122 



NATURE 



\Pec. i6, 1875 



English and Germans, who are in the present age laying 

 the foundation for a new period of higher mental deve- 

 lopment in the recognition and completion of the theory 

 of descent. The recognition of the theory of develop- 

 ment and the monistic philosophy based upon it, forms 

 the best criterion for the degree of man's mental deve- 

 lopment." 



A noteworthy feature in the present translation is the 

 attempt Mr. Lankester has made to use English equiva- 

 lents for the technical terms of anatomy and zoology. 

 The facility with which Prof. Haeckel invents terms, and 

 the habitual use in German of vernacular phrases in 

 scientific writing, made this a good opportunity for trying 

 an experiment which the translator has before now recom- 

 mended. The result shows great ingenuity and good 

 judgment, and is probably as successful as the conditions 

 of the attempt allow. 



It will be generally admitted that the English language 

 is incomparably richer and more flexible than the French, 

 while it lacks the precision and neatness which with ordi- 

 nary French writers is apt to become too mechanical and 

 uniform, but in the hands of a master produces the most 

 perfect instrument for scientific exposition. On the other 

 hand, German is far more cumbersome and undisciplined 

 than English, but has a slovenly ease, a picturesque force 

 and a power of adaptation and word-making, which re- 

 minds one of our own language in the first half of the 

 seventeenth century. 



A French scientific writer cannot make a new term or 

 form a compound in his own language, but must con- 

 struct a Greek compound (often ill-formed), and even 

 this must be modified so as to assimilate it to French 

 pronunciation. And comparing the style of Bichat and 

 of Cuvier with that of contemporary writers, we see that 

 the stifihess and severity of the language has increased 

 during the present century. Germans, on the other hand, 

 can invent compounds without limit in number or in 

 length, and can introduce foreign terms as they are 

 wanted, even declining them in accordance with the Ger- 

 man prepositions against which they are thrown. 



The English language has much less power of forming 

 compounds, though poets like Tennyson and Morris 

 show us how flexible it becomes in powerful hands ; but 

 it has a remarkable capacity for assimilating foreign 

 words. The uneC[ualled richness of the language chiefly 

 depends on its having so many synonyms, and this again 

 on its composite character. The choice of words like 

 friendship, amity ; righteous, just ; begin, commence ; 

 wax, increase ; weariness, fatigue ; spue, vomit ; raise, 

 erect ; fruitful, fertile, gives peculiar accuracy, character, 

 and delicacy to modern Enghsh. 



If purely English words were to be generally adopted 

 in science, we should, in the first place, be obliged to 

 shock modem decorum in a way that would be practically 

 impossible. Germans still write of Kothentleerung, Wol- 

 Instorgane, Afterbildun^ ; but such plainness of speech 

 would be intolerable in English. Even such words as 

 sweat, spue, spit are much better kept for rhetoric and 

 poetry than used as physiological terms. 



Moreover, our purely English names are too popular to 

 be tied down to technical definition. The word " worm," 

 for instance, applied by Milton to the serpent, and uni- 

 versally to the larva of diptera, can never be limited to 

 correspond with the class Vermes. The objection that 



English terminology is not " scientific " can only mean 

 that it is not scientifically accurate. To make it so would 

 injure it for every other purpose. 



Surely it is better to speak of the ophidian character of 

 a vertebra than to call it " serpentine " or " snake-like." 

 The first word refers to the anatomical distinctions of the 

 class Ophidia, the second to the peculiar, lateral, wriggling 

 locomotion of these animals, and the last to their sup- 

 posed mental characteristics. In the same way avian is a 

 better scientific term than " bird-like," * mamtnalian than 

 " beastly," s.n6. piscine than " fishy ;" because those are at 

 once recognised as referring to the technical characters 

 of the classes Aves, Mammalia, and Pisces respectively, 

 while these suggest far more vividly the special peculiari- 

 ties which common observation associates with them. 



It must however be admitted that a vernacular synonym 

 is often of value. It brings an unobvious fact vividly 

 and clearly before one. Thus the phrases, "a fox is 

 a kind of dog," " a tiger is only a large cat," " the sword- 

 fish is a sort of mackerel," are certainly more easily re- 

 membered than corresponding statements in " scientific " 

 language. 



The simplicity and directness of idiomatic English is 

 often an advantage as a matter of style. 



For teaching botany to children, and generally for 

 explaining scientific facts to persons unfamiliar with 

 technical names, it is often desirable to use vernacular 

 terms, either to avoid disgusting them with hard words to 

 begin with, or to fix the attention on facts rather than 

 names and prevent the learner supposing that he has 

 made a step in knowledge when he has learned to call 

 hardness impenetrability, or a buttercup Ranunculus. 



Lastly, for the probably increasing number of persons 

 who study science without having learnt Greek, it is of 

 great importance that even when using technical names 

 they shall know the English synonym as a kind of ready 

 translation. When everyone wrote in Latin many terms 

 which are now become technical were simply descriptive. 

 Thus " the passage from the third to the fourth ventricle 

 of the brain " was certainly never meant to be a proper 

 name, nor was " the waterpipe of Sylvius : " but now when 

 " iter," " aquaeduct," " tympanum," " cilium," have become 

 restricted to single objects, it is well that their meaning 

 should be readily apprehended by the use of appropriate 

 English synonyms. At all events the attempt was worth 

 making, and we will conclude this notice by giving a list 

 of some of the synonyms used by Mr. Lankester. 



Cotyledon 



Nucleus 



Nucleolus 



Cytod (su rely this 



Catallacta 



Labyrinthulece 



Diatomacese 



Rhizopoda 



Algae 



Labiatse 



Gamopetalse 



Ctenophora 



Lamellibranchiata 



Gasteropoda 



Crustacea 



= Seed-lobe or germ-leaf. 



— Kernel. 



= Kernel-speck. 



should be cythode). 



= Flimmer balls. 



= Tramweavers. 



= Flintcells. 



= Raystreamers or Rootfeet. 



= Tangles or waterweeds. 



=: Lipblossoms. 



= Bell-flowers. 



= Combjellies. 



= Mussels. 



= Snails 



= Crabfish. 



* The prettily invented word " iinbirdly " occurs, in Cowley's fine Ode on 

 Liberty — 



" Even to the universal tyrant love 

 You homage pay but once a year, 

 None so degenerous and unbirdly prove 

 As his perpetual yoke to bear." 



