A PROBLEM FOR VERBALISTS
SIR,—Dictionaries, recording, together with " agriculturist," " agricul- turalist," as " one skilled in agriculture " can perhaps hardly be expected to define the latter as "one skilled in agricultural." Whenever I encounter the still dreadfully lingering " conversationalist " or rejoice over the comparative rarity, nowadays, of both " agriculturalist " and " educationalist," I am moved to wonder how it is that we escaped " musicalician," " theoreticalician," " economicalist " and so forth. Today a fresh absurdity threatens. I recently heard a grave young intellectual enquire of a kindred spirit, a writer, who had just used the term " pacifist," whether it should not properly be " pacificist " and obtain, after an interval for reflection, delighted agreement. " Laxist " is perhaps ugly. "Pcacist sounds odd, but might serve. But " pacifist," how- ever nonsensical, is surely to be treasured if the alternative is to be
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