TRAINING FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 57 



far as we have ascertained them by our own 

 experience. 



There are certain technical terms, the use of 

 which it is hardly possible to avoid, even if it 

 were desirable. t The most of these will be 

 readily understood; those that are obscure 

 will be properly explained. There are a few, 

 however, of such various and loose application, 

 that their use necessarily begets confusion. 

 Such, for example, is the word lateral, which is 

 applied to any shoot growing laterally from 

 another, such as an upright cane, a horizontal 

 arm, etc. ; it is also applied to the little green 

 shoot which proceeds from the base of the 

 leaves, and here it is simply meaningless. Dr. 

 Grant has introduced the word ihallon for use 

 here. It is clearly from the Greek tfaAAof, mean- 

 ing a small branch, sprig, or little shoot, ex- 

 pressing precisely what we desire to say. By 

 the aid of a privative, we naturally form afhalr 

 lage, athallizing, etc., words expressing an ope- 

 ration which has heretofore required an ungain- 

 ly circumlocution. We dislike the introduction 

 of new words as much as any body can ; but new 

 arts often demand, for the sake of precision and 

 brevity, the introduction of new words, and 

 their scholarly application, and there seems to 



