Wilder, Neural Tenns. 335 



while the abolition of the vast majority of time-honored terms 

 has not been even hinted at in this country, I believe many 

 anatomists here and also in England have recognized earlier and 

 more fully than most of the Germans the existence of two con- 

 ditions (§190, F) that are essentially modern, viz., (a) the 

 enormous expansion of anatomic and physiologic knowledge ; 

 (b) its general diffusion among the people.^ 



§271. Indeed, notwithstanding the declaration of conser- 

 vatism above mentioned, it is not easy for me to conceive that 

 all the members of the Anatomische Gesellschaft really antici- 

 pate the retention of, e.g., "manubrium sterni," "corpus 

 sterni " and " processus xiphoideus " for pracstermnn, incsoster- 

 num and xipJiisicrmun, respectively; of " squama occipitalis " 

 for ios) supraoccipitale ; of " arcus zygomaticus " for zygoma; 

 of " latissimus dorsi," " biceps brachii " and " triceps brachii" 

 for latissimus, biceps and triceps respectively; of "processus ver- 

 miformis " ior appendix ; of " substantia corticalis " (or cortex ; 

 of " vena cava superior " and "vena cava inferior", radix an- 

 terior" and "radix posterior", for terms not dependent for 

 appropriateness upon the erect attitude of the human body. 



§272. In the declaration of the Anatomische Gesellschaft 

 (^5147), and in the warning of its oldest member (§208), it is 

 intimated that between the American and German committees 

 there already exists a terminologic crevice which further ad- 

 vance upon our part is likely to convert into an ' 'impassable 

 gulf." Taken by themselves, or in connection with the pass- 



1 For nearly ten years, at Cornell University, the members of the general 

 classes in physiology, candidates lor first degrees in Arts and Science, and num- 

 bering from 1:5010 180 in each year, have individually examined, drawn and 

 dissected each the brain of a sheep. At the recent meeting of the American 

 Society of Naturalists, I outlined ('96,) a plan for the commencement of 

 practical studies of the brain in primary schools ; this in pursuance of the 

 conviction expressed seven years ago : 



" Aside from prejudice and lack of practical direction as to removing, pre- 

 serving, and examining the organ, there is but one valid reason why every child 

 of ten years should not have an accurate and somewhat extended personal ac- 

 quaintance with the gross anatomy of the mammalian brain; that obstacle is 

 the enormous and unmanageable accumulation of objectionable names under 

 which the parts are literally buried." W. & G., '89, §82. 



