July 5, 1912] 



SCIENCE 



17 



son, of the Case School of Applied Science, 

 has been appointed head of the depart- 

 ment of applied mechanics, to fill the place 

 vacant by the death of Professor E. L. Han- 

 cock; H. S. Ives has been promoted to be 

 professor of railroad engineering; Dr. A. 

 W. Hull, to be assistant professor of phys- 

 ics, and T. R. Briggs has been appointed in- 

 structor in chemistry. 



Walter Fenno Dearborn, Ph.D. (Colum- 

 bia), recently professor in the school of edu- 

 cation of the University of Chicago, has been 

 appointed assistant professor of education at 

 Harvard University. 



Dr. Harlan Updegrapf, specialist in school 

 administration. United States Bureau of Edu- 

 cation, has been appointed professor of educa- 

 tion and head of that department in North- 

 western University. 



Mr. James Knox Taylor, supervising 

 architect of the treasury department, has been 

 elected professor of architecture in the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



Dr. E. F. Bacnel, of the department of 

 chemistry of Syracuse University, has ac- 

 cepted an appointment as associate professor 

 of organic chemistry at Bryn Mawr. 



The board of trustees of Jefferson Medical 

 College has elected to the chair of chemistry, 

 made vacant by the resignation of Dr. James 

 W. Holland, Professor Philip B. Hawk, of the 

 University of Illinois. 



Mr. H. T. Plummer, assistant at the Ox- 

 ford University Observatory, has been ap- 

 pointed Andrews professor of astronomy at 

 Dublin University and astronomer royal of 

 Ireland, as successor to Professor E. T. Whit- 

 taker, who has been called to Edinburgh Uni- 

 versity to the chair of mathematics vacant by 

 the death of Professor Chrystal. 



DISCUSSION AND COBEESPONDENCE 



PRIORITY VS. NOMINA CONSERVANDA 



We all agree that nomenclature is a means, 

 not an end, and should be of service alike to 

 general or special workers in other lines as 

 well as to the student of a restricted group. 



We must also admit the human element, the 

 personal equation, which is an important fac- 

 tor in applying the law of priority as well as 

 in the selection of nomina conservanda — mis- 

 takes may be made in either case. It can 

 hardly better matters to defer the correction 

 of an error till some central representative 

 body (usually with no special knowledge of 

 the particular problem) gives assent to a 

 change several years after the mistake has 

 been discovered. 



The men of science should stand for truth 

 and freedom to proclaim the truth. An in- 

 vestigator should not be expected to hold an 

 important contribution three to five years in 

 order to secure the assent of any body to an 

 obviously necessary change. Some scientific 

 men may even desire to exercise a little per- 

 sonal discretion as to what names they will 

 employ. Chaos does not necessarily follow 

 unless we attempt to keep in mind the latest 

 changes in all groups. Some appear to be 

 taking priority too seriously; others propose 

 new genera with inadequate descriptions or 

 figures and, too frequently, in obscure, more 

 or less irrelevant notes; while synonymy may 

 be indicated with even less regard for the con- 

 venience of the investigator. These practises 

 are certainly not commendable, since they may 

 be serious stumbling blocks for subsequent 

 workers. The writer believes in the strict 

 application of the law of priority because it 

 appears to be the only ultimately stable basis 

 for nomenclature, and yet he practises or en- 

 deavors to practise conservatism in accepting 

 changes in groups with which he is compara- 

 tively unfamiliar. A scientific man need not 

 apologize for not using the very latest generic 

 term. He may prefer to retain an open mind 

 toward the innovation and adopt it with the 

 appearance of a comprehensive memoir or a 

 standard catalogue. 



Let us see how the strict application of the 

 law of priority works out in the gall midges 

 or Itonidffi, much better known as the Cecido- 

 myiidse. lionida, it may be recalled, was one 

 of Meigen's names published in 1800, Cecido- 

 myia being substituted therefor in 1803. In 



