The Republican journal., 1909-05-20
DON'T SAY IT.
Some Common Geographical Errors Point.
ed Out.

| ~ ~AsAAOA NGOxIdpilISd4 EtIOIS fOlnt.
ed Out.
| [Goldthwaithe's Geographical Magazine.1
Don't say or write Austro- Hungary.
The best writer's prefer Austria Hungary.
Don't call the Chinese "Mongolians. -
II Is better to reserve the latter name
Tor the people who live north of China
proper.
Don't speak of a native of China as a
Chlnaman. You would not say that YOU
had an Ireland man digging in your gar
den: It is better to cali John Chinese.
Don't, please don't, say that New
York CITY is located on Manhattan Is
land: Such misuse of the verb ''to
locate is trying to the nerves of the
best photographers. Say New York
City is situated on Manhattan Island.
Don't speak of China as our Antipodes.
Our Antlpodes is the point on the other
side OF the world reached by straight
line passing through the place on which
we stand and the center of the earth.
Our Antipodes is in the ocean southwest
of Australia.
Don't forget that Oriental names end
ing in ian" have the accent almost in
yariably on the last syllable, as Teheran,
Beloochistan.
Don't imagine that the spelling of geo.
graphical names in the newspapers is
necessarily accurate. 1t is safe to say
that one half of the place names in
Africa and Asia, as they appear in our
daily press, are mangled almost beyond
recognition by the cable or the types.
Don't call Bermuda ''North Ameri-
can island, as writer in New York
newspaper did the other day. There are
plenty of North American islands. but
Bermuda is not one of them. 1t is an
oceanic, not continental, island.
Don't be mystifed if on one map in
your atlas Hudson bay seems to be larg-
err than the Gulf of Mexico, while on an
other sheet of the same atlas the Gulf of
Mexico appears larger than Hudson bay.
The apparent discrepancy is doubtless
due to the different map projections en-
ployed. You know, for instance, that
areas far removed from the equator are
very much exaggerated as they appear
on maps OF the Mercator projection
Don't say that the compass points to
the true north, for it doesn't except in
certain places. The compass points to
the magnetic north, which is at present
considerably west of the North Pole.
When Lieutenant Greedy was at Lady
Franklin bay, the declination of his
needle was found to be very great, the
needle pointing toward the magnetic
pole in direction nearly southwest.
Don't make the mistake some people
do of thinking the word "alluvium" to
be synonymous with ''soil.'' Only those
soils which are the result of the deposi-
ton of sediment by running water can
properly be called alluvial soils.
Don't for mercy's sake, say "The
Smithsonian Institute. - The name is
The Smithsonian Institution.
When you are writing novel don't get
your geographical facts so badly mixed
as to reflect discredit upon your early
training. In one of the popular novels of
the day, the Azores are referred to as in
a southern latitude. The writer also in
troduced his hero into the Antarctic re-
gions in January, and speaks Of the
''inky blackness" of the nights he ex-
perienced there Of course anybody
ought to know that the month of Janu-
airy is the height of the Antartic sum
mer, and the entire month is one contin-
uous day.