May 20, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



715 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 Anatomische Litteratur in Amerika. I. Wilder'' s 



System der Nomenclakir. Von Thomas 



DwiGHT in Boston. Separatabdruck aus 



Ergebnisse der Anatomie und Entwickelungs- 



geschichte. Wiesbaden. 1897. 



It is now some twenty-six years since Dr. 

 Wilder commenced his crusade against current 

 anatomical nomenclature, and during that time 

 his activity has been great. Firmly imbued 

 with the idea that reform is urgently required, 

 he has been prolific in inventing new terms and 

 urgent in pressing their acceptance upon the 

 scientific public. Although his following has 

 not been numerous, most scholars being re- 

 pelled by his fantastic terms and his defects of 

 literary form, yet by persistence and iteration 

 he has made himself a veritable force in the 

 anatomical literature of this country, a force 

 that must be reckoned with whenever any 

 question of terminology is to be considered. 



The paper here presented to the German 

 reading public by the well known professor of 

 anatomy in Harvard University is an attempt 

 to correct certain misapprehensions that have 

 arisen in Germany with regard to the views of 

 Dr. Wilder and the position he occupies. In 

 order to explain how these misapprehensions 

 arose it will be necessary to touch brieily upon 

 certain matters that, while familiar to those in- 

 terested in nomenclature, are not widely known 

 to the public at large. 



When, in 1889, the Anatomische Gesellschaft, 

 the principal foreign society of anatomists, ap- 

 pointed a committee to consider the subject of 

 nomenclature it was natural that Dr. Wilder 

 should be consulted. Several American scientific 

 societies had appointed similar committees,* and 

 in these Dr. Wilder took great interest, obtaining 

 from them, either directly or indirectly, some 

 brief and very moderate reports not antagonistic 

 to his views. These he forwarded in considerable 

 numbers to the German committee, together 

 with some publications of his own. It seems 

 that he did not at all realize the ignorance that 

 naturally prevails in Germany as to scien- 

 tific work in this country, and that, although he 



* The American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, the American Neurological Society, and 

 the Association of American Anatomists. 



had no official standing whatever that would 

 authorize him to speak for American anatomists, 

 he created the impression that he represented 

 some American committee that indorsed and 

 supported all his somewhat revolutionary ideas. 

 Under this misapprehension the Anatomische 

 Gesellschaft made the following formal protest 

 against what they assumed was the American 

 scheme : 



"The Anatomische Gesellschaft thinks it ought to- 

 take a stand against the attempts of the American 

 Committee on Nomenclature. It recognizes the use- 

 fulness of as short names as possible and the aptness 

 of some suggestions "which have came from America. 

 It protests, however, against the inconsiderate use of 

 mononyms and the consequent radical remodeling of 

 anatomical language as it has existed hitherto. To 

 follow the American committee in this course is for- 

 bidden to the Anatomische Gesellschaft by the ac- 

 knowledged laws of general language formation as 

 well as by a regard for the historical development of 

 our own science. Should the construction of a pecu- 

 liar anatomical terminology make progress in America 

 along these lines, an impassable chasm would be 

 formed between those who pursue anatomical studies 

 and those who devote themselves to medicine, and 

 thus cooperation in scientific work would be deeply 

 disturbed."* 



Again, when the list of terms adopted by the 

 Gesellschaft came to be published, it was ac- 

 companied by some rather tart remarks by Pro- 

 fessor His concerning the ' American committee 

 and its very zealous member, Mr. Wilder,' who 

 had ' already published a lot of small papers 

 and pamphlets.' 



In consequence of his strictures there ensued a 

 rather acrimonious correspondence between Dr. 

 Wilder and Professor His, in which both parties 

 appear to have lost their tempers, and from, 

 which no distinct advantage accrued to science, f 



Dr. Dwight proceeds to give an accurate ac- 

 count of the American committees, their recom- 

 mendations and the official connection of Dr. 

 Wilder with them, showing that they were in no 

 way responsible for his acts and had never 

 recommended the comprehensive remodeling of 

 anatomical terminology that he advocates. 



* Anatomischer Anzeiger, Erganzungsheft zum Xte 

 Band, 1895, p. 162. 



fPublished by Wilder in his Neural Terms, Jour, 

 of Comp. Neurology, 1896. 



