Terminology in Biology

Abstract

DR. C. D. DARLINGTON¹ raises a very important point in his condemnation of words which should be dead but are still in biological currency. Every teacher and every author of a text-book will sympathize. The beginner in biology has a hard enough task without having to be plagued by a spate of alternative terms, an infliction which too often leads him to think that all he has to do is to learn these terms and their synonyms in order to know his subject. To many students, a thing is known and understood as soon as a label has been attached to it. There is little wonder that biology is so subject to the reproach that it is nothing but a jumble of difficult words.