THE STEM. 141 



fibres serpentine," of far nobler and more pathetic use 

 in their places, and their enduring age, than ever they 

 could be for material purpose in human habitation. For 

 this central mass of the vegetable organism, then, the 

 English word ' trunk ' and French ' tronc ' are always in 

 accurate scholarship to be retained meaning the part 

 of a tree which remains when its branches are lopped 

 away. 



17. We have now got distinct ideas of four different 

 kinds of stem, and simple names for them in Latin and 

 English, Petiolus, Cymba, Stemma, and Truncus ; Stalk, 

 Leaf -stalk, Stem, and Trunk; and these are all that 

 we shall commonly need. There is, however, one more 

 that will be sometimes necessary, though it is ugly and 

 difficult to pronounce, and must be as little used as we 

 can. 



And here I must ask you to learn with me a little piece 

 of Roman history. I say, to learn with me, because I 

 don't know any Roman history except the two first books 

 of Livy, and little bits here and there of the following 

 six or seven. I only just know enough about it to be able 

 to make out the bearings and meaning of any fact that I 

 now learn. The greater number of modern historians 

 know, (if honest enough even for that,) the facts, or some- 

 thing that may possibly be like the facts, but haven't the 

 least notion of the meaning of them. So that, though I 

 have to find out everything that I want in Smith's diction- 

 ary, like any schoolboy, I can usually tell you the signifi- 



