THE QUESTION OF NOMENCLATIVE 65 



considered. It is the duty therefore of the representatives of 

 science who have joined the Uniono di VAmiki di la Linguo 

 Internaciona to apply themselves in the first place to this 

 problem, since the further success of the whole question 

 depends entirely on its at least provisional solution. 



The first principle which must guide this work is 

 undoubtedly the general principle of maximum internation- 

 ally, which has been used in the construction of the 

 auxiliary language. Its application is rendered easy by the 

 fact that, owing to the use of Greek and Latin roots for the 

 designation of scientific concepts, there is already present 

 a far-reaching internationality, which must naturally be 

 retained. 



In the second place, it will not always be possible to 

 employ in science the same expressions that are used in 

 ordinary speech, because the effect of the latter is to produce 

 a blunting of the precise connotation of concepts; whilst 

 science, on the other hand, requires clearly defined concepts, 

 to which must correspond equally distinct expressions. 



In the third place, those words which occur frequently in 

 combinations must be chosen as short as possible. Here I 

 would not shrink from a very considerable mutilation of the 

 most international forms. Such long names as wasser- 

 stoff or " hydrogen " cannot be permitted, and must be 

 reduced to monosyllabic forms, Every chemical author 

 must have been times without number annoyed by the terms 

 of three and four syllables for the commonest elements, and 

 this defect is common to all languages. The objection 

 against such an artificial abbreviation, which is valid for the 

 language of daily life, namely, that it increases the difficulty 

 of the language for those of little education, does not hold 

 in the case of science, since it is a matter of indifference to 

 the beginner whether he learns the new name oxygen or oxo 

 (or any other similar abbreviation), because in any case he 

 must learn it by heart. Such a procedure satisfies also the 



I.L. 



