Wilder, Nniral Tenns. 267 



§164. The distinctions were more fully set forth seven 

 years ago in the later article (W. & G. , '89, 523) from which 

 is taken the following summary. 



A. From mononyms adjectives may be regularly derived. 



B. Mononyms are more readily compounded. 



C. Mononyms are constant in form, excepting for the regular 

 derivatives, numbers, cases, adjectives, and paronyms. 



D. Polyonyms, on the contrary, are subject to variations of sev- 

 eral kinds: (<?) By omission of words, {b) By the conversion of gen- 

 itives into adjectives, {c) By the substitution of totally different words. 

 {d) By permutation (§37). 



E. Mononyms may be more uniformly abbreviated (§38). 



F. Mononyms are commonly shorter than the corresponding 

 polyonyms. The exceptions are due to the fact that the absolute 

 length of a term depends upon three factors, viz , {a) the number of 

 words; {b) the number of syllables in the words; {c) the number of 

 letters in the syllables. The written length of a term is affected by 

 all three of the above named conditions ; but its spoken length is in- 

 dependent of the number of letters. 



§165. But the essential characteristic and principal advantage of 

 the Latin mononym is (G) that it is capable of adoption into any other 

 language, either unchanged, or with so slight a modification as not to hinder 

 its ready recognition by the anatomist of any nationality. 



^166. Between longer and shorter words is merely a difference 

 in degree, e. g., cms and pedunciilns ; between a Latin word and its 

 vernacular equivalent or heteronym (e. g., pcdunculus dind footlet) and 

 its paronym {peduncle) the choice might depend upon individual pref- 

 erence ; but mononyms and polyonyms, terms of one word each and 

 terms of two or more (e g. , pedunculus a.x\d pedunculus cerebelli) differ 

 in kind; it is not a question of size or euphony, but of essential en- 

 dowment and capacity. The mononym is to the polyonym as is the 

 water to the earth or as is the bird to the tortoise. 



^167. The desirability of replacing polyonyms by mononyms is 

 in direct ratio with the frequency with which the part is mentioned, 

 and with the need of employing corresponding adjectives. Hypophy- 

 sis (formerly pituitary body) and conariiim (formerly pineal gland) are 

 much more frequently named since the discovery that the former has 

 peculiar developmental relations with the pharynx, and the latter even 

 more remarkable connection with a vestigial organ of sight. So long 

 as the thin sheet of nervous tissue just dorsad of the chiasma was re- 

 garded as insignificant, and even as occasionally absent, either lamina 

 cinerea or lamina terminalis might not be so objectionable ; but its now- 

 admitted morphologic importance as the cephalic boundary of the en- 

 cephalic cavities justifies the use of the mononym, terma. The ori- 

 fice left by the removal of the hypophysis and infundibulum had ap- 

 parently received no name up to 1880; foramen infundibuli v^z.'^ a suf- 

 ficiently appropriate descriptive term ; but the frequency of its men- 

 tion in notes respecting the preservation of the brain led me to discard 



