CHARACTERS OF ANIMALS. 117 



ambiguity. Dr BARCLAY, inreference to the anatomy of the 

 human body, has succeeded, in his work on Nomenclature, 

 which we have had occasion to quote, in removing much 

 of this ambiguity, by the employment of restricted terms, 

 to express the conditions of position, aspect, and connection. 

 Were this Nomenclature generally adopted by zoologists, 

 much confusion, which at present prevails, might in future 

 be avoided. The following remarks may be of some use to 

 the reader, until an opportunity presents itself of consult- 

 ing the valuable Work of this distinguished anatomist. 



The Mesial Plane is supposed to be perpendicular to the 

 horizon, when a horse, for example, is standing in a natural 

 position, and it divides the body, from back to breast, and 

 from the head to the opposite extremity, in two equal parts. 

 The edge of this plane, passing along the back, is termed 

 the Dorsal^ while the opposite edge, passing aleng the belly, 

 is termed the Ventral edge. Dr BARCLAY terms this last 

 edge the Sternal. Strong objections occur to the use of 

 this term, in such an extended sense. The terms, back and 

 belly, which the terms dorsal and ventral express, are used 

 in their most extended sense, to denote the whole extent of 

 both edges of the mesial plane, and are applicable to nearly 

 every animal. The term sternal, from sternum, expresses 

 only a small portion of one of these edges, and is alone ap- 

 plicable to the vertebral animals. 



If we restrict the phrases, dorsal and ventral, to express 

 the edges of the mesial plane, By what terms shall we de- 

 signate its extremities? The terms coronal and sacral, 

 which sufficiently mark the terminations of the mesial plane 

 in man, would indicate, in the lower animals, places consi- 

 derably removed from either end. It would be of import, 

 ance, therefore, to avoid the use of phrases so very limited 

 in their application, or, when extended, too apt to mislead 



