490 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 564. 



EXTRACT FROM THE RECORDS OF THE RUMFORD 



COMMITTEE. 



It was voted that in the judgment of the com- 

 mittee, persons carrying on researches with the 

 aid of the Riimford fund should submit to the 

 academy an account of their researches not less 

 complete than that published elsewhere. These 

 researches may be published in any place or form, 

 with the proviso that due recognition be made 

 of the grant, and of the presentation of the paper 

 to the academy. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 THE INTERNATIONAL CODE OP ZOOLOGICAL NOMEN- 

 CLATURE AS APPLIED TO MEDICINE. 



As Bulletin No. 24 of the Hygienic Labora- 

 tory of the Public Health and Marine Service 

 of the United States, Dr. Charles Wardell 

 Stiles has reprinted the English text of the 

 recently adopted ' International Code of Zoo- 

 logical Nomenclature, with remarks and a dis- 

 cussion of its application to animals concerned 

 in medical pathology. 



This code was drawn up after several pre- 

 liminary meetings and discussions at the fifth 

 International Zoological Congress at Berlin 

 (1901) and was adopted in printed form at the 

 sixth congress at Berne (1904). 



It is based on a number of earlier codes, 

 the ' Stricklandian Code' (1842-3), the ' Dall 

 Code ' (1877) and the ' Code of the American 

 Ornithologists Union' (1885), being histor- 

 ically among the most important of these. 

 The present code is the work of a commission 

 composed of Raphael Blanchard, of Paris; 

 J. V. Carus, of Leipzig; F. A. Jentink, of 

 Leyden; P. L. Slater, of London, and C. W. 

 Stiles, of Washington. The final editors were 

 Blanchard, von Maerenthal and Stiles. 



At Berne, a larger permanent commission 

 was organized, so constituted that five mem- 

 bers retire every three years, and the present 

 membership is as follows : Retiring in 1907, 

 R. Horst, of Leyden; J. A. Jentink, of 

 Leyden; D. S. Jordan, of Stanford; F. E. 

 Schulze, of Berlin, and L. Stejneger, of "Wash- 

 ington. In 1910, R. Blanchard, of Paris; L. 

 Joubin, of Paris ; C. W. Stiles, of Washington ; 

 Th. Studer, of Berne, and R. R. Wright, of 

 Toronto. In 1913, Ph. Dautzenberg, of 

 Paris ; W. E. Hoyle, of Manchester ; L. von 



Graff, of Graz; F. C. von Maerenthal, of Ber- 

 lin, and H. L. Osborn, of Columbia. This 

 broad representation among men of various 

 nations and specialties engaged in common 

 problems should go far toward securing ac- 

 ceptance of the rules adapted— though the 

 final test must be their actual fitness to the 

 purpose for which they are adapted. 



In 1886, Ludwig estimated the number of 

 known species of animals at 312,015. Since 

 that time, nearly half as many more have been 

 added, and the actual number of species of 

 insects alone, known and unknown, is esti- 

 mated by Dr. L. O. Howard at nearly 4,000,000. 



About 120,000 generic names have been ap- 

 plied to animals, and the number increases at 

 the rate of about 1,150 per year. As much 

 of the world is still virtually unexplored. Dr. 

 Stiles concludes : 



The known genera and species of animals repre- 

 sent but a fraction (but ten to twenty per cent.) 

 of the zoological names which will come into use 

 during the next two or three centuries. It is 

 clear that our nomenclatural tasks are easy, com- 

 pared with the tremendous number of technical 

 names the future generations will fall heir to. 

 Under these circumstances, it is seen that in 

 order to prevent our science from becoming ' a 

 mere chaos of words,' every zoological author 

 owes a serious nomenclatural duty, not only 

 to himself and his colleagues of to-day but also 

 to future generations of zoologists. If it were 

 left to each author to accept or reject names 

 according to his own personal wishes in the mat- 

 ter, the science of zoology would soon reach a 

 stage in which it would be difficult for one au- 

 thor to understand the writings of another, hence 

 in order to prevent such a chaotic state, sys- 

 tematists have felt themselves forced to adopt 

 certain rigid rules in accordance with which any 

 given animal has only one valid name, and that 

 name shall be valid not only in the country in 

 which it is proposed, but in all other lands as 

 well. 



The insistence on exactness in nomencla- 

 ture is as important to the worker in sys- 

 tematic zoology or in geological distribution, 

 as cleanness and sharpness of scalpel to the 

 anatomist. No one failing to consider care- 

 fully his obligations in these regards, ever 

 did first class work in the fields in question. 



If there were only a few animals concerned, 



