CLXII ADMINISTRATIVK REPORT [kth. ann.20 



legal puuishinent, while the principles of ethics are evolved 

 under the sanctions of conscience. Of course a discrimination 

 of words must follow u])()n the discrhniuation of meanings, but 

 the habit of using words with ditferent meanings is apt to 

 prevent the proper evolution of concepts. 



Knowledge increases by the discovery of new bodies, new 

 properties, and qualities. As new concepts are added in this 

 manner, new methods of expression must be coined. The first 

 method is by asserting the existence of the new thing; after 

 a time the new thing is given a name. It is the hal)it of 

 modern science to ffive this new name at the time of the dis- 

 covery, but in work-a-day life this is not coimnon, and a name 

 must be developed by experience. 



AYe have next to describe a method of developing the mean- 

 ings of words which has not only been universal but lias also 

 been very efficient. This method has been called a "disease 

 of language." When a fog settles over the coast, it may some- 

 times be seen as a cloud of moving vapor; at other times it may 

 be seen to descend as fine drops of rain, when it is described as 

 a "long-stemmed" mist by seafaring folk. In the same man- 

 ner I have heard the shower which is composed of very large 

 di'ops of rain to be described as a "long-stemmed" storm. Let 

 this method of expression become habitual to a people and 

 the term hng-siemmed will become an adjective descriptive of 

 storms. Then the different words will coalesce and drop some 

 of their sounds, and there will be an adjective descriptive of 

 storms as "long-stemmed." Again, a storm of rain may be 

 called a "long-stem," and the connotive meaning may be lost 

 and the denotive meaning remain in common comprehension. 

 I have known sailors to speak of a storm as a "long-stem." 

 It is reasonable to suppose that the term long-stem might be 

 used in this manner: As we may say of a man who is char- 

 acterized by his fits of anger that he is a "storm," so we might 

 say of such a man that he is a "long-stem," until an angry man 

 might habitually be called a "long-stem." The "disease of 

 language," as it has been called, is thus the specialization of 

 sentences into words, and the use of connotive terms as denotive 

 terms. 



Literar}- men are forever giving new meanings to old words. 



