THE WAY THE WORK WAS DONE 5 



undertake the establishment of a terminology intended for international use. 

 It was decided, however, not to make the undertaking too wide at the beginning, 

 to try rather to form a list of terms which should, in the first place, be acceptable 

 to German-speaking anatomists and, later on, to attempt to gain the cooperation 

 of anatomists who speak other languages. Though the names of the Commis- 

 sion originally appointed are all those of German or Austrian anatomists, the 

 lists of anatomical terms considered were, from the beginning, taken from 

 French and English as well as from German books. In 1890 several anatomists 

 from Great Britain and other European countries were invited to join the Com- 

 mission, and, later, Professor Thane of London was included. It was partly 

 owing, doubtless, to the relatively undeveloped state of anatomy at the time in 

 American universities, partly to the fact that few, if any, of our anatomists 

 then attended the meetings of the Anatomical Society, that no one from this 

 country was invited to join the Commission. Were another revision to be made 

 by the Society to-day, American anatomists would undoubtedly be requested 

 to act. The terminology which the Commission prepared and which was ac- 

 cepted by the Society in Basle, in 1905, was, in origin and in execution, there- 

 fore, the affair of the Anatomical Society and is to be regarded as international 

 only in as far as that Society and its affiliations may be so regarded. 



The Way the Work was done. 



It is interesting to learn the methods followed by the Commission in the 

 accomplishment of its task. The plan adopted at the beginning was greatly 

 modified as the work proceeded. Myology, as it promised to be much the easiest, 

 was the first subject undertaken. The editor took as a basis the names used in 

 the latest large text-book of gross anatomy.* These terms were written down 

 in a vertical column and the synonyms from a number of other much-used text- 

 books placed in parallel columns. The lists were manifolded and a copy sent 

 to each commissioner with the request that he mark the term of his choice, or 

 if he found none suitable to propose a new one for the structure concerned. 

 Each commissioner was to return his list with comments to Professor Krause. 



When the first vote on myological terms was counted it was found that the 

 names of 85 per cent, of the structures had received a majority vote, more than 

 40 per cent, receiving practically unanimous approval. This surprising result 

 was most encouraging. A second list was then made out indicating the accepted 

 names, the terms still not decided upon, and the list of new terms proposed, and 

 it, together with the comments made by the various commissioners, was again 

 distributed. After the second vote any terms left undetermined were discussed 

 and settled in personal sittings of the Commission. By June, 1891, the myo- 

 logical terminology was complete with a list of some 300 terms. 



As a result of its early experience the Commission found that a second and 

 third vote made by correspondence gave results but little better than the first 

 vote. Further, it was soon learned that the new terms proposed and the com- 

 ments made by the members, often as a result of hard work and special knowl- 

 edge, were insufficiently considered unless each new term and comment were 

 verbally discussed in personal meetings of the commissioners. On attempting 

 such verbal discussion, however, in 1892, it was found that progress was made 

 too slowly in the full Commission and it became necessary to parcel out the 

 work to special committees. Thus the list of terms in Angiology was assigned 

 to Professors Merkel, Thane, and Toldt; that in Regional Anatomy to Pro- 



* Tliis happened to be C. Gegenbaur's " Lehrbuch der Anatomic des Menschen." 



