SOME NEURAL TERMS. I 27 



bring them before his colleagues." Dr. Spitzka's cordial 

 interest has never abated, and I only lament that more prac- 

 tical duties leave him less time now than formerly for research 

 in the anatomy of the brain. 



I have already expressed my appreciation of the erudition 

 and kindness of my colleague in comparative philology, Ben- 

 jamin I. Wheeler. Aside from information imparted at per- 

 sonal interviews, the etymologic and linguistic points upon 

 which he has enlightened me cover nearly one hundred of the 

 " correspondence slips." 



To quote his own words, "The last thing an old teacher 

 wants is a new set of terms for a familiar set of objects." Yet 

 this did not prevent Oliver Wendell Holmes, then for the third 

 of a century professor of anatomy in the Harvard Medical 

 School, from writing. May 3, 1881, a letter containing the 

 following passages: — 



" I have read carefully your paper on nomenclature. I entirely 

 approve it as an attempt. I am struck with the reasonableness of 

 the system and the fitness of many of the special terms. The plan 

 is an excellent one ; it is a new garment which will fit Science well, 

 if that capricious and fantastic and old-fashioned dressing lady can 

 only be induced to try it on." 



This letter was a source of comfort to me, and doubtless led 

 many to consider seriously suggestions that might otherwise 

 have been ignored or repelled. 



On the 5th of June, 1896, at a regular meeting in Philadel- 

 phia, the American Neurological Association adopted unani- 

 mously the " Report of the Committee on Neuronymy." ^ The 

 recommendations were as follows: — 



1 The committee was appointed by the president of the Association, upon the 

 suggestion of the writer, at the regular meeting in New York City, June 20, 18S4. 

 One of the most interested of the original members, Dr. W. R. Birdsall, has since 

 died. It now comprises Henry H. Donaldson, Ph.D., professor of neurology, 

 Chicago University; Landon Carter Gray, M.D., professor of nervous and men- 

 tal diseases. New York Polyclinic ; Chades K. Mills, M.D., professor of diseases 

 of the mind and nervous system in the Philadelphia Polyclinic; Edward C. 

 Seguin, M.D., professor of diseases of the mind and nervous system in the 

 Medical Department of Columbia University; Edward C. Spitzka, M.D., formerly 

 professor of the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system in the Post- 

 graduate Medical School of New York City; and B. G. Wilder, chairman. 



