SOME NEURAL TERMS. 147 



naturally imply that the latter is the name preferred by the 

 German committee. Yet the official list contains (p. 77) only 

 *vena cava inferior}- 



So far as appears in the article of Professor His, postcava 

 was coined by me. On the contrary, so far as I am aware, it 

 (in the derivative postcaval} was first introduced by Richard 

 Owen about the middle of the century, and employed by him 

 consistently thereafter. 



Whether or not the two historic facts just mentioned 2 were 

 known to Professor His he alone can tell, and the fate of other 

 queries does not encourage an effort to ascertain. Hence I am 

 compelled to offer propositions which each reader must accept 

 or reject in accordance with his own information and judgment. 



1 . Postcava, in the form postcaval, occurs frequently in the 

 writings of a leading English anatomist. 



2. Those writings must be known and accessible to Professor 

 His. Hence there is no excuse for the erroneous intimation in 

 the article. 



3. Whatever its source, postcava differs from the more usual 

 terms in its comparative brevity, while at the same time it is 

 not open to the charge of ambiguity. Why, then, was it not 

 included in the column of synonyms from "sonstigen Autoren" 

 in the protocols of the German committee, as was a less common 

 and acceptable synonym, vis., "vena cava inferior thoracica ? " 



4. If the entire committee supposed me to be the author of 

 postcava, their action was consistent, since no term is credited 

 to me in the column indicated. 



5. But if any members of the committee knew that postcava 

 originated with Richard Owen, their objections to the word 

 might well have been waived out of respect for him. 



The actual form employed by Owen is specified above, not 

 merely for the sake of accuracy, but also in order to forestall 

 criticism upon a point where disagreement is possible. It is, 



1 In passing it may be remarked that the retention of superior and inferior as 

 the essential elements of the designations of these great vessels constitutes one 

 of the many evidences of the non-emancipation of the German committee from 

 anthropotomic enslavement (see p. 144). 



2 My non-responsibility is certain ; the responsibility of Owen is assumed in the 

 absence of evidence to the contrary. 



