84 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 130. 



themselves, however, the dominating faunal features 

 of the intermediate Jacksonian ought to have car- 

 ried conviction, or nearly that, to the mind of any 

 unprejudiced paleontologist. The Zeugiodontidae, 

 represented (as generally considered) by the two 

 genera Zeuglodon and Squalodon, are thus far posi- 

 tively known (in their earliest forms) only from late 

 eocene or miocene (and oligocene?) deposits; and 

 the only species of the former other than the Ameri- 

 can forms, and those obtained by Schweinfurth from 

 Birket-el-Keroun (and recently referred by Dames to 

 the eocene or oligocene horizon), is a member of the 

 same group of deposits (the Bartonian) which in 

 England correspond in position wilh the Jackson 

 beds; i.e., overlie the Parisian (equal Claibornian). 

 In that which relates to the oligocene (Orbitoide, 

 Nummulite) rock of the peninsula of Florida, whose 

 existence appears to give Dr. Meyer a considerable 

 amount of anxiety, and which would better suit the 

 requirements of the new theory were it cretaceous, 

 our author need entertain no doubts : the rock is 

 there, and has recently been found in several other 

 localities which were not known at the time the 

 mapping for my book was executed. No amount of 

 chastising of Orbitoides will efface the testimony 

 which it has unguardedly left behind. 



I fully agree witb Professor Hilgard as to the value 

 of tracing derivative relaiionsbips between the spe- 

 cies of the different formations, ^ a field of inquiry 

 which I entered some years ago, but from which I 

 have thus far drawn but barren fruit. In such in- 

 quiry it is necessary, however, to know the relative 

 positions of the different deposits with which one is 

 dealing, and not to proceed, as Dr. Meyer has done, 

 from top to bottom, believing that top was bottom, 

 and bottom top. Some curious evolutionary results 

 might arise from this novel method of procedure. 



For the rest, I need only reiterate my warning to 

 geologists and paleontologists against the acceptance 

 of the vagaries which are set forth in the two ailicles 

 before us. Having given attentive study to the fos- 

 sils from the region in question for a period extend- 

 ing over six years, and with the types of by far the 

 greater number of species that have ever been de- 

 scribed from the formation under my oyes and under 

 my charge, I can say that those portions of Dr. Mey- 

 er's papeis which relates to systematic paleontology 

 are of about equal value with the geological, and clear- 

 ly show that the author has not yet even found time 

 to identify the numerous species which he is discuss- 

 ing. Pseudo-science of the kind to which we are here 

 treated should be exposed. Angelo Heilpkin. 



Academy of natural sciences, Philadelphia, July 20. 



The etymology of 'ginkgo.' 



Mr. Lester F. Ward, in a note to his paper on the 

 ginkgo-tree (Science, v. 495, June 19, 1885), says, 

 " The orthography of this word ['ginkgo '] is not set- 

 tled. Linne wrote ' ginkgo,' as did also, apparently, 

 Kaempfer before him ('Amoenitat. exotic.,' 1712), 

 and as all botanists since have done, and do still; but 

 nearly all lexicographers reverse the consonants, and 

 write ' gingko.' ... In the supplement to Webster's 

 dictionary the word is said to signify 'silver fruit;' 

 and it would seem that the etymology ought to deter- 

 mine the orthography." 



The first use of the word ginkgo occurs in Kaemp- 

 fer's ' Amoenitatefis exoticae,' p. 811, where he says, 



" ^ ^ Ginkgo, vel gin an, vulgo itsjb. Arbor 



nucifera folio adiantino." And then he adds a page 



of detailed description, and a page of figures of the 

 leaves and fruit. He gives the two Chinese charac- 

 ters that are still used for the fruit in Japan: they 

 are pronounced by two different methods, according 

 to two provincial pronunciations brought to Japan 

 long ago, and corrupted there, — either ginkiyoo (not 

 the common English oo, but each o long, or as in 

 'oolite;' and \h.e g as in 'give,' of course), or, much 

 more commonly, ginnan ; and they mean ' silver 

 apricot,' or 'silver almond.' 

 It is plain that. Kaempfer' s ginkgo was a misprint 



for ginkjoo ; since the second character ( ;^ ) is also 



given by him on p. 798 for the apricot, and transliter- 

 ated kjoo, — a very reasonable way to write it, with 

 the German sound of j, and the long o doubled, as 

 actually pronounced. Undoubtedly, the last syllable 

 of the word was written in the same way at p. 811; 

 but, in printing, it became kgo, and the error has 

 been sacredly perpetuated until the present time. 



The word ginnan (the first n is doubled in pronun- 

 ciation) is likewise misprinted, on p. 812, 'ginnau.' 



Instead of ginkiyoo, or ginnan, the name of the 

 fruit, the tree is called in Japan ichoo (two long o's, 

 as before, not the English oo, but the cli as in Eng- 

 lish), and that is what Kaempfer writes itfgo. 



Thunberg ('Flora japonica,' 1784, p. 358), probably 

 guided by his own ear, in amendment of Kaempfer, 

 writes the name ginko, which represents a third less 

 common Japanese pronunciation of the second sylla- 

 ble, koo, with two long o's; and he speaks of the 

 great size of the tree, comparing the thickness of 

 the trunk to oaks. Possibly the evident errors of 

 the Linnean name in spelling, pronunciation, and 

 meaning (signifying the fruit rather than the tree, 

 though Dr. Williams's dictionary says the same name 

 is in China given also to the tree ; and it is in Japan, 

 too, sometimes given to the fruit-bearing sex of it), 

 may be considered strong arguments in favor of the 

 name 'Salisburia; ' or, perhaps better, in favor of 

 Thunberg' s reform of the orthography — if that be 

 not treading on altogether too holy ground. 



Kaempfer pointed out the resemblance of the leaf 

 to Adiantum, not only on p. 811, but again in the de- 

 tailed description on the next page. 



My copy of Kaempfer has an old manuscript note, 

 as follows, — " 1758. See this plant in Mr. James 

 Gordon's garden at Mile End, London," — showing 

 that the tree was very early introduced in Europe. 



The tree sometimes grows to a very large size, and 

 there was one about five feet in diameter in my gar- 

 den at Yedo, on high ground; but damp soil is said 

 to be its preference. The juice of the thick pulp 

 outside the nut is very astringent, and is used in 

 making a somewhat waterproof, tough paper, and a 

 preservative black Avash for fences and buildings. 

 The meat of the nut is cooked and eaten. 



Bejstj. Smith Lyman. 



Northampton, Mass. 



THE RECENT LAND-SLIDE IN THE 

 WHITE MOUNTAINS. 



Between Jeflferson and the well-known Fa- 

 b^^an House, in the White Mountains of New 

 Hampshire, is an oblong elevation of thirty-six 

 hundred feet above the sea, known as Cherry 

 Mountain. It is about seven miles in length 



