1898] NOTES AND COMMENTS 3G5 



observation may necessitate a modified definition. A term that 

 was in use when knowledge was vague and general must be re- 

 stricted or abandoned as knowledge becomes more detailed and 

 accurate. One man will restrict the meaning of the old word, 

 another will propose a new word ; and the number of new terms 

 proposed will vary in proportion to the number of investigators. 

 Each approaches the problem from a different standpoint ; and who 

 shall decide which conception is the correct one, which term is the 

 best ? 



Scientific terminology is, and always must be, in a state of flux. 

 Scientific language is, in this respect, just like any other language. 

 And its evolution is subject to the same laws as govern, not merely 

 all language, but most other mutable things. Whatever those laws 

 may be, we cannot admit with Lady Welby " that in all other 

 directions the first condition of human advance has been the 

 implicit conviction that such advance was possible, — and was 

 imperative." Take Lady Welby's own instance, the alphabet. 

 Which alphabet ? In Europe alone there are at least seven 

 alphabets in use, and each of those has many ways of writing its 

 constituent letters. In our own islands the same letters express 

 different sounds according as one is writing Welsh, Gaelic, or 

 English. Even here uniformity is a delusion : in language it is 

 a vain hope. Whether we wish it or no, change will take place, 

 new terms will be proposed, and the fittest will survive. 



We would not appear to undervalue the labours of Lady Welby. 

 Those who care to write to her at Denton Manor, Grantham, for a 

 copy of her pamphlet will find it instructive reading. If she will 

 continue her task, and will bring together the passages in which 

 modern scientific terms were originally proposed or subsequently 

 modified, she will render greater service to the cause she has at 

 heart than by the republication of mere querulous criticism. And 

 if towards the second edition that Lady Welby promises we might 

 add a final suggestion, we would write across the blank pages, so 

 thoughtfully provided, the one word, " Index." 



The Authorship of Illustrations 



In our review of Professor W. W. Watts' " Geology for Beginners " 

 (p. 422) attention is drawn to the figures of fossils said (with some in- 

 accuracy) to have been " prepared for " Zittel's " Grundziige," and to 

 the fact that no reference is made to the original source of those 

 figures, many of which are certainly not to be ascribed to Professor 

 Von Zittel himself, though the student might be led to suppose 

 that they were. Such are Walcott's restoration of a section across 

 Calymene senaria, here wrongly assigned to Triarthrus bccki ; Holm's 

 restoration of Olencllus kjerulfi ; Owen's picture of the pearly nautilus 



