252 Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



tee and as advocated by me, since 1880/ then all the derivatives 

 of Rolando must be discarded in favor oi centralis and its deriva- 

 tives. Those who prefer the eponym should show that Rolando's 

 figure and description really merit such commemoration, and 

 should be also at least^consistent in the employment of deriva- 

 tives. ParaccntraliSy pracccntralis and postccntralis have no other 

 justification than topographic reference to centralis ; yet it is by 

 no means uncommon to find in one and the same paper "fissure 

 of Rolando" and "paracentral lobule." 



§121. As to the generic terms, fissura and sulcus, the 

 former has been consistently employed by me since 1880 for all 

 linear depressions of the^ cerebral surface, while the German 

 committee restrict it to the sylvian (called by them cerebri lat- 

 ej'alis), the collateral, the occipital (their parieto-occipitalis) the 

 calcarine and the hippocampal, and name all the others sitlci. 

 They regard the striatum as constituting an ental correlative of 

 the sylvian (p. 170) ; hence it may be inferred \\\2l.\. fissura indi- 

 cates a corrugation of the entire parietes, while sulcus indicates a 

 linear furrow not represented in the cavity by a corresponding 

 elevation.^ Fully conceding the desirability of recognizing the 

 distinction between the two groups of cerebral furrows, the fol- 

 lowing considerations lead me to question the advisability of 

 employing the two generic words in the senses proposed by the 

 German committee. 



(i). Fissura and its various paronyms and heteronyms are 

 already well established and commonly associated with cerebral 

 topography. This subject, on account of its various relations, 

 physiologic, pathologic, surgical and psychologic, has already 

 gained much general interest. Sulcus is a comparatively unfa- 

 miliar word. It is distinctively Latin and technical. Its Latin 

 plural, sulci, is even more so. It does not readily lend itself to 



' With the exception oi fissura Sylvii &x\A certain derivatives of sylviana. 



'The two groups are sometimes distinguished as total &x\ A partial, or as complete 

 and incomplete. The former seem to be preferable, since with the total the to- 

 tality of the parietes is involved, whereas complete and incomplete seem to im- 

 ply differing degrees of relative perfection. 



