"SCARIFY."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—The Edinburgh Court of' Sessions judge asked the other day what " scarify " meant. The counsel explained, ." scare," but added that he believed the word figured in the "dictionaries. In that belief the learned gentleman was more correct than in his use of the word as equivalent to " scare." 'Scarify" would seem to be derived from " scarf," the scarf- .skin or epidermis, whether proprio sensu or figuratively, i.e., -whether the skin of animals or that of mother earth. The Alancet or the hoe may equally serve to scarify. Will your ,readers-help with this word—more particularly for the Scots use and for the derivation ? Remain the judge's ignorance, Tresnmably assumed alone with his wig; and the- explanation of Ws- (travels. Judicial assumption of ignorance happily declining, and judicial hilarity's, euthanaaisa, is confidently expected. Sir H. Curtis Bennett lived and died without a judicial jest. Indeed, Mr. Plowden. advocates the cult of
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