SOME NEURAL TERMS. 1 35 



Pontilis. — Unwarrantable forms of the English adjective 

 from pons occur so frequently that there is here reproduced a 

 paragraph from my recent note on the subject ('96a). " In 

 the subtitle of the letter above mentioned, the case is referred 

 to as one of 'pontine hemorrhage.' This form of the adjective 

 is not uncommon in medical literature, and pontic and pontal 

 have found their way into the dictionaries. Now, as may be 

 seen from any Latin lexicon, pontal has no justification what- 

 ever. Ponticus, the Latin antecedent oi pontic, is derived from 

 pontics, the sea. Pontinus, the antecedent of pontine, was 

 originally Poviptinns, and refers to a district of Italy. As 

 already pointed out by me (article " Anatomical Terminology," 

 Buck's Reference Handbook of the Medical Scietices, VIII, 524,^ 

 § 50), the only legitimate Latin adjective from pons is pontilis, 

 and its Angloparonym \^ pontile. The use of any other form 

 tends to cause confusion and to bring discredit upon medical 

 scholarship." 



In Table II on the following pages are given in parallel col- 

 umns (i) the forty terms adopted by the American Neurological 

 Association ; (2) the corresponding terms adopted by the 

 Anatomische Gesellschaft ; (3) some of the Latin synonyms. 



Probably few will question the inferiority of the discarded 

 synonyms in the third column; hence I have here considered 

 mainly the relative merits of the two other sets. 



The extent of agreement is impressive and encouraging. 

 With the following twenty-four terms there is absolute con- 

 sensus between the American and the German committees: 

 Claustrum, Clava, Cuneus, Fissura calcarina, F. collateralis, 

 F. hippocampi, Fornix, Hippocampus, Hypophysis, Infun- 

 dibulum, Insula, Lemniscus, Mesencephalon, Monticulus, 

 Oliva, Operculum,! Pallium, Pons, Praecuneus, Pulvinar, 

 Tegmentum, Thalamus, Vermis, Vertebra thoracalis. 



1 The case of this term is peculiar. The German committee particularize three 

 ^■a.x\.%, frontal, parietal, and temporal ol a general operculum. The Neurological 

 Association regards the parietal portion as the operculum, the frontal and temporal 

 being so specified. (By the present writer these are designated as praeoperculum 

 2.x\d. postoperciihim, and the orbital portion as stdwpercuhit?! .) It will be seen, 

 therefore, that, while the word operculum is identical with both committees, its 

 significance is general with the German and special with the American. 



