576 



SCIENCE. 



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



tained iu the Pacific Record of Medicine and 

 Surgery, the London Lancet, the Colorado 

 Medical Journal, the American Journal of In- 

 sanity, the New York Medical Record and the 

 Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. I 

 quote from the last two as highly influential 

 and representative. The Record says : 



"There is to be found an ample, clear and thor- 

 oughly scientific treatment of the anatomy of the 

 nervous system. * * * We are not in thorough 

 sympathy with nomenclatural cataclystns, and feel 

 that frequently the old and familiar is clothed in new 

 terms for the sake of lending an air of novelty and 

 apparent gloss of 'science.' Still iu the biological 

 sciences nomenclature forms one of the most impor- 

 tant landmarks of progress, especially when by it new 

 and wider conceptions are gained. We believe, how- 

 ever, that in the adoption of the Wilder terminology 

 the author has departed from a healthy historical 

 conservatism, but this is, perhaps, an academic mat- 

 ter after all." 



The foregoing contains so many qualifi- 

 cations as to leave its purport somewhat in 

 doubt ; indeed, one may imagine its writer, 

 as he finished it, exclaiming, with the Con- 

 gressman, ' Where am I at?' 



The remarks of Dr. B. Sachs in the Jour- 

 nal of Nervous and Mental Disease are more 

 explicit, and I should be glad to reproduce 

 them in full ; on the present occasion ex- 

 tracts must suffice : 



" It is to be feared that the student will not be 

 grateful for the introduction of the new cerebral ter- 

 minology of Wilder and Gage. While recognizing 

 the full merits of the new nomenclature and appre- 

 ciating the benefits conferred upon the comparative 

 anatomist and tlie comparative embryologist, the 

 truth is, the student of neurology does not need it. 

 * * * * It has been suggested that children should 

 begin the study of brain anatomy. The plan is a 

 good one with reference to this nomenclature ; the 

 only way to acquire it is to acquire it early in life, 

 when the cortical cells are ready for the reception of 

 any and all auditory impressions. We have no doubt 

 that in the course of time some of these names will 

 be adopted by general consent ; but it will be well 

 along in the next century before the system, as a 

 whole, will come into use." 



Upon the whole I find myself less de- 

 pressed by the objections of Dr. Sachs than 



encouraged by his almost startling forecast. 

 He is young enough for me to venture the 

 prediction that ' well along in the next cen- 

 tury' he will be surrounded by colleagues 

 and pupils who, according to my plan,* 

 commenced the practical study of the brain 

 in the primary school, and who, by the aid 

 of the simplified nomenclature, learned 

 twice as rapidly as ourselves. 



Among the ten favorable reviews the 

 most elaborate is in the Journal of the Amer- 

 ican Medical Association (August 20, 1898). 

 That in the New York Medical Journal (May 

 21, 1898) concludes thus: 



" We are very glad that the author has 

 had the courage to introduce these terms, 

 believing, as we do, in their correctness 

 and in the need of their becoming familiar." 



I refrain from reading the other reviewsf 

 in Group D, mainly because the expressions 

 therein complimentaiy to myself are em- 

 barrassingly numerous and emphatic. In 

 view of this evidence those who contend 

 that ' most scholars are repelled by my fan- 

 tastic terms and defects of literary form' 

 would seem called upon to either withdraw 

 that claim as a misapprehension or to mod- 

 ify materially the commonly accepted defi- 

 nition of medical and scientific scholarship. 



XXII. That ' barbarisms^ constitute an ob- 

 jectionable feature of my '■system.'' — Upon the 

 supposition that bj^ barbarisms are here 

 meant hybrid words, this point was some- 

 what fully discussed in ' Neural Terms,' p. 

 290. Since the criticism was ofi'ered by the 



* The desirability and feasibility of the acquisition 

 of some real and accurate knowledge of the brain by 

 precollegiate scholars. Amer. Soc. Naturalists Records, 

 p. 31, 1896 ; Science, December 17, 1897. 



t The St. Louis Sledical and Surgical .Journal (April, 

 1898); (Portland, Oregon) Medical Sentinel (April, 

 1898); (Detroit) Medical Age (April 11, 1898); Can- 

 ada Lancet (May, 1898); Richmond {\ a.) Journal of 

 Practice (May, 1898) ; Buffalo Medical Journal (June, 

 1898); University (of Pa.) Medical Magazine (Septem- 

 ber, 1898); Korth Carolina MedicalJournal (Septem- 

 ber, 1898). 



