200 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 85. 



The occurrence of this particular error ex- 

 emplifies the ' irony of fate.' Among the forty 

 terms on the list this is the only one to which 

 my own conversion was recent. For years I 

 used conarium without variation. The change 

 was due to four considerations : 1. The argu- 

 ments of Prof. H. F. Osborn and Dr. E. C. 

 Spitzka. 2. The recognition of the desirability 

 of verbal correlation with the ventral extension, 

 hypophysis (' corpus pituitarium ') and the other 

 dorsal outgrowth, paraphysis. 3. The fuller 

 appreciation of the force of Dr. W. H. Dall's 

 declaration, " The human mind wearies of too 

 many names and much more readily assimilates 

 a new meaning for an old one. "* 4. The aban- 

 donment, or rather relaxation, of one of the re- 

 quirements of technical terms which was enunci- 

 ated twenty-five years ago, viz., 'indepen- 

 dence of context for signification.'-)- It is hardly 

 conceivable that any misapprehension should 

 arise from the employment of one and the same 

 word, epiphysis, for a part of the brain and for 

 the end of a long bone. 



Permit me to express the hope that journals 

 that republished your article may likewise print 

 the corrective portion of this letter, and also 

 to state that the next number of the Journal of 

 Comparative Neurology will contain an extended 

 commentary upon the report of the Neurologi- 

 cal Association, together with correspondence 

 on the general subject between Prof. W. His 

 and myself. Btjet G. Wilder. 



SiAscoNSET, Mass., August 3, 1896. 



THE METRIC SYSTEM. 



To THE Editor of Science : I was much in- 

 terested in Mr. Stover's query, "Is not the 

 country ripe enough to accept the metric sys- 

 tem?" and wish to say that the practical diffi- 

 culties are probably largely overestimated. Of 

 all peoples those of the United States, are the 

 most adaptive, and the change would involve 

 those who are best able to assimilate the new 

 method. 



*From a letter to me. Published as Aphorism 

 XV. in the article ' Anatomical Terminology ' Eefer- 

 ence Handbook of the Medical Sciences, VIII., 520, 

 1889. 



t'Intermembral Homologies,' Boston Soc. Nat. 

 Hist, Proceedings, XIV., 172, April 5, 1871. 



As Greeley proclaimed about 1871, "The 

 way to resume is to resume," so the way to 

 adopt is to adopt. If those from whom the 

 initiative must come would initiate, there 

 would not be much trouble. Let all architects 

 and builders write their dimensions in metric 

 measures, and they will soon find them exe- 

 cuted without trouble. 



This company manufactures pulleys, etc. A 

 few years ago we established an agency in 

 France and our orders came in metric measures. 

 We simply sent to Chicago for a metric scale 

 and then filled the order. It did not cause any 

 noticeable trouble. It is just as easy for the 

 saw-mill man to cut his lumber according to one 

 measure as the other, and in a short time he 

 would become equally familiar with both sys- 

 tems, and then the metric system would be 

 established. The same results would follow 

 through all the trades, but the workman will 

 not use the improvement until he is obliged to. 



R. D. D. Smith. 

 Dodge Mantifacturing Co., 



MiSHAWAKA, IND. 



SCIENTIFIC LITEBATUBE. 

 mathematical papers read at the INTERNA- 

 TIONAL MATHEMATICAL CONGRESS HELD IN 

 CONNECTION WITH THE WORLD'S CO- 

 LUMBIAN EXPOSITION, CHICAGO, 

 1893. 



The papers presented at the Chicago Mathe- 

 matical Congress of 1893 have recently been is- 

 sued in book form by Macmillan & Co., under 

 the suggestive subtitle of Vol. I. of Papers Pub- 

 lished by the American Mathematical Society. 

 The papers are edited by the Committee of the 

 Congress, Professors Moore, Bolza and Maschke, 

 of the University of Chicago, and Prof. White, 

 of Northwestern University. The committee 

 were embarrased at the outset by the fact that 

 no financial provision had been made for the 

 publication, which was finally made possible by 

 the generous subscription of a guarantee fund 

 of one thousand dollars by the Mathematical 

 Society, its members individually and other 

 mathematicians. The handsome volume before 

 us reflects great credit on all concerned in its 

 production. 



