The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-06-26
uew NAMES eY Authority
omci.i Tinheripg with Geographical
Nomenclature nj Homo and Aesoai.

I well done, SurprLSD1By Won 80 ~ W.
nor+entous composition of it, made up a.
:, "a Inv combination Of the forces OF the
limited States coast and geodetic survey,
denartment Of state, lighthouse board, en-
eineer corps, photographic office post
Office and navy departments, Smithsonian
Institution and United states geologlcal
survey. It has settled already some SOVO
onestioDs involving considerable changes
in names of places and establishing rules
affecting the spelling Of a great many
more names Of towns and counties. For
r,ncb Of tbe existent confusion in nOmen
clature the board holds the railroads re
sponsible. but attaches still creator blame
10 the postoface department for the breezy
Indifference with which it has named post
offices without regard to local usage.
The principal departures approved by
the bonrd are as follows: (a) Dropping, as
far as possible, the possessive form OF
names; (b) dropping the final h in the ter
nination "burgh;" (o) cutting borough
TO "boro;" ID substituting center" for
CENTRE" (e) disseminating the use OF
hyphens; ~ emitting the letters &c. II. y
20 mark county seats common in the
south; 90 the combination Of two-wefd
names into one; (h) avoidance Of the use
of diacritic characters; Oh dropping the
words "cityp and town" as parts Of
names
Having established which rules, the
board reserves the right TO violate them
at its own sweet will, and proceeds 70 do so.
Sailors perversions Of Indian misunder-
standing Of Russian complicated syllable
horrors have bestowed upon the world
some amazing Alaskan names, which
when spelled Us variously pronounced have
been hard nuts for the board TO crack.
Take the Amukta island, for instance. II
has been known as Amoughta, Amoukhta
and Amuchta. And the AndreanOf islands
have heretofore been known indiiferently
as AndreanOv and AndreenOwsky, and
Attu island as Attoo and Attou. Some
times they give the thing mp as hopeless
and cut loose altogether, as when they
substitute Hozuchatua for No-gat-za-ka-
kat but why they should have elaborated
Rat island 10 Semisopochnoi IS difficult 10
imagine
A few Of the ridiculous names so abun-
IDENTIFY scattered through the country have
been wiped out altogether. as for instance.
Burnt Coat island becomes Swan island,
and Bone Venture Is improved, back TO its
original no doubt, AZ Bonavepture Bgypt
mountain is made grandiose as Redoubt
Volcano, and tho French being whitfield
of Beauclerc bluff it appears as simply
Buckley bluff. Behring sea drops its I'M
necessary b, and old soldiers will miss the
c from Acquia, when they read correctly
hereafter about the creek of that name,
The redundancy Of Cape Neddick hubble
light has been pared down by excelsior OF
the hubble, but Pig Rye dixie and Pig Eye
light in Mississippi, and Rabbit Back peak
In Michigan, are offered with modest pride
to the admiration Of the world.
The gloomy mortuary fancy Of the board
finds expression in its launching upon the
future the sinister appellations Of Dead
man bend, on tho Mississippi river; Dead
man island, on the Ohio river; Deadman
point, on the coast Of Maine, and Death
door blnd, in Wisconsin And the possible
future is fcrcibly kept in mind through
abundant recognition Of his satanic ND
iesty in such names as DEVILS elbow, both
iii Illinois and Florida; DEVILS island,
Iowa and Wisconsin; Devils nose, New
York; Devils point, Florida, Devils pull
pit, New York, aud DEVILS wharf, COnnec
ticut. OF course, Hell's Half Acre on the
Niagara river, goes With that assortment.
The chopping OF OF terminals gives some
times snch multiplication Of remaindersas
Is likely 20 be confusing. Thus, for in
stance, there are six places in Indiana, two
IN Ohio, and one IN Pennsylvania. Nil named
simply Green. And Greene also occurs
twice IN Indiana and Gocein Pennsylvania
Fortress Monroe will hereafter DO Fort
Monroe. This is in accord with an order
Of the secretary Of war in 1928, but in viola.
ton OF popular usage, and * perhaps open
TO question as 10 its strict propgiety Il
Webster's Dictionary draws the line cor
rectly between fort and fortress"
One of the inexplicable things encoun-
tered in the report Is tho spasmodic mad
ness Tor phonetcising names Of foreign
derivation, as per example in the spelling
Of Carquinez strait with an initial K ia
stead Of a G, and the abolition Of the tide
in such Spanish words as canon, necessi-
tating the awkward spelling of canyon
Cbut without the k instead Of in this
case. it will be observed) to give the proper
sound II they had only turned that word
out as "kaDyswn. their consistency and
ingenious originality would have been
alike open TO northumberland maledic-
ton. But they have done pretty well in
that direction-by tSansmogrifying the
Spanish De Leon to Deleon.
Our government has before eYinced a
desire 10 set the rest Of the world right on
geographical nomenclature. Forty years
ago il tried very hard 10 make the pony
republic OF Colombia accept Aspinw8ll IN
stead Of Colon. The South Americans had
the audacity 10 prefer naming their own
town after the great discOverer, CristObal
Colon Christopher Columbus instead OF
after q prominent shareholder IN the Pan
anna Railroad company; but it was not
until the Colombian government had per
sistently and long refused 20 recognize the
existence Of any "Aspinwall" within their
borders that our government quit address
ing It's official communications 70 a Mace
which did not exist on the Colombian
map" Now, Al last, the contention has been
formally given up by the United States. and
hereafter there viii Dc only a Colon no
Aspinwall-except perhaps in the affairs
OF the Panama railroad and Pacific Mail
Steamship company.
The phonetic substitution Of X for c ia
continued in foreign names. which have
been tinkered at quite literally. as in Kari
kal. Kasamanze, Kongo and Kashrnir; but
an exception has been made In the case OF
Curacao And IL is TO be noted that NOT