146 BIOLOGICAL LECTURES. 



in accord with the Americans in recognizing the value of 

 brevity as a feature of anatomic terms. But I have as yet 

 failed to find in their publications or private letters even the 

 faintest glimmer of comprehension of the two-fold superiority 

 of mononyms (single-word terms) over polyonyms (terms of 

 two or more words), viz., their capacity for (a) inflection, and (b) 

 adoption into other languages with little or no change of form. 



In order to eliminate so far as possible the personal element 

 from the consideration of the special criticisms of Professor 

 His, I select as the first subject of rejoinder a term, postcava, 

 in which my interest is only indirect, as of one toward a child 

 by adoption rather than by paternity. Omitting intervening 

 phrases not affecting the interpretation, the complaint of Pro- 

 fessor His reads (translated) as follows: " Wilder and his col- 

 leagues . . . say praecornu and postcornu for cornu anterius 

 and cornu posterius, postcava for vena cava posterior, with many 

 similar terms." The accompanying implied disclaimer as to 

 "philologic pedantry " can hardly embrace a toleration of mis- 

 statement; hence, before discussing the intrinsic merits of the 

 word selected, it may be well to dispose of minor points that 

 might complicate the main issue. 



In the text Professor His refers only to " Wilder," and in 

 note .2 an initial is wrong. Hence it is only just to state that 

 my terminologic transgressions must not be imputed to Harris 

 H. Wilder, professor in Smith College, Northampton, Mass., 

 whose researches, especially upon lungless salamanders, 1 make 

 me proud to claim him as a distant relative. 



The objectionable words are attributed to "Wilder and his 

 colleagues." Not one of the three specified words or of the 

 " many similar terms " has been sanctioned by either of the four 

 committees, and few of the members thereof have adopted 

 them. For the confusion and possible injustice here occasioned 

 no adequate explanation can be offered. 



The phrase, " postcava statt vena cava posterior," would 



become cosmopolitan; such terms as ' Zwischenkiemendeckelstiick ' are likely to 

 be restricted to the anatomists of the country where the vocal powers are trained 

 from infancy to their utterance." 



1 Anatomischer Anzeiger, IX, Jan. 20, 1894, and XII, 182-192, 1896. 



