THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 175 



tion appointed a commission of notable scientists from several counliies 

 to compile from the many thousands of terms in use, as applied to 

 microscopical human anatomy, a list which should include only the term 

 for each part which was decided to be most suitable. This commission 

 set to work on the difficult and exacting task in hand, guided by certain 

 principles to which they were able to adhere with but few digressions. 

 The aims of the undertaking can be best made clear by quoting Prof 

 Barker's own statement of these principles : 

 " (i) Each part shall have only one name. 



(2) Each term shall be in Latin, and shall be philologically correct. 



(3) Each term shall be as short and simple as possible. 



(4) The terms shall be merely memory signs, and need lay no claim 

 to description or to speculative interpretation. 



(5) Related terms shall as far as possible be similar, e.g., Femur, 

 Arteria femoralis, Vena femoralis, Nervus femoralis. 



(6) Adjectives in general shall be arranged as opposites, e.g., dexter 

 and sinister; major and minor; anterior and posterior ; superficialis and 

 profundus." 



The result of these labours was a systematized and selected list of 

 Latin terms, which can be used in any country, either through a transla- 

 tion or, better even, in the Latin form. It has been adopted as a basis of 

 nomenclature in Europe to a large extent ; and in Great Britain and 

 America has been employed in various medical schools and treatises on 

 anatomical subjects with apparently good success. The publication of 

 Prof. Barker's book from the press of P. Blakiston's Sons & Co., in which 

 both Latin and an Anglicized list are presented, should do much to 

 further the general adoption of the B. N, A. 



The general introduction of this list into the educational work of 

 American institutions would, it is hoped, greatly facilitate research and 

 progress in anatomy, by removing the unnecessary part of a most 

 unscientific collection of technical terms, as 5,000 accepted names would 

 serve the purpose, for which there are now many times that number in 

 use. — T. D. Jarvis. 



