12 INTRODUCTION. 



cellent one ; it is a new garment which will fit Science well, if that capricious and fantastic 

 and old-fashioned dressing lady can only be induced to try it on. 



"Always very truly yours, 



"OiiivEB Wendbll Holmes." 



See also Appendix, § 1443. 



That Terminology is worthy of attention, is indicated also by the care 

 bestowed upon the language of modern Chemistry and Mathematics, and by 

 the following Aphorisms : — 



§ 24. " Questions of Definition are of the very highest importance in 

 Philosophy, and they need to be watched accordingly." — Duke of Argyll, 1. 



"In all sciences. Nomenclature is an object of importance; and each 

 term should convey to the student a definite meaning." — Dunglison, A, 

 Preface. 



" Every art is full of conceptions, which are peculiar to itself ; and, as 

 the use of language is to convey our conceptions to one another, language 

 must supply signs for those conceptions." — Huxley, C, 14. 



"Everything in Science ought to be real, ingenuous and open; every 

 expression that indicates duplicity, or equivocation, reservation, wavering or 

 inconsistency, is a reproach to it." — Barclay, A., 89. 



" There is a necessity for perfect definiteness of language in all truly 

 Scientific work."— P. G. Tail, 1. 



" Technical terms are the tools of thought." * 



" Only an inferior hand persists in toiling with a clumsy instrument, 

 when a better one lies within his reach. * * * A single substantive term 

 is a better instrument of thought than a paraphrase." — Owen, A, I, pp. 

 xii, xiv. 



"As morphology deals with forms and relations of position, it demands 

 a careful selection of terms and a methodical nomenclature." — Goodsir, A, 

 II, 83. 



" To designate the locations of organs by the relation of animals to the 

 surface of the earth is as far from philosophical as it would be to define the 

 position of a house or of a tree by reference to the planet Jupiter." — Wilder, 

 .9, 123. 



The progress of Comparative Anatomy has been hindered by the use of 

 anthropotomical terms and methods. 



" There is not one person in a hundred who can describe the commonest 

 occurrence with even an approach to accuracy." — Huxley, C. 



"The test of the accuracy and completeness of a description is, not that 

 it may assist, but that it cannot mislead." — Wilder, 9, 123. 



Errors of personal equation are diminished by the use of exact terms. 



'^ Perhaps some of our readers can supply the source of this aphorism. 



