TECHNICAL TERMS. 17 



pounds would then have some significance, instead of appearing like trouble- 

 some verbal complications. 



So too with the names of the various groups of animals, nearly all of which 

 are based upon the technical names for some of the organs. The determined 

 " vernacularist " may delude himself with the belief that he is defying the 

 classics in calling Amphioxus by the name Lancelet ; but he cannot appre- 

 ciate the progress or the present condition of systematic zoology without 

 learning that to the same lowest vertebrate have been applied the terms 

 acrania, leptocardia, cirrostomi, cephalochorda, and pharynyobranchii. Why 

 then should he not have been informed already that cardia, cirrus, stoma, 

 pharynx and branchia are technical names for heart, gill, etc.? 



In short, while the small beginnings of Physiology and Zoology maybe ac- 

 quired by the use of vernacular words alone, any considerable progress in exact 

 knowledge would be excessively inconvenient if not impossible, at least with 

 the French or English student, without the aid of a certain number of tech- 

 nical terms. 



Nor are these terms so numerous as to constitute anything more than a 

 purely sentimental burden. As has been well-said by one who is in the 

 position to recognize to the full the value of purely classical training, " A 

 doctor, lawyer, or popular exhorter who cannot learn by heart, in a week, 

 all the technical terms and phrases of Latin origin which he encounters in 

 his common professional occupation, has not wits enough for his calling." 

 Eliot, 1, 359. 



That there is no inherent obstacle to the employment of technical terms 

 of classical derivation is shown by the readiness with which such words as 

 petroleum and phylloxera have become domesticated along with the objects 

 which they represent. There are scores of animals, like the Rhinoceros, 

 Hippopotamus, and Ichneumon, for which there are no English vernacular 

 names ; while the youngest student of Botany accepts Hepatica, Anemone, 

 and even Rhododendron without difficulty or hesitation. Homely as it sounds, 

 stomach is of classical origin, and the use of caul for omentum, sweet-bread 

 for pancreas, or blind-gut for ccscum, would surprise a class in Elementary 

 Physiology. 



Even the late Jeffries Wyman, who saw no objection to forearm, and 

 used near rather than proximal for the first row of carpalia, accepted inter- 

 membral as " good," and freely employed, if indeed he did not originate, the 

 adjective pretibial, which probably would have come into general use had 

 not the bone in question proved to be the homologue of the intermedium. 

 (Morse, 18, 13.) 



30. Names Indicative of Relative Position. Where four or more 

 similar parts form a series, they are usually numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., begin- 

 ning with the one nearest the head, or the middle line, as the case may be. 

 Thus, of the ribs, the first is next to the neck ; among the several groups of 

 2 



