132 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 369. 



15 ' Note on the Occurrence and Significance 

 of the Musculus Tibio-astragalua ' : De. McMue- 

 EIOH. Discussed by Dr. Huntington. 



16. 'Nuclear Changes in the Muscle Cell': De. 

 Eycleshtmee, Chicago. Discussed by Dr. Barker. 



17. ' The Plesiosaurian Skull ' : Dr. Williston, 

 Lawrence, Kansas. Discussed by Dr. Huntington. 



18. ' The Shape of the Pyloric Glands of the 

 Cat': De. DeWitt. Presented by Dr. Huber, Ann 

 Arbor. 



19. 'An Illustration of the Value of the Func- 

 tional System of Neurones as a Morphological 

 Unit in the Nervous System ' : De. Hebeick, 

 Denison University, Ohio. 



20. Dr. Terry showed his specimen of Situs 

 inversus. 



21. 'The Sphincter superior': De. E. C. 

 BouRLAND, University of Michigan. Read by Dr. 

 McMurrich. Discussed by Dr. Huntington. 



22. ' Development and Variation in Distribution 

 of the Thoracico-abdominal Nerves ' : De Bakdeen, 

 Baltimore. Discussed by Dr. Huntington. 



23. 'The Ducts of the Pancreas': De. D. G. 

 Kbvell, Chicago. Discussed by Dr. Hunting- 

 ton. 



24. 'Variations in the Distribution of the Bile 

 Ducts of the Liver of the Cat ' : Dr. Hoeaoe John- 

 son, Madison, Wis. Discussed by Dr. Huntington. 



25. ' Contribution to the Morphology of the 

 Cerebellum': Db. Stboud, Cornell University. 

 Read by the Secretary. 



26. ' Histogenesis of the Sensory Nerves of 

 Amphibia ' : De. Haeeison, Baltimore. Discussed 

 by Drs. Huber and Herrick. 



27. ' The Growth of the Mammalian Spinal 

 Ganglion ' : De. Donaldson, Chicago. Discussed 

 by Drs. Huber and Huntington. 



28. ' The Frontal Fissures in the Brains of 

 Two Natives of British New Guinea ' : De. 

 Huntington. 



The following papers were read by title : 



1 . 'On the Development of Connective Tissue 

 Fibrils ' : De. Mall, Baltimore. 



2. ' Unusual Forms of Placentation ' : Dr. 

 Webster. 



3. 'Contribution to the Anatomy of the Scap- 

 ula': De. Hkdlicka, New York City. 



4. 'Certain Racial Characteristics of the Base 

 of the Skull ' : De. Hedlicka. 



5. ' On Certain Anomalies of Bones ' : De. 

 Dorset, Chicago. 



6. 'Some Anomalies of Blood-vessels': De. 

 Blaik, St. Louis. 



7. ' Two Specimens of Anomalous Viscera with 

 Left-sided Appendix ' : De. Holmes, Philadelphia. 



8. ' Models of Human Pharynx of First Six 

 Weeks' Development': De. Sudler, Baltimore. 



9. ' The Ducts of the Submaxillary Glands ' : 

 De. Flint, San Francisco. 



10. ' Contribution to the Encephalic Anatomy of 

 the Races ' : E. A. Spitzka, New York City. 



11. 'Description of the Brain of a Regenticide ' : 

 Mr. Spitzka. 



A PLEA FOB GREATER SIMPLICITY IN TEE 

 LANGUAGE OF SCIENCE* 



Scientific ideas are with difficulty solu- 

 ble in human speech. Man, in his contempla- 

 tion of the flux of phenomena at work all 

 about him, is embarrassed by the want of a 

 vehicle of thought adequate for expres- 

 sion, as a child whose stammering accents 

 do not permit him to tell his mother the 

 new ideas which suddenly crowd upon him 

 when he meets with something alien to his 

 experience. 



Our knowledge of the mechanism of 

 nature has been undergoing a process of 

 growth, much of which has been sudden. 

 It is not surprising, therefore, that the in- 

 completely formed ideas of science should 

 become translated into clumsy language 

 and that inexact thinking should be evi- 

 denced by vagueness of expression. This 

 inexactness is often veiled by the liberal 

 use of sonorous Greek-Latin words. 



The growth of knowledge has required 

 an increase in the medium of intellectual 

 exchange. New conceptions have called 

 for new terms. Sir Courtenay Boyle has 

 pointed out that the purity of a nation's 

 coinage is properly safeguarded, while the 

 verbal coinage of its national language is 

 subject to no control. Specially quali- 

 fied persons prepare the standards of gold 

 and silver. This insures the absolute 

 purity of the measures of commercial ex- 

 change and gives the English sovereign 

 and the American gold piece, for example, 

 an assured circulation along all the ave- 



*A paper read before Section E of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 August 28, 1901. 



