"Further Observations." 3-29 



If Mr. Ogilby insists on annulling the generic term Simia, as 

 used by the moderns, and bringing it back to its Plinian mean- 

 ing, let him do the same with Cebus and Callithrix. 



To me however it appears that by carrying our veneration 

 for the ancients to this extent, we are injuring the cause of 

 Zoology. Classical criticism has but little connection with 

 modern science ; and I have remarked in a former paper, that 

 " the zoological knowledge of the ancients was so vague and 

 imperfect, that few naturalists think it necessary to be very 

 exact in applying their names with precision, for the plain 

 reason that it is rarely possible to ascertain the precise spe- 

 cies to which these names anciently referred." Excellent 

 therefore as is the rule of priority, yet I greatly doubt whe- 

 ther any advantage would arise from carrying it farther back 

 than the times of Linnaeus and Brisson. Linnaeus was the 

 first to attach any clear and definite idea to a zoological ge- 

 nus ; — he was the first to apply trivial names to species, and 

 to give definitions of these groups on a uniform plan, so that 

 they could be recognized in future. Systematic Zoology 

 therefore dates from the publication of the 'Sy sterna NaturceJ 

 and it would, I think, be highly undesirable at the present 

 day, to extend the operation of the law of priority into the 

 dim obscurity which precedes that great zoological event. — 

 Linnaeus indeed might have been more careful in adopting the 

 nomenclature of his predecessors, imperfect though it was, — 

 but it is too late to complain of that now. The law of pre- 

 scription, which is found so convenient in civil matters, ought 

 also to operate in science ; and the undisputed possession of 

 a name for a given period, should authorize its permanent a- 

 doption, the law of priority notwithstanding. I should there- 

 fore define the "real signification" of the term Simia, when 

 used by zoologists, to be its zoological signification, — that is, 

 the signification first imposed upon it by Linnaeus, the father 

 of Zoology, and afterwards modified by subsequent naturalists. 



§ 4. — Etymological meaning of names. — Mr. Ogilby next 

 proceeds to criticise certain of my "rules" in detail. He com- 

 mences with Rule 6, which is quoted above. Now I fully 

 agree with him when he says that "words are but the signs of 

 ideas," and that "so long as we agree to give them a particu- 

 lar signification, it matters not what may have been their ori- 

 ginal meaning, or whether they have any meaning at all." — 

 If Mr. Ogilby will refer to vol. viii. pp. 37, 38, of this Maga- 

 zine, he will find that I long ago said the same thing, in very 

 nearly the same words. See also Rule 9, vol. i. n. s. p. 175. 

 But my Rule 6 is introduced solely on account of that infir- 

 mity of human nature, whereby, when the meaning of a word 



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