THE NOMENCLATURE AND TEACHING OF ANTHROPOLOGY. 1

Abstract

Although it was long since urged by Whewell, in his Hisfory of the Inductive Sciences, and is now recognized by all, that a defini- tion of a term in science is merely a condensed expression of our present knowledge regarding it, and not a final statement, it is nevertheless of the utmost importance, both to the investigat6r and the teacher, to adopt a well.defined nomenclature for his specialty. This is a particularly pressing need in Anthropology, a compara- tively novel branch of study and one which is rapidly progressing. As in all similar cases, the effort should be made_ to establish as far as possible a series of international terms which will be practi- cally the same in English, French, German, and Italian. Thi,s is not difficult where the words are drawn from Greek or Latin roots. In framing or adopting such, or in selecting scientific terms from one's own language, certain definite rules should be observed to in- sure clearness and aid in promoting uniformity. It is believed that the following simple directions are so obviously proper that they will be accepted without hesitation as regulative :