566 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 225. 



SOME SIISAPPEEHENSIONS AS TO THE 



SIMPLIFIED N031ENCLA TURE 



OF ANATOMY* 



Let it not be interpreted as indifference 

 to the honor of election to an ofiBce held 

 by the lamented Joseph Leidy and Harri- 

 son Allen if I express even more profound 

 gratification in another action of this Asso- 

 ciation at its meeting a year ago, viz. , the 

 adoption, without dissent, by such of the 

 members as were sufficiently interested to 

 attend, of the ' Report of the Majority! of 

 the Committee on Anatomical Nomencla- 

 ture ' {Proceedings, pp. 27-55). 



It was then my hope and expectation to 

 lay aside that matter for a year in favor of 

 others already too long deferred. Least of 

 all did I contemplate making it the subject 

 of the present address. The change of plan 

 is due to considerations which may be sum- 

 marized thus : As investigators our main 

 purpose is to comprehend ; as writers and 

 teachers our first duty is to be clear ; when, 

 therefore, we have reason to believe that in 

 the minds of our fellows there is obscurity 

 upon a subject of common interest to which 

 we have given particular attention we 

 should avail ourselves of any special oppor- 

 tunity of elucidation, the imperativeness of 

 this obligation being directly proportionate 

 to the personal, professional and ofiicial im- 

 portance of those who seem to need enlight- 

 enment. 



When, therefore, it is announced that at 

 this meeting the Association will be called 

 upon, in respect to nomenclature, to 're- 

 consider its acts from the beginning ' (' Mi- 

 nority Report,' p. 57) ; when those who 

 make this announcement are among the 

 original members of the Association and 

 its only surviving past Presidents ; when, 

 upon both sides of the water, there have 



* Address of the President at the opening of the 

 eleventh annual session of the Association of Amer- 

 ican Anatomists, December 28, 1898. 



t F. H. Gerrish, Geo. S. Huntington and myself. 



been published reports, articles, reviews 

 and paragraphs in books* containing, 

 however unintentionally, statements so 

 inadequate, exaggerated, or even inaccu- 

 rate, as to mislead those not themselves 

 acquainted with the facts ; and when, 

 finally, it is probable that the facts are 

 more familiar to me than to any other sin- 

 gle individual, it becomes not merely my 

 privilege, but my duty, to share my informa- 

 tion with the members of this Association 

 and with others interested who may have 

 lacked the time or opportunity to gain it 

 hitherto. 



So- numerous are the misapprehensions as 

 to the nature of the simplified nomencla- 

 ture and the purposes of its advocates that 

 it is impossible to consider them all fully 

 upon the present occasion ; some, indeed, 

 will be merely stated in the hope that such 



*1. Verhandlungen der anatomischen Gesellschaft 

 auf der neunten Versamralung, in Basel, April, 1895. 

 Anat. Anzeiger ; Ergiinzungsheft zum X. Band ; p. 

 162. 



2. His, W. — Die anatomische Nomenclatur. Nom- 

 ina anatoraica. Verzeichniss der von der Anatomischen 

 Gesellschaft auf ihrer IX. Versammlung in Basel 

 angenommennen Namen. Eingeleitet und im Ein- 

 verstiindniss mit dem Redactionsausschuss erlaiitert. 

 Archiv fur Anatomie mid PhysioJogie. Anat. Abth., 

 Supplement Band, 1895. O., pp. 180 ; 27 figs., 2 

 plates, 1895 ; [pp. 6-7]. 



3. Herr Burt Wilder und die Anatomische Nomen- 

 clatur. Anat. Anzeiger, XII., 446-448, Oct. 30, 1896. 



4. Kolliker, A. von. — Handbuch der Gewebelehre 

 des Menschen. Sechste Aufiage. Zvpeiter Band. 

 Nervensystem des Menschen und der Thiere. O., 

 pp. 874, 845 figs. Leipzig, 1896 ; [p. 814]. 



5. Dwight, Thomas. — Wilder's System der Nomen- 

 klatur. Ergcbnisse der Anatomie und Entwickelungs- 

 geschichie, 1897, pp. 471-479. 



6. Baker, Frank.— Review of the foregoing. Sci- 

 ence, VII., 715-716, May 28, 1898. 



7. Baker, F., and Dwight, T.— Report of the Mi- 

 nority of the Committee on Anatomical Nomencla- 

 ture. Proceedings of the tenth annual session of the 

 Association of American Anatomists, December 28, 

 1897, pp. 55-57. 



8. Reviews of Mills,' 'The Nervous System and its 

 Diseases,' in various medical journals ; 1898. 



