distinguished from the _indirect_
Latin introduced as part and parcel of the Anglo-Norman. It has yet to be
accurately analyzed.

s. 78. _Latin of the fourth period._--This means the Latin which has been
introduced between the revival of literature and the present time. It has
originated in the writings of learned men in general, and is distinguished
from that of the previous periods by:

1. Being less altered in form:

2. Preserving, with substantives, in many cases its original inflections;
_axis_, _axes_; _basis_, _bases_:

3. Relating to objects and ideas for which the increase of the range of
science in general has required a nomenclature.

s. 79. _Greek._--Words derived _directly_ from the Greek are in the same
predicament as the Latin of the third period--_phaenomenon_, _phaenomena_;
_criterion_, _criteria_, &c.; words which are only _indirectly_ of Greek
origin, being considered to belong to the language from which they were
immediately introduced into the English. Such are _deacon_, _priest_, &c.,
introduced through the Latin. Hence a word like _church_ proves no more in
regard to a Greek element in English, than the word _abbot_ proves in
respect to a Syrian one.

s. 80. The Latin of the fourth period and the Greek agree in retaining, in
many cases, original inflexions rather than adopting the English ones; in
other words, they agree in being but _imperfectly incorporated_. The
phaenomenon of imperfect incorporation is reducible to the following
rules:--

1. That it has a direct ratio to the date of the introduction, i.e., the
more recent the word the more likely it is to retain its original
inflexion.

2. That it has a relation to the number of meanings belonging to the words:
thus, when a single word has two meanings, the original inflexion expresses
one, the English inflexion another--_genius_, _genii_, often (_spirits_),
_geniuses_ (_men of genius_).

3. That it occurs with substantives only, and that only in the expression
of number. Thus, although the plural of substantives like _axis_ and
_genius_ are Latin, the possessive cases are English. So also are the
degrees of comparison for adjectives, like _circular_, and the tenses, &c.
for verbs, like _perambulate_.

s. 81. The following is a list of the chief Latin substantives introduced
during the latter part of the fourth period; and preserving the _Latin_
plural forms--

FIRST CLASS.

_Words wherein the Latin plural is the same as the La