LATIN MEDICAL STUDENT'S EDUCATION. 33 



in mind that the language of science is largely class- 

 ical. Latin and Greek are derivatively utilized in 

 almost every technical expression. Medical literature 

 is burdened with technicals of classic origin. The 

 nomenclature of every branch of science is classical. 

 Medicine was born in Latin its earliest words were 

 lisped by Romans, imbibing Arabic and Greek enough 

 to make it interesting. Before English or any other 

 modern language was written or spoken all scientific 

 matter was couched in the Latin tongue. Anglo Saxon 

 was uttered in monosyllabic words in mediaeval time, 

 but not written in scholarly forms. Our scientific 

 terms are derivatively Latin. An objection to mod- 

 ern methods is that they have been slavishly classical. 

 When Dr. Wood described the great fissure near the 

 base of the brain it was not called after the patronymic 

 of the discoverer, but was denominated the fissure of 

 Sylvius, the Latin for wood a common and not a 

 proper noun. So it was with the Brunonian theory, 

 which originated with Brown Bruno being the Latin 

 translation of brown, a color! Nothing could be more 

 absurd. Glandula pituitosa is the name given to what 

 is ordinarily denominated the pituitary body, yet the 

 pea-shaped mass is not phlegmy, nor is it a gland. 

 Other namings in anatomy are as ridiculous. The 

 haunch bone is easier spoken and written than os 

 innominatum. No wonder the non-classical student 

 of medicine asks why such dismal nomenclatures are 

 not discarded, or supplanted by good English expres- 

 sions but he does not understand the difficulty of 

 changing even the spelling of a word. We are irre- 

 vocably chained to the past. A translation into 

 English is not always forcible. Let an example be pre- 

 sented iter a tertio ad quart am i'entriculum a canal in 



