VII. 



Scientific Volapuk. 



^T7E have more than once alluded in these pages to the misapplied 

 VV ingenuity of certain scientific writers, who, being unable to use 

 the language with which their natural heritage has supplied them, 

 imagine that they can better convey their ideas to the world through 

 the medium of Avords that are not merely new and strange, but often 

 incorrectly constructed and far too vaguely defined (Natural 

 Science, vol. ii., p. 6, and vol. iii., p. 242). Let it not for a moment 

 be supposed that we deny the value and even the necessity of scientific 

 terminology ; on the contrary, for technical purposes, a distinct and 

 well-defined term is, we consider, far superior to an ordinary word 

 distorted from its ordinary meaning. At the same time, it is 

 obviously desirable that these scientific and technical terms should 

 be constructed according to etymological principles of a higher 

 grade than those that govern the appellation of the latest patent 

 medicine or the newest thing in window-blinds. And, apart from 

 this, there are other cautions that might profitably be attended to 

 by many of these word-mongers. 



Chiefly should one hesitate before encumbering — we will not 

 say the English language, but — the Volapuk of scientists, with any 

 additions to its already overcrowded vocabulary. Reflect first if the 

 idea cannot be as clearly expressed by words already in use. Brevity 

 may brighten wit, but no less does it darken wisdom. Next consider 

 whether the idea be actually new, or, if new, whether it be a reality. 

 Does, for instance, Mr. Ryder or anyone else seriously suppose that 

 there is an abstract formative force concerned in modifying the forms 

 of bones ? If not, where is the necessity for a name ? As for those 

 people who go out of their way to invent terms which neither they 

 nor anyone else will probably ever use again in this world, what 

 torture in the next world would be appropriate ? Yet this is what 

 Professor Hyatt does in his paper on Bioplastology, when he suddenly 

 stops to tell us that if Hering were right in supposing heredity to be 

 a form of memory, then Mnemegenesis would be a very good word for 

 heredity. Shall we suggest that Professor Plyatt should be set first 

 to suppose forms of punishment, and then to invent Greek names for 

 them ? 



So many new terms have been proposed in the last few years, 

 that we have determined to make some attempt to collect them year 



