SOME NEURAL TERMS. 1 55 



my point of view, although I might object to certain of the 

 names as such, it would not be on account of their lack of 

 explicitness. As has been said above, in many instances 

 explicitness is to be gained from the context. But with really 

 the larger number, I am confident that well-selected, brief, and 

 fairly suggestive designatory names can and will be learned 

 and remembered without any difficulty, especially if the study 

 of the brain be begun at an early age. 



Coelia. — This word, in place of cavitas cncepJiali s. ventri- 

 ciihis enccphali, is one of the three enumerated by Professor His 

 as examples of my many terms that are objectionable because 

 they are " new." In the lexicon of Liddell and Scott KoCkia 

 ijKe(f)dXov is quoted as in good and regular standing among 

 Greek medical writers. According to Burdach (vom Bane iind 

 Lebcn dcs Gehirns, 1819-22, II, 301, 378, 380), Galen desig- 

 nated the "fourth ventricle" as KoiXia oinaOiov ijKecfxiXov, 

 rerdprrj KoiXia and oTncrdCa KoiXia {De usu partiuvi, Lib. VIII, 

 CXII, p. 170); the "third ventricle" as /xeV/; Tpirt] KoiXia 

 (idem., IX, III, 172); and the " lateral ventricles" as Trpoadiai 

 kolXiul (De odoratus instrumcnto, II, iio). Coelia is then cer- 

 tainly not " new." Had Professor His said nniisual, his objec- 

 tion would have been more nearly justified by the facts, although 

 in recent encephalic literature on both sides of the water com- 

 pounds of coelia are more and more frequently encountered. 



In favor of coelia (English ^rr/zV? or ecle) in place of ventricithis 

 may be urged the following: 



(i) Its Greek origin renders it compoundable regularly and 

 euphoniously with the characteristic prefixes already employed 

 in the segmental names, e.g., vieseiicepJialon, etc. 



(2) These compounds are mononyms, and therefore capable 

 (p. 118) of inflection {e.g.,'>nesocoeliae),^Qx\\2i\\Q)rv (e.g.,inesocoe- 

 liana), and adoption into other languages without material 

 change; e.g., English, mesocele; French, inesocoelie ; German, 

 Mesokolie ; Italian, inesoeelia. 



(3) The various national paronyms thus formed are likewise 

 capable of derivation ; e.g., mesocelian. 



(4) There is classic authority for the use of coelia in the 

 sense of encephalic cavity (see above). 



