December 9, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



807 



than is fastidiousness as to the cut of work- 

 ing-clothes; but we have at least a right to 

 expect accuracy of expression on the part of 

 an author, and conformity to good literary 

 usage, which means simply the ' consent of 

 the learned.' Faults of beginners can be over- 

 looked] biit practised writers who plead haste 

 as an excuse f or .uncomeliness are a reproach 

 to the patricians of science, one of whom for- 

 mulated the famous aphorism, ' Le style, c'est 

 I'homme.' 



Any one can cultivate a fair style by taking 

 sufficient pains, despising not the counsel of 

 good masters, and, above all, by intimate asso- 

 ciation with the best authors. The classics 

 are within reach of us all, in translated form 

 at least, and one amongst them has never 

 been surpassed for brevity, vividness and 

 virility. We refer to Tacitus, of whom 

 Senator Hoar ventures the opinion in his 

 ' Autobiography,' that he is ' the best gym- 

 nastic training of the intellect, both in vigor 

 and style, which the resources of all literature 

 can supply.' His portrayal of Tigellinus, 

 Nero's favorite, has been called ' the most 

 damning epitaph ever penned by the hand of 

 man ' ; its cold scorn is unsurpassed even by 

 Byron's anathemas, such as make the ' Curse 

 of Minerva ' one of the most annihilating of 

 poems. 



Old Ben Jonson defines ' a strict and suc- 

 cinct ' style as one ' where you can take away 

 nothing without loss, and that loss to be mani- 

 fest.' We learn from Ben how the best au- 

 thors progressed in their beginnings : " They 

 imposed upon themselves care and industry; 

 they did nothing rashly ; they obtained first to 

 write well, and then custom made it easy and 

 a habit. By little and little their matter 

 showed itself to them more plentifully; their 

 words answered, their composition followed; 

 and all, as in a well-ordered family, presented 

 itself in the place. So that the sum of all is, 

 ready writing makes not good writing, but 

 good writing brings on ready writing." 



In geologj% one of the most graceful of 

 * ready writers ' was Hugh Miller, at whose 

 style Agassiz marveled. Humboldt, Lyell, 

 Darwin, all excelled in composition, as did our 

 own jSTewberry; and the writings of many 



well-known contemporaries are models of neat- 

 ness and precision. In paleontology. Cope's 

 fecundity was at the expense of good form, his 

 most brilliant contributions being marred, as 

 Osborn has pointed out, by confusion of 

 terms. This serious fault is of frequent oc- 

 currence elsewhere, and we may be permitted 

 in what follows to devote some attention to it. 



Inaccuracy in the use of terms, employment 

 of inappropriate methods of illustration, any- 

 thing in short which tends to impair the vocab- 

 ulary of science and render it less efiicient, 

 are grave errors ; for it is an axiom that the 

 advancement of science depends as much upon 

 expression as upon investigation. Yet there 

 is one class of writers who apparently hold 

 the matter of terminology in light esteem, the 

 whole ' business ' of technical expressions and 

 methods of illustration being conducted con- 

 trary to the principles of good usage. Phys- 

 iographers are the class of writers referred to, 

 and we hope to accomplish some good by 

 remonstrating mildly against certain of their 

 improprieties. 



First, as to descriptive terms. It is evident 

 that the physiographic articles of faith in- 

 clude a firm belief in the penury of the Eng- 

 lish language, and unsuitability of Saxon 

 epithets; otherwise it is impossible to explain 

 their construction of a technical vocabulary 

 out of a rabble of words recruited from the 

 uttermost regions — ^part alien, part hybrid, 

 part argot, — 



' Scotch, English and slang, in promiscuous 



alliance, 

 Something bad they must mean, though we 



can't make it out; — 

 That they're all onfi-English no Christian 



can doubt.' 



When a foreign author can be found like 

 Eeclus, who gives in one of his works no fewer 

 than seventy-five dialect designations for 

 mountains, or a compatriot like Mr. Hill, who 

 has imported whole eargos of choice Castillian 

 (not all of the saponaceous variety) — the 

 entire assortment is appropriated with glee. 

 Other departments of science that can boast 

 of but few barbarisms, such as Gegenschein for 

 counterglow in astronomy, Dreihanter for 



