716 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 177. 



Some of the peculiarities of the "Wilder sys- 

 tem are then briefly discussed, attention being 

 called to its disregard of the ordinary princi- 

 ples of language formation as exemplified by : 

 1st. The mutilation of words, as by using 

 ^alinjection,' for injection with alcohol ; chippo- 

 camp, for hippocampus major, etc. 2d. The sub- 

 stitution of monomial terms (' mononyms,' 

 Wilder) for those sanctioned by long usage 

 and historic precedent. In recent publications 

 we are asked, for example, to say ' restis,' for 

 restiform body; ' praecribrum,' for anterior 

 perforated space ; and ' quadrigeminum, ' for 

 corpora quadrigemina. In this matter the 

 majority of anatomists will probably agree 

 with Professor His that ' ' the contraction of 

 several words into one may under certain cir- 

 cumstances be an improvement, but as the con- 

 ciseness of a telegram may lead to its obscurity, 

 so terms used in this way may, from their very 

 brevity, demand a special explanation for their 

 comprehension."* Dr. Dwight cites, with ap- 

 proval, the writer in Nature who styles this 

 system a scientific Volapiik. Dr. Wilder him- 

 self recognizes the necessity for furnishing a 

 vocabulary for his peculiar tongue, as is done 

 with the artificial language just cited, for his 

 longer essays are accompanied by a chapter of 

 definitions, and his shorter ones have numerous 

 parenthetic interpolations for explaining the 

 meaning of his terms. 



The degrading influence that such inartistic 

 curtailments must have upon ordinary literary 

 style is pointed out by Dr. Dwight. We notice 

 in a recent publication from Dr. Wilder' s pen 

 that ' anatomic teachers ' are mentioned, by 

 which grisly term he apparently means teach- 

 ers of anatomy. 



Dr. Dwight suggests that some of the oddi- 

 ties of this system have, doubtless, arisen be- 

 cause of the peculiar isolation of Dr. Wilder 

 from those who are using human anatomy 

 practically and who, therefore, feel the necessity 

 of preserving unbroken the traditions of ana- 

 tomical speech. Medicine and surgery have 

 never been taught at Cornell University, and 

 Professor Wilder' s chair is not that of human 

 anatomy. 



The general verdict of foreign anatomists is 



* Die Anatomische Nomenclatur, p. 7. 



strongly against these innovations, and is well . 

 voiced by the following temperate and wise re- 

 buke administered by the veteran Kolliker, 

 who was Chairman of the Committee on No- 

 menclature of the Anatomische Gesellschaft : 



"I regard the anatomical nomenclature that 

 has emanated from America in recent years as 

 a complete failure, and so inappropriate that it 

 is impossible for me to read articles based 

 thereon. One can hardly ask a scholar who 

 has received a regular training to accept 

 quietly the many barbarisms of this nomen- 

 clature, such as metatela, metaplexus, auUplexiis, 

 diaplexus, ectoeinerea, cephalad, caudad, dor- 

 sad, cephalo-dorsad, ventro-caudad, dorso-caudad, 

 hemi-cerebrum, etc., and to turn back and find 

 out the meaning of a great number of other 

 terms, such as terma, proton, pero, prosoterma, 

 diaterma, siipraplexus, aula, alba, crista, diacoele, 

 mesocoele, etc. As the oldest German anato- 

 mist, I may, perhaps, be permitted to advise my 

 American colleagues not to proceed farther 

 upon this path lest it might happen that, in the 

 course of a few years, the anatomists on this 

 and on that side of the water no longer under- 

 stand each other and all scientific interchange 

 of ideas become impossible."* 



Dr. Dwight protests against the designation 

 ' American ' as applied to the Wilder system, 

 and closes his too brief article as follows : 



"As regards the future it may be that an un- 

 expected prophecy may be deduced from its 

 likeness to Volapiik. That pseudo-speech has 

 fallen, apparently never to rise again. Whether 

 the Wilder system as a whole will outlive the 

 loss of the great influence and enthusiasm of 

 its author, which must naturally occur in the 

 course of human events, is very doubtful ; it is 

 certain, however, that whatever good there is 

 in it will survive beyond that day which we 

 hope may still be far distant." 



Frank Bakek. 



A Description of Minerals of Commercial Value. 



By D. M. Barringer. New York, Wiley 



& Sons. 1897. First edition. Pp. 168. 



Barringer's 'Minerals of Commercial Value' 

 is a small volume bound in flexible cloth issued 



* KoUiker, A. ' Handbuch der Gewebelehre des 

 Menschen.' 6te Aufl. Band II., p. 814. 



