14 JULY 1900, Page 24

The. Oxford English Dictionary, July, edited by Dr. James A.

H. Murray (Clarendon Press, 3s. 6d. per part), contains part of Vol. V. " Inferable—Inpushing." There are 1,628 words in all, among them being such suggestive subjects as "Inn" and "Influenza." An " inn " originally meant a dwelling-place simply; then came the meaning of a house of public resort; then a temporary as against a permanent abode ; then "Inns of Chancery," "Inns of Court," &c. The history that gathers about this word is curious "and interesting. "Influenza" was first used in 1740. The parallel number, edited by Henry Bradley, M.A., gives us from " Gradely—Creernent.'' Here there are 1,240 words in all, " grain," " grammar," "gravity." being conspicuous among them. —With this we may mention Dr. Murray's highly instructive Rvolution of English Lexicography (Clarendon Press, 2..), the Ramanes Lecture for the present year delivered at Oxford.