July, 1883.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



53 



only half a dozen pairs in a whole summer, 

 and their movements can no longer be de- 

 pended on. Last year I was constantly in 

 the field, biit did not see one until six 

 weeks after they reached a point only a 

 hundred miles south of me. 



Plain English. 



The title of this article, as well as the 

 thoughts which follow, were suggested by 

 the prospectus of this Magazine. 



Thought one is, that the O. and O. ought 

 to be well supported, by the amateurs of 

 the fraternity at least, because the articles 

 which appear in it are not to be so crowded 

 with technicalities as to weary the reader 

 but are to be written in what the literati 

 call the "popular style," in the language 

 of the people rather than in the language 

 of science, or in other words they are to be 

 written in " Plain English." 



And there is excellent authority and pre 

 cedent to warrant the hearty endorsement 

 of such a policy, for not only have eminent 

 scientific men of the present day written 

 many popular works, but a century ago the 

 importance of a modification of technical 

 writing was recognized, and that illiistrious 

 naturalist, Baron Cuvier, placed in the pre- 

 face to Le Regne Animal the words, "I 

 have not employed many technical terms, 

 and have endeavored to communicate my 

 ideas without that barbarous array of fic- 

 titious words, which in the works of many 

 natural historians, is so very repulsive." As 

 Agassiz, in his work on classification, has 

 styled Cuvier " the greatest zoologist of all 

 time," surely American students cannot 

 justly be stigmatized as unscientific if they 

 follow the Baron's teaching, or, even if, 

 guided by the requirements of their day, 

 and by the experience gained in the years 

 intervening since he wrote, they carry his 

 idea to a greater length than did the mas- 

 ter himself. 



And the question of the style to be 

 adopted in writing scientific works ceases 

 to a trifling matter, and demands earnest 



attention, when it is considered that against 

 this language of science nuist be laid the 

 charge of causing the study of ^Natural 

 History to be unpopular, for it would be 

 folly to deny the fact that it is unpopular, 

 that in the minds of those who enjoy whole- 

 some and instructive books, but who are 

 not especially interested in scientific re- 

 search, there is a strong antipathy to works 

 treating of natural science. And this an- 

 tipathy is more real than apparent, even 

 among those who are termed amateur sci- 

 entists, who study a branch of science for 

 the pleasure derived from it or for a relaxa- 

 tion from more engrossing labor. Tliese 

 are obliged, in order to keep informed of 

 the latest discoveries, to read the deter- 

 minations of the leading observers in their 

 chosen departments, but it is in much the 

 same sj)irit as that with which they sub- 

 mit to the manijDulations of a dentist, that ** 

 they worry through the tedious pages filled 

 with unattractive and often obscure sen- 

 tences, and with Latin and Greek terms 

 and names which are hard to spell, hard to 

 pronounce, hard to remember, and harder 

 still to understand. 



If our novels were written in such a style 

 that they necessitated a continuous refer- 

 ence to Lexicons and Dictionaries, we 

 should not read many ; and science can re- 

 late to us stories which are equally as fas- 

 cinating as those of Fiction — all the more 

 fascinating because true; and scientific 

 works could be written quite as easily and 

 with as exact precision without the con- 

 stant use of these technicalities, the great 

 mass of them being as useless as they are 

 repellant. The plea that technical writing 

 cannot be dispensed with is an absurdity, 

 a mere pretence, for this language of 

 science is a sham of the most pronounced 

 type, of a piece with the "formulas of 

 Beadledom" and the "quackery" against 

 which the pen of Carlyle waged war so 

 mercilessly; the only purpose its use 

 achieves is to throw over science that veil 

 of mystery which is so dear to the heart of 



