following variety of forms now in use: _City_ of New York, _city_ of New
York, New York _City_, New York _city_, New York _State_, New York _state_,
Fourth _Avenue_, Fourth _avenue_, Grand _Street_, Grand _street_, Grand
_st._, Atlantic _Ocean_, Atlantic _ocean_, Mediterranean _Sea_,
Mediterranean _sea_, Kings _County_, Kings _county_, etc.

The usage of newspapers and of text-books on geography would probably favor
the writing of the class names in the examples above with initial capitals;
but we find in the most carefully printed books and periodicals a tendency
to favor small letters in such cases.

In the superscription of letters, such words as _street_, _city_, and
_county_ begin with capitals.

Usage certainly favors small initials for the following italicized words:
_river_ Rhine, Catskill _village_, the Ohio and Mississippi _rivers_. If
_river_ and _village_, in the preceding examples, are not essential parts
of the individual names, why should _river_, _ocean_, and _county_, in
Hudson _river_, Pacific _ocean_, Queens _county_, be treated differently?
We often say the _Hudson_, the _Pacific_, _Queens_, without adding the
explanatory class name.

The principle we suggest may be in advance of common usage; but it is in
the line of progress, and it tends to uniformity of practice and to an
improved appearance of the page. About a century ago every noun began with
a capital letter.

The American Cyclopedia takes a position still further in advance, as
illustrated in the following: Bed _river_, Black _sea_, _gulf_ of Mexico,
Rocky _mountains_. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica (Little, Brown, & Co.,