Wilder, Neural Terms. 237 



excitement^ went so far as to say that some of my suggestions 

 had been long in his own mind but that he had "lacked the 

 courage to bring them before his colleagues." Dr. Spitzka's 

 cordial interest has never abated, and I only lament that more 

 practical duties leave him less time now than formerly for re- 

 search in the anatomy of the brain. 



§78. I have already expressed (W. & G.,'89, §2 note) my 

 appreciation of the erudition and kindness of my colleague in 

 Comparative Philology, Benjamin I. Wheeler. Aside from in- 

 formation imparted at personal interviews, the etymologic and 

 linguistic points upon which he has enlightened me cover nearly 

 one hundred of the "correspondence slips. "^ 



§79. 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 Medi- 

 cal School, from writing. May 3, 188 1, a letter containing the 

 following passages : 



" I have read carefully your paper ['81 (5] on Nomenclature. I en- 

 tirely 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 it on." The entire letter is printed on pp. 11-12 

 of ( W. &G.,'82). It was a source of comfort tome and doubt- 

 less led many to consider seriously suggestions that might otherwise 

 have been ignored or repelled. 



Part III. Action of the Aniericaii Neurological Association, 



^580. On the 5th of June, 1896, at a regular meeting in 

 Philadelphia, the American Neurological Association adopted 



^As an expert at the trial of Guiteau he held the mental constitution of the 

 assassin to be abnormal; see Alienist and Neurologist, 1883, April et seq. 



^For the use of slips in correspondence see W. and G., '86, 52 and Science, 

 Jan. 16, 18S5, p. 44. 



