October 18, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



505 



such congruity would be to the great ad- 

 vantage of comparative taxonomy. 



In these days of extreme specializatiou 

 one of the greatest needs in our universi- 

 ties is a professor of systematic zoology 

 with whom conference may be held as to 

 the propriety of any systematic modifica- 

 tion resulting from special investigation of 

 the anatomy of any organ or part, or of 

 any group of animals. Such conference 

 might prevent the publication of many 

 propositions due to exclusive consideration 

 of an isolated subject. Perhaps the 

 designation of systematic morphology 

 might better indicate the nature of the sug- 

 gested course. The consummation, how- 

 ever, it must be admitted, is more desirable 

 than probable. 



I have intentionally refrained from any 

 consideration of the work of living 

 zoologists. If I had undertaken this, the 

 task of selection would have been very 

 diflScult, and at any rate the time demanded 

 for proper consideration would have been 

 much more than that requisite for the re- 

 minder of past discoveries. The progress 

 of systematic zoology during recent years 

 has been in accelerated ratio, and not a 

 few of those whose achievements have 

 helped to put zoology at its present level 

 are in Boston to-day. It is from the sum- 

 mit of the elevation they have enabled us 

 to reach that we look back to the deeds of 

 old masters and can determine, better than 

 their contemporaries or immediate succes- 

 sors, their relative merits. 



Theo. Gill 



8GIENTIFI0 BOOKS 

 Anatomical Terminology with Special Refer- 

 ence to the [BNA~\. By Professor Lew- 

 ELLYS F. Barker. Philadelphia, P. Blakia- 

 ton's Son & Co. 1907. 

 The necessity for both exactness and sim- 

 plicity in the nomenclature employed in the 

 descriptive sciences has always been recog- 



nized, and in anatomy several attempts have 

 been made to establish a terminology which 

 would be acceptable to the great body of anat- 

 omists and eliminate from anatomical nomen- 

 clature the ponderous mass of synonyms with 

 which it is burdened. Henle in his classic 

 " Handbook " accomplished much towards the 

 desired end, and since 1880 Professor B. G. 

 Wilder has labored assiduously for the cause. 

 But it was not a matter for accomplishment 

 by a single individual working independently ; 

 it required concerted action. And although 

 endeavors had been made to enlist the sym- 

 pathies of the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science and the Association 

 of American Anatomists in the work, for one 

 reason or another little definite progress was 

 made. 



In 1887 the pressing need of an authorita- 

 tive revision of anatomical nomenclature was 

 brought to the attention of the German An- 

 atomical Society, then but recently organized, 

 and in 1889 it established a commission to 

 deal with the matter, appointing upon the 

 commission Professors von Kolliker (chair- 

 man), O. Hertwig, His, Kollmann, Merkel,. 

 Schwalbe, Toldt, Waldeyer and von Barde- 

 leben. Professor Krause being later selected; 

 as editor-in-chief and representatives of Grea* 

 Britain and other countries being also included. 

 For six years the commission labored with the 

 difficulties assigned for its consideration, and 

 in 1895 it presented a report to the society, 

 submitting a list of some 4,500 terms, care- 

 fully selected from the 30,000 or more, prin- 

 cipally synonyms, which may be collected 

 from the various standard text-books. The- 

 society received and adopted the commission's- 

 report at its meeting in Basel, a circumstance 

 which has gained for the list the appellation 

 of the Basel Anatomical Nomenclature or,, 

 more briefly, the BISTA, and the report, drawn 

 up by Professor His, was published as a sup- 

 plement number of the Archiv fiir Anatomia 

 und Physiologic. 



This is neither the time nor the place for 

 a discussion of the work of the commission; 

 suffice it to say that its results have been 

 widely accepted and that a uniformity of an- 



