Other suffixes of Latin origin are used in the same way: e.g. _-al_ in
_aerial_, _ethereal_.--H.B.]

In classifying by stems it will be well to add, where possible, words
of Greek origin. Except in some late introductions Greek words, except
when introduced bodily, have been treated as if they came through
Latin, and some of the bodily introductions are in the same case. Thus
'anæsthetic' is spelt with the Latin diphthong and the Latin _c_.
Even 'skeleton' had a _c_ to start with, while the modern and wholly
abominable 'kaleidoscope' is unprincipled on the face of it.

STEMS ENDING IN -ANT AND -ENT. These are participles or words formed
as such. Our words have shed a syllable, thus _regentem_ has become
'regent'. Disyllables follow the 'apex' rule and lengthen the first
vowel, as 'agent', 'decent', 'potent'. Exceptions are 'clement' and
'present', perhaps under French influence. Words of more than two
syllables with a single consonant before the termination throw the
stress back and shorten a long penultima, as 'ignorant', 'president',
'confident', 'adjutant'. Where there are two heavy consonants, the
stress remains on the penultima, as 'consultant', 'triumphant', even
when one of the consonants is not pronounced, as 'reminiscent'. In
some cases the Latinists seem to have deliberately altered the
natural pronunciation. Thus Gower has 'ápparaúnt', but the word became
'appárent' before Shakespeare's time, and later introductions such as
'adherent' followed it. What right 'adjacent' has to its long vowel
and penultimate stress I do not know, but it cannot be altered now.

STEMS ENDING IN -ATO AND -UTO. These are mostly past participles, but
many of them are used in English as verbs. It must be admitted that
the disyllabic words are not wholly constant to a principle. Those