The morning times., 1895-10-13

prevailing local usage where il is divided
| between different forms. Where the local
usage is so divided, opportunity is afforded
for the selectiono of the more appropriate a nd
euphonious of the names i'll use.
SOME GENERAL RULES
The board considers il desirable to de.
part from local usage in certain cases i1
order TO effect reforms in nomenclature
Among these depa artures approved by ths
| board are the following:
The avoidance. so far asscems practicable,
| of the posseSsive form of names. The
| dropping of the final HI in the termination
'burgh." The Authorization of borough
10 ''boro" The spelling of the word
"center" as here given. The discontinue
| ance of the use of hyphens in connecting
| parts of names. The omission. wherever
| practicable. of the letters &C. H." tCourt
| House, after the names of county seats.
| The simpilication of names consisting of
| more than one word 10y their combination
| into one word. The avoidance of the use
of diacritic characters. The dropping OF
| the words city and town as parts of
| names.
Concerning the termination burg or
| burgh, as Pittsburg, an extensive cor
respondence has developed the fact that
in more than three-fourths of the places
| having this termination the final "h" is
| not in local use The case of the ternina-
| ton "boro" or borough" as Attleboro
| is very similar. Tic present tendency is
strongly ward the substitution of the
abbreviated form.
In the case of the word center" as part
Of name, as Mansfield Center, Center
Rutland, usage appears to be about equally
divided between center and centre, and the
board has adopted the first of the above
forms OF the word.
HYPHENS ARE DEBARRED.
Hyphens, in connecting parts Of names,
appear TO be useless, while they add to
the complexity OF the spelling.
The practice of adding the letters &C.
H." meaning courthouse, TO the name of
county seat is prevalent in the Southern
States. Frequently the place has two
names, one being ~ charter name, the
other the name of ile county with &C.
H" appended; thus the county seat of
Raleigh county, W. Va. is known as Beck
ley and as Raleigh &c. H"
The tendency toward simplification is in
no way shown more decidedly than in the
combination OF the several words forming
name. Thus LA Fayette" has become
well nigh universally Lafayette" ''El
dorado" has become "Eldorado," etc
The board approves this tendency and will
further it as far as possible without fore
stalling usage too greatly.
Outside of the United States, where the
Department of State and United States
photographic Office are chiefly interested,
the work of the board is directed to the har-
monization of American usage in geo.
graphic nomenclature with the usage of the
great map-making nations-England, Ger
many and France. The Department of
State, by reason of its diplomatic and con-
sular functions, is Intimately concerned
with the present style, change of names
fran %
sion and acquisition of territory by various
governments abroad, and the proper forms
of the titular political nomenclature of
foreign States and nations.
ON OFFICIAL MAPS.
The interest of the photographic Office
is involved by reason of its publication of
charts and sailing directions of all foreign
waters, to the effective use of which uni
formity of geographic nomenclature is OBJ
viously indispensable. The forms of for
eign names recommended for adoption are
determined on consultation of established
usage, the best authority upon chronological
and political history and derivation, and
current geographic and politicalinformation
from authentic sources.
Most of the nations of Europe, either
through national boards or geographic So
cieties, are engaged In the regulation of the
orthography of geographic names. Their
attention has been particularly directed
toward producing uniformity in the trans
liberation of aboriginal names written in
characters other than Roman These ma
tions have practically agreed upon a sys-
tenn of transliteration, which, with one or
two exceptions, has been adopted by this
board, thus coming into prac ctical agreement
in this matter with the rest of the civilized
world
Many changes have occurred since the
board was first created and 1T is now
composed and organized as follows:
Henry Gannett, United States Geolog-
ical Survey, chairman; Marcus Baker, Unit
ed States Geological Survey, secretary;
Andrew II. Allen, Department of State;
Capt. G. W. Goethals, corps of Engineers,
U. s. A; A. B. johnson, lighthouse board,
Treasury Department; Harry King, Gen.
eral Land Office, Interior Department.; o.
7. Mason, Smithsonian Institution; H.
G. Ogden, United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey; Commander c. D. Sigsbee, U. S.
N, photographic Office, Navy Depart
ment; = - (vacaDcy), Post-office De-
partment.
The decisions of the board have been
compiled and printed up to September 1
of this year. The total of 1864 decisions is
divided as follows:
Total number of decisions iexcepting
counties), 2,573; total number of counties,
2,791.