592 R. E. BUCHANAN 



this they seem in many cases to have been aided and abetted 

 by om- technical and scientific periodicals and their editors, 

 particularly those in the medical or medico-scientific field. 

 Occasionally an effort is apparently made to depart as far as 

 practicable from good usage. For example, it is customary in 

 both botanical and zoological periodicals and generally in the 

 literature of these sciences to treat the name of a genus as a 

 proper name, and to capitalize it at least when used with a 

 specific name. The rule reads, "Genera receive names, sub- 

 stantives in the singular number and written with a capital 

 letter." A perusal of technical and medical journals shows the 

 rule to be commonly ignored. This fact in itself is probably 

 not of great importance, but is a symptom of a deep seated 

 trouble. Everywhere we find disregard of law and precedent, 

 and eveiywhere the loose thinking and writing which are the 

 consequence. 



The whole subject of formal nomenclature, notwithstanding 

 current lack of interest, is of great importance from the stand- 

 point of bacteriologists, sanitarians, hygienists, physicians and 

 pathologists. Our present system, or lack of system, leads to 

 inaccuracies, misconceptions, and misstatements. We can not 

 long continue to violate the principle that for every kind of liv- 

 ing thing there shall be a single valid name, without causing 

 confusion. 



The subject of nomenclature is in part distinct from that of 

 classification. The latter deals with methods and criteria, of 

 use in the differentiation of groups from each other, the former 

 has for its function the determination of the kind of a name that 

 shall be applied to a particular group, and the validity and 

 suitability of names that have already been apphed. 



The efforts of the Society of American Bacteriologists have 

 been directed in the main in the past to the problems of differ- 

 entiation of kinds and groups of organisms, as witnessed by its 

 descriptive chart. It is time that it should bestir itself concerning 

 the labels it is to place on the groups which it is learning to sepa- 

 rate. It is probably safe to state that practically every other 

 branch of biological science has left us in the rear in this matter. 



