338 Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



their modes of expression when occasions arise. ^ In view of 

 all the circumstances, the attitude appropriate for American an- 

 atomists, desirous to cooperate yet maintaining their independ- 

 ence and self-respect, is indicated in the following lines of Lu- 

 cretius : 



Judicio perpende : et si tibi vera videntur, 



Dede manus : ant si falsum est, adci7igere contra. 



§279. Those anatomists who are either interested already 

 in the improvement of nomenclature, or whose regard for their 

 successors leads them to sacrifice some present time and effort 

 in their behalf, are urged to read upon the subject, to reflect, 

 to confer, and to correspond freely. So intimate is the rela- 

 tion between verbal expression and mental operation that, even 

 when we imagine ourselves above such weakness, criticism of 

 the former too often means disturbance of the latter. Hence, as 

 with other matters involving individual habit and preference, an 

 actual interview may sometimes be less productive of good than 

 a correspondence that eliminates more completely the personal 

 element and affords opportunity for reflection and for consulta- 

 tion with disinterested experts.^ 



§280. Those who may entertain^ a not unnatural impa- 

 tience at the apparently slow progress made in this country, 

 and who may even feel mortified when comparing the two score 

 terms adopted by the American Neurological Association with 



^The following incident encourages the belief that such changes of both 

 opinion and custom may occur at any age. While preparing the new edition of 

 his "Anatomy" ('89), Leidy preferred ir^w/ra/ /i?;^^' or island of Reil ; but later, 

 at the age of sixty-six, as chairman of the committee on nomenclature of the 

 Association of American Anatomists, he signed the report recommending /«jM/a. 



^Nearly all my letters and " slips" (§78, note) from anatomists and linguists 

 in this and other countries have been preserved. Always instructive and often 

 encouraging, the restraining and even destructive quality of some might have 

 been endured with less equanimity at a personal conference; see ^71, and ^^i,l>. 



^That such sentiment, if entertained, has not been communicated to me, 

 either directly or indirectly, constitutes one of the many evidences of the tolerant 

 and helpful spirit that has animated American anatomists in dealing with the 

 confessedly perilous qnestion as to how independent thinkers may best commu- 

 nicate with their fellows. 



