Sbptembee 2, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



295 



Professor C. F. Brackett, for thirty-five 

 years head of the department of physics 

 and originator of the graduate department 

 of electrical engineering, has been pre- 

 sented to the departments and forms the 

 nucleus for their libraries. These are 

 supplemented by any desired work on 

 engineering or physics from the general 

 library of the university. Three book 

 funds are available for purchase of books 

 and of periodicals for the Palmer Labora- 

 tory Library. 



A notable feature of the exterior of the 

 building is found in the two statues in 

 marble of Benjamin Franklin and Pro- 

 fessor Joseph Henry, and a portrait relief 

 of Professor Brackett. These were exe- 

 cuted under the supervision of Mr. Daniel 

 C. French. The statues show Franklin in 

 familiar colonial garb and Professor 

 Henry in academic robe. The statues and 

 the relief are most successful. 



Through the generosity of Messrs. David 

 B. Jones and Thomas D. Jones, of Chicago, 

 loyal graduates of the university, a fund 

 of $200,000 has been provided for endow- 

 ment. The income of this fund, according 

 to the terms of the deed of gift, may not 

 be used for salaries for teachers, for jani- 

 tor's services, for repairs or up-keep of the 

 building, or for heat, light, gas, water or 

 power. It may be used for the payment of 

 scientific helpers and research assistants, 

 for the purchase of apparatus and sup- 

 plies, for accessions to the libraries, and 

 for the satisfaction of the general scien- 

 tific needs of the two departments of the 

 university for which the Palmer Labora- 

 tory was erected. 



How^ARD McClenahan 



PRACTICAL NOMENCLATURE 

 Should general acquiescence in the de- 

 ■cisions of the Nomenclatural Commission of 

 the International Zoological Congress bring 



about that stability of names for which we 

 have been striving, to what shall we have at- 

 tained when that goal has been reached? 

 What, in view of past results and present 

 methods, will our system of names be like? 

 Wiirit be the simple comprehensible binomial 

 system that Linnasus devised? Alas, no. It 

 will be a vast jungle of names, through which 

 no one can see more than a few paces from his 

 own door. No one can comprehend it; no one 

 thinks of trying to master it; it baffles and 

 hinders and masters us. 



Synonymy is far from being the greatest of 

 our nomenclatural troubles. Let any one who 

 doubts this examine the Great Book of Names, 

 which now surpasses the unabridged diction- 

 ary, without a definition in it. Let him re- 

 member that this Great Book is reserved for 

 the names of genera only, other names not 

 being included in it. Let him, in the group 

 that he knows best, compare the lists of genera 

 that have been described from decade to de- 

 cade, noting the ever-accelerated rate of in- 

 crease, and let him think what future editions 

 of the Great Book will be like. Then let him 

 note how few names in the group — in any 

 group — are called into question, and he will 

 realize how little the burden of terminology 

 would be lightened were these few names all 

 adjusted to his complete satisfaction. Syn- 

 onymy is but the last straw that, added to the 

 appalling load, threatens to break the camel's 

 back. 



To be sure, we have added this last straw 

 right boldly. We have made rules, and by 

 them we have all but firmly established and 

 made permanent the following wholly unnec- 

 essary evils : 



1. We have adopted the mistakes in name 

 construction made by ignorant or careless 

 systematists as a permanent part of our bio- 

 logical literature, which all of us must con- 

 tinue to repeat. 



2. We have committed ourselves, likewise, 

 to aU sorts of egregious blunders, in cases 

 where names were inappropriately, mistak- 

 enly or malevolently assigned. 



3. We have accepted the elimination or al- 



