170 BIOLOGICAL LECTURES. 



ferences between the two sets of names comparable with the 

 distinctions between the metric system and the English weights 

 and measures. 



The address of Dr. Dwight contained no reference to what 

 has already been accomplished or proposed by American organ- 

 izations. At that time, of course, the action of the American 

 Neurological Association had not been taken. But the Asso- 

 ciation of American Anatomists and the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, at various periods between 

 1889 and 1892, had adopted unanimously the recommenda- 

 tions of their three committees corresponding with the first 

 five sections of the report of the Neurological Association. 



Although the specific terms included in these recommen- 

 dations are few, they exemplify all the commendable features 

 of the German report. Indeed, I fail to discover in the latter 

 any general statement, principle, rule, or suggestion that had 

 not already been set forth with at least equal accuracy, clear- 

 ness, and force in the writings of British and American anato- 

 mists prior to 1895. 



Notwithstanding the small number of individual terms 

 included in the American reports, the dates of appointment of 

 the committees, 1885, 1889, 1891, the representative nature of 

 the terms, and the comprehensiveness of the general recom- 

 mendations all justify deliberate and independent action upon 

 the part of anatomists in this country. Hence it is gratifying 

 to see Dr. Dwight's indication of our duty in this regard. He 

 evidently advocates neither heedlessness nor a servility that 

 might merit the application of the following caustic comment 

 in an English review of an American work : 



Our authors are merely following the lead of a certain eminent 

 German anatomist, it being a fashion with American scientific writers 

 (except a few who prefer a sort of scientific Volapiik *) to follow pretty 

 blindly the German scientific leads in the matter of nomenclature, 

 and this even to the extent of bodily adopting actual German words 



1 Histologic terminology was apparently referred to here; but I imagine that 

 the remark might apply equally to my series of correlated names for one of the 

 encephalic segments and some of its parts, viz., metencephalon^metacoelia^metatela^ 

 metaplexus, and metaporus (see Table III). 



