Note 38 — THE EXPRESSION OF FEELINGS

It has been pointed out that this terminology, which is due to a large extent to Landois, presupposes a certain theory of the origin of the secondary elevations. (Edgren: Cardiographische und sphygmographische Untersuchungen, Skandinavisches Archiv. f. Physiologie, vol. 1, p. 92, 1889.) It is not easy to change a terminology, and the Greek terms, some of which were used by and before Galen, are so indifferently connotative that they can be kept without inconvenience. If one were to be rigorous, one would change the name of the sphygmograph into palmograph, because this instrument does not serve exclusively for the registration of the abnormal pulse. It does seem, however, advisable to drop the terms recoil wave (Rückstosselevation, Landois), and "onde de rebondissement" (Marey), because they are taken from modern languages and directly suggest a certain theory with which they are intimately connected.