The question raised is not a new one, but, considered in the light of the statistics presented, seems to involve the problem of the improvement of the river with increasing difficulties. General Greely's figures indicate that the cross-section of the lower river will only permit carrying to the sea a volume of about sixty cubic miles of water during an ordinary flood season, and that in the extraordinary flood years, such as 1882 and 1890, the volume to be carried down is about eighty cubic miles, showing an excess of about twenty cubic miles over the capacity of the river in a specified time. These figures should be taken in the nature of a warning; and while it must be admitted that the intricacy of the problem precludes precision, their probable reliability should be carefully studied before an extended levée system is built intended to guarantee protection against exceptional floods. * * * * * During recent years the complex and perplexing subject of geographic nomenclature has received the careful consideration of a number of the European nations, with a view to reaching a uniformity in treatment and the transliteration of names of unwritten languages into Roman characters. England, France, and {39} Germany have adopted substantially the same system of rules. Recent publications from these countries evidence the intention to apply them as rapidly as circumstances will permit. Although we may rebel at first on seeing such familiar names as Cairo spelled with a K, Mecca with double k, and Muscat converted into Maskat, it is believed the general principles adopted will eventually receive acquiescence--perhaps half-hearted at first--and as the utility of the system becomes more apparent through its universal adoption and we realize that maps from whatever nation will give us the names of the same places in substantially the same form, our prejudices must give way.