6 ANATOMICAL NOMENCLATURE 



fessors Merkel, Riidinger, and Toldt, while Professor Toldt was made a com- 

 mittee of one to consider the terminology of joints. 



Another important step consisted in the appointment of a special editing 

 committee consisting of Professors His, Krause, and Waldeyer. To this com- 

 mittee was delegated the task of giving a uniform character to the terminology 

 as a whole, a matter of no little difficulty. Since the single systems had been 

 voted upon at long intervals, the different terms accepted had received variable 

 majorities. There was a considerable residue of terms still undetermined in the 

 parts already considered and the whole list contained inequalities and even 

 contradictions which had to be corrected. Indeed, this editing committee 

 found itself deeply immersed in the hardest kind of work for no less than three 

 years after it was appointed. The terminology of the nervous system and of 

 the viscera proved to be the most difficult of all. In these chapters the com- 

 pleted list is deeply indebted especially to Professor His and to the support and 

 advice he received from Professors von Kolliker, Toldt, and Waldeyer. 



During the last three of the six years' work it was found that results were 

 most quickly and satisfactorily reached by adopting the following program: 

 First, the members of the Commission were asked to send in their special sugges- 

 tions and comments for the unfinished lists even before the first vote was taken, 

 so that they could be considered on the primary ballot. The editor-in-chief, 

 after this vote had been made, rearranged the lists and turned them over to the 

 editing committee, the members of which reconsidered each term separately 

 and decided doubtful questions. This committee often found it necessary to 

 refer to the bibliography and even to dissections to help it in its decisions. The 

 lists thus edited were returned to the Commission for final comments. These, 

 when received, were thoroughly studied by the editing committee, and in 1895 

 the definitive list was presented by the Commission to the Anatomical Society 

 as a whole at its meeting in Basle. The Society voted its adoption. 



The Principles arrived at as the Work proceeded. 



As the six years' work of the Commission proceeded certain principles of 

 terminology crystallized out and simplified the further revision. It was found, 

 however, that while these principles were of value as general rules, none of them 

 could be employed absolutely without exception. The more important decisions 

 arrived at were the following: 



(1) Each part shall have only one name. 



(2) Each term shall be in Latin and be philologically correct. 



(3) Each term shall be as short and simple as possible. 



(4) The terms shall be merely memory signs and need lay no claim to 

 description or to speculative interpretation. 



(5) Related terms shall, as far as possible, be similar e. g., Femur, Arteria 

 femoralis, Vena femoralis, Nervus femoralis. 



(6) Adjectives, in general, shall be arranged as opposites e. g., dexter 

 and sinister, major and minor, anterior and posterior, superficialis and profundus. 



The Commission was occasionally forced to deviate from these rules. Thus, 

 the first one was violated with the mitral valve, which is named valvula bicus- 

 pidalis and valvula mitralis, neither term being omitted (a concession to clini- 

 cians). The third rule, while usually easily followed (few would care to retain 

 the terms crotaphitico-buccinatorius or petrosalpingostaphylinus) , could not 

 always be obeyed; for instance, it did not seem wise to abolish that popular 

 term, sternocleidomastoideus. The fifth rule was ignored in making the 

 arteria meningea media go through a foramen spinosum (instead of through a 



