atmosphere, and a decidedly hazy sky prevailing, except 

 upon the nights of the 2d and 3d of July, when the lights from the 

 selenotropes at Draper and Onaqui were plainly visible in the illu- 

 minated field of the telescope. Distinctness and steadiness were 

 the most striking characteristics of these signals. They shone as 

 mere dots of white light, and, for precise pointing, were of ideal 

 perfection. The light at Ogden was not seen. 



Mr. Limbeck's conclusion from these trials is, that during a 

 period of from twelve to fifteen days in each lunation the moon's 

 light can be used to much advantage for geodetic signals in the al- 

 titudes of the arid regions of the interior, upon lines trending in all 

 directions, if they do not exceed about fifty miles in length. 



Referring to the electric thunder-storms that prevail in the higher 

 mountains of Nevada and Utah during July and August, and not 

 unfre(|uently hover about the King Peaks for days in succession, 

 Mr. Eimbeck observes that these storms are at times very severe, 

 and not without danger. They were especially so towards the 

 close of the occupation of Mount Nebo in July, and also at Tushar 

 and Jeff Davis Peaks, lasting for over seven days. The violence 

 of the electric exhibitions, and the almost constant detonations of 

 the discharges of electricity, were so grand and overpowering that 

 the parties of heliotropers stationed at Tushar and Jeff Davis Peak 

 abandoned their stations in alarm for their lives. Those at Tushar 

 returned after the storm had abated, but those who had been at Jeff 

 Davis Peak (13,100 feet in height) refused. 



The effect of these storms upon experienced officers of the sur- 

 vey is to produce a great strain upon the nervous system, and the 

 sudden fall of temperature with which they are attended is a source 

 of much physical discomfort. With the mercury almost down to 

 freezing-point and an atmosphere of moist iciness, the body be- 

 comes benumbed, and the mind sluggish. There is also the ap- 

 prehension, not without reason, of instant death by lightning. The 

 summit of one of the peaks was often struck, and also the tent oc- 

 cupied by the men, but fortunately at a time when no one was in 

 it. Edward Goodfellow. 



Washington, D.C, Dec. 5. 



Answers. 

 40. FELSP.'iR, OR Feldspar? — This mineral name seems to 

 have been first used by Wallerius in 1747, in his ' Mineralogia." in 

 the form ' felt-spat,' meaning field-spar. The early German form 

 was ' feld-spath.' In the appendix to the English translation of 

 Cronstedt's 'Mineralogy' (p. 8) we have it 'field-spar.' In Ed- 

 wards's ' Fossilogy,' 1776, we have (p. 54) ' feltspat,' going back 

 to the Swedish form. Kirwan, in 1784, 'Mineralogy' ("p. 124), 

 has the form ' felt-spar.' In the second edition of his ' Miner- 

 alogy,' however (1794, vol. i. p. 317), Kirwan has the following 

 note; "This name seems to me derived ixomfeh ( ' a rock 'j, it 

 being commonly found in granites, and not hom/eld ('a field ') ; 

 and hence I write it thus, 'felspar.' " This unwarrantable assump- 

 tion of Kirwan was followed by later writers, and so the corruption 

 came into use. In Schmeisser's ' Mineralogy ' (1795, vol. i. p. 131) 

 we have only 'feldspar.' Jameson (.1804, vol. i. p. 275) says 

 ' felspar,' but in a footnote, " More properly ' feldspar." " Phillips, 

 in his first edition, gives both derivations, i.e., horn feld AnA/els, 

 but in the later editions only from the former. Cleaveland (1S22) 

 uses 'feldspar,' while Thomson (in 1S36) says 'felspar.' In 

 Dana's 'Mineralogy' (fifth edition, 1 868, p. 352) we find, "Feld- 

 spath, Germ.; feldspar. Engl.; felspar, bad orihogr," Webster's, 

 Worcester's, Stormouth's, and Skeat's Dictionaries derive the word 

 from '/<A/spath,' though both spellings are given. It is clear, 

 therefore, that the original word was ' feldspar,' and that ' felspar ' 

 is a corruption from a mistaken idea of its origin. But the latter 

 has been used so much, and for so long, that it has its place in the 

 language, and no one who prefers it can be criticised for using it. 



Albert H. Chester. 



H.imiIton College. Clinton. X V., Dec. 10. 



