The weakest parts be most infected."
Ed. 1794, Part I. p. 8.


ÆGROTAT DEGREE. One who is sick or so indisposed that he cannot
attend the Senate-House examination, nor consequently acquire any
honor, takes what is termed an _Ægrotat degree_.--_Alma Mater_,
Vol. II. p. 105.


ALMA MATER, _pl._ ALMÆ MATRES. Fostering mother; a college or
seminary where one is educated. The title was originally given to
Oxford and Cambridge, by such as had received their education in
either university.

It must give pleasure to the alumni of the College to hear of his
good name, as he [Benjamin Woodbridge] was the eldest son of our
_alma mater_.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 57.

I see the truths I have uttered, in relation to our _Almæ
Matres_, assented to by sundry of their
children.--_Terræ-Filius_, Oxford, p. 41.


ALUMNI, SOCIETY OF. An association composed of the graduates of a
particular college. The object of societies of this nature is
stated in the following extract from President Hopkins's Address
before the Society of Alumni of Williams College, Aug. 16, 1843.
"So far as I know, the Society of the Alumni of Williams College
was the first association of the kind in this country, certainly