THE BASLE ANATOMICAL NOMEN- 

 CLATURE [BNA]. 



Introduction. 



Now that the BNA is being followed in medical and scientific schools 

 throughout the world, and has been adopted as the language used in several of the 

 newer English and American anatomical text-books and atlases, it has occurred 

 to the publishers of Morris's Anatomy that a concise statement concerning the 

 origin and exact nature of this list of anatomical terms would be interesting 

 and helpful to anatomists, physiologists, biologists, pathologists, and clinicians. 

 They have asked me to prepare this statement, and I do so gladly, in the hope 

 that it may bring the terminology to the attention of many who do not yet know 

 of it, and make clear, perhaps, certain misunderstandings that have existed in 

 the minds of some who have heard of it, but are not yet really familiar with 

 it. To know its origin, nature, and aims is, I feel sure, in the majority of 

 instances at least, to decide to use it. That the sooner a general decision to 

 adopt it is reached the better it will be for anatomical instruction and research, 

 and the easier it will be for teacher and taught, it is the aim of the following 

 paragraphs to show. They have not been difficult to write, for, aside from the 

 experience I have gained by personally using the BNA in anatomical labora- 

 tories during the past ten years, the material for the account lay ready at hand 

 in the articles of Krause* and Hisf and it has been necessary only to adapt 

 it to the needs of readers in America and Great Britain. The article by 

 Professor His has been followed especially closely, and parts of my account are 

 no other than a free translation of his lucid paragraphs. 'The actual list of 

 Latin names of the BNA is to be published at once by Messrs. P. Blakiston's 

 Son & Co. and Messrs. J. & A. Churchill. It will be accompanied by a list of 

 literal English equivalents which Dr. Benson A. Cohoe, Assistant Resident 

 Physician in the Johns Hopkins Hospital, has been kind enough to help me to 

 prepare. The English vocabulary is simply explanatory; in many instances it 

 would be unwise to use the English synonyms given, and in many more instances 

 anatomists would differ as to the most suitable English equivalent to be chosen. 

 Each anatomist is of course at liberty to use whatever English equivalent he 

 desires for the official Latin terms. Students are strongly advised, however, 

 to use the original Latin terms as English words. The Latin terms are the only 

 authorized ones. 



* Krause, W. : Die anatomische Nomenclatur. Internat. Monatsschr. f . Anat. u. Physiol., 

 1893, x, 313. 



fHis, W.: "Die anatomische Nomenclatur. Nomina anatomica, Verzeichniss der von der 

 anatomischen Gesellschaft auf ihrer IX. Versammlung in Basel aufgenommenen Namen 

 Eingeleitet und im Einverstandniss mit dem Redactionsausschuss erlautert. Mit dreissig 

 Abbildungen in Text und zwei Tafeln": Leipzig, Veit & Co., 1895. (Reprinted from the 

 Arch. f. Anat. u. Physiol. anat. Abth. Leipzig, 1895, Supplement-Band.) 



