CRITICISM  ON  THE  PLURAL  OF  FORMULA.  131 
and  prolonged  observations,  it  will  be  a  curious  one  in  the  thera- 
peutic application  of  the  drug. 
The  preparation  has  now  been  in  common  use  nearly  four 
months,  and  rather  extensively  used  in  two  of  the  largest  hos- 
pitals here;  and  upon  these  limited  observations  the  above 
statements  are  based, — the  observations  having  been  apparently 
made  with  care. 
New  York,  Feb.,  1860. 
CRITICISM  ON  THE  PLURAL  OF  FORMULA. 
Mr.  Editor, — My  attention  has  often  been  attracted,  in  read- 
ing your  own  and  other  scientific  journals,  to  the  mode  of 
employing  the  plural  of  the  Latin  word  Formula,  as  exhibited 
in  the  communications  of  the  different  contributors.  Most  of 
them  designate  the  plural  both  in  the  nominative  and  objective 
cases  by  changing  the  final  a  into  ae  j  as,  formula,  formulae. 
For  instance,  the  expressions,  "adopted  for  the  formulae,"  and 
"the  formulae  are  expressed,"  occur  in  recent  numbers, — the 
former  being  in  the  objective,  the  latter  in  the  nominative  case. 
The  word  "formula"  is  either  a  Latin  word,  and  to  be  used  as 
such,  or  it  is  an  adopted  English  one,  and  therefore  amenable  to 
the  common  rules  of  termination.  If  we  recognize  it  as  belong- 
ing to  our  tongue  by  adoption,  then  it  must  follow  the  analogies 
of  Greek  and  Latin  words,  which  lose  their  original  endings,  and 
form  the  plural  by  adding  an  s  to  the  singular,  when  they  are 
transferred  to  the  English  dictionaries.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  remains  a  Latin  word,  it  must  accord  with  the  Latin  grammar. 
In  Ainsworth's  Dictionary  it  is  stated  to  be  of  the  feminine  gender, 
thus  making  the  nominative  and  accusative  cases,  plural,  to  be 
"formulae  "  and  "formulas"  respectively.  Consequently,  when- 
ever the  word  "formulae"  occurs,  as  if  in  the  objective  case,  it 
is  incorrect  according  to  both  languages,  and  should  be  written 
"formulas." 
How  much  better  then  to  throw  off  this  false  Latinity,  and 
adopt  formula,  at  once,  as  an  English  word,  with  a  plain,  simple, 
and  euphonious  termination  in  s  for  the  plural.  We  adopt  this 
plan  for  other  words.    None  of  us  would  say  "  in  four  European 
