M. RENAN'S "ISRAEL."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SpEcTAToa."1 SIR,—The last sentence of your notice of M. Renan's "Israel," with its comment on the use of the word "dupli- city," as applied to the double authorship of a book, tempts me to enter a protest against a common use of that word in scientific, and more especially in astronomical, works.
To those who hold with Wordsworth in his "Ode to Duty," it always gives a nasty jar to read of the " duplicity " of certain stars. The word already has its definite meaning, with the same evil suggestion that the parallel word " com- plicity " has. Now, in cases where no moral judgment is implied, we use the word "complexity," and I never can see why in analogous cases we do not say "duplexity."
There is so much unavoidable lack of precision in speech, that when one can easily have different words for different meanings, it is surely false economy to use only one word and to give it duplexity of meaning.—I am, Sir, Sze., E. H.
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