274 Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



(3). Whatever its source, postcava differs from the more 

 usual terms in its comparative brevity, while at the same time 

 not open to the charge of ambiguity. Why then was it not in- 

 cluded in the column of synonyms from " sonstigen Autoren " 

 in the protocols of the German committee, as was a less com- 

 mon and acceptable synonym, viz. , ' ' vena cava inferior 

 thoracica?" 



(4). If the entire committee supposed me to be the au- 

 thor of postcava, their action was consistent, since no term is 

 credited to me in the column indicated. 



(5). But if any members of the committee knew that 

 postcava originated with Richard Owen, their objections to the 

 word might well have been waived out of resj^ect for him. 



^178. The actual form employed by Owen is specified 

 above, not merely for the sake of accuracy, but also in order to 

 forestall criticism upon a point where disagreement is possible. 

 It is, I think, a sound proposition that tJie introduction of any 

 derivative, oblique case, or national paronym, practically renders 

 the introdiicer responsible for the actual or potential Latin antece- 

 dent of sucJi zvords, in accordance zvith the usual rides of derivation 

 and paronyniy. I do not remember seeing the foregoing propo- 

 sition distinctly formulated,^ but reflection will show its sound- 

 ness. One of the wisest recommendations of the A. A. A. S. 

 Committee on Biological Nomenclature (§85) was that the Latin 

 ( international ) form of a term should always be given, whether 

 or not the national paronyms. Now cava is the feminine form 

 oi cavus, and vena cava was used (perhaps not in the specific 

 modern sense ) by Cicero, "De Natura Deorum," 2,55, I'^r 

 There seems to have been no classic adjective, although cavatus, 

 the participle of cavo, was available as such. Analogy fully 

 warrants (§116, et seq.) the acceptance of cava as a substan- 

 tive, and the derivation therefrom of a secondary adjective in the 

 form of either cavatus or cavalis. The latter evidently was 



^ It probably has been in purely linguistic connections. 

 ^ For some discussion of cava see Hyrtl, '80, 98, 99. 



