He does not call his inference principle modus ponens, but his formal, symbolic expression of it in PM (2nd edition 1927) is that of modus ponens; modern logic calls this a "rule" as opposed to a "law" [REF].
In other words, in a long "string" of inferences, after each inference we can detach the "consequent" "⊦q" from the symbol string "⊦p, ⊦(p⊃q)" and not carry these symbols forward in an ever-lengthening string of symbols.