16 SECOND KEPOKT OF U. S. BOAKD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES. 
or corruptions of names, except where such changes or corruptions 
are considered to be unworthy of perpetuation. 
The Board clearly recognizes that the importance and value of its 
decisions depend upon their general adoption. To change corrupted 
forms back to pure forms, after the corrupted form has been estab- 
lished, is to make a decision which will not be followed. Such deci- 
sions are not merely useless; they are positively harmful. They tend 
not to settle but to unsettle usage. -To restore such names as Port 
Townsend to Port Townshend, Pysht to Psyche, Ozan to Aux anes, 
Low Freight to L'eau frais, Sitka to Shitka, Possum to Opossum, is 
not always possible, however desirable. The aim, therefore, of the 
Board is to discover and support by its decisions the forms in use in 
all cases, except those where specific and positive objections thereto 
are found to exist. That it should always succeed in this aim is obvi- 
ously impossible. Changes are constantly occurring. The Board can 
not if it would, and would not if it could, oppose change. 
The difficulties encountered in carrying out this principle of local 
usage are found mainly in determining what is local usage, or the pre- 
vailing local usage where it is divided between different forms. Where 
the local usage is so divided, opportunity is afforded for the selection 
of the more appropriate and euphonious of the names in use. 
The Board considers it desirable to depart from local usage in certain 
cases in order to effect reforms in nomenclature. Among these depar- 
tures approved by the Board are the following: 
(a) The avoidance, so far as seems practicable, of the possessive form 
of names. 
(b) The dropping of the final "h" in the termination "burgh." 
(c) The abbreviation of "borough "to "boro." 
(d) The spelling of the word "center" as here given. 
(e) The discontinuance of the use of hyphens in connecting parts of 
names. 
(f) The omission wherever practicable of the letters " C. H." (Court- 
House) after the names of county seats. 
(</) The simplification of names consisting of more than one word by 
their combination into one word. 
(h) The avoidance of the use of diacritic characters. 
(i) The dropping of the words "city " and "town " as parts of nanios. 
All of these changes are warranted by the direction of development. 
The possessive form of names is rapidly disappearing, except in rare 
cases where good reason exists for its retention. In most cases this 
is effected by dropping the apostrophe and the final "s." In certain 
cases, however, usage or euphony appears to require the retention of 
the final " s," when the apostrophe only is dropped. 
Concerning the termination "burg" or "burgh," as 1'ittsburg. an 
extensive correspondence has developed the fact that in more than 
