His learning and his ignorance amaze us in every page. Pox are, '1. _Pustules_; _efflorescencies_; _exanthematous_ eruptions. 2. The venereal disease.' A particular species of it _only_. The first part of this _clear_ explanation would puzzle every old woman in England, though most of them know more of small pox than the Rambler himself. Day. '1. The time between the rising and the setting of the sun, called the _artificial_ day. 2. The time from noon to noon, called the _natural_ day.' Natural. 'What is produced by nature,' therefore as the day from sunrise to sunset is 'produced by nature,' _that_, and that only, must be the _natural_ day. Artificial. 'Made by _art_, not natural, fictitious, not genuine.' The day from noon to noon is certainly _not_ natural, and of consequence, _that_, and that only, must be the _artificial_ day. Night is, '1. The time of darkness. 2. The time between sunset, and sunrise.' When the Doctor acquires the first elements of geography, he will learn, that in no climate of the world is the time between sunset and sunrise all of it a time of _darkness_. Even at the equator, night does not succeed till half an hour after sunset. If he has ever seen the sun rise here, he must also have seen that we have always day light long before the sun appears. In June our nights are never entirely dark. Neither is _night_, when it really comes on, constantly the 'time of darkness,' for the Doctor may frequently see to read his own mistakes by moonshine. Of this profound period, the first part contradicts the second, and every body sees the absurdity of both. What are we to think of such a definer of 'scientific terms,' when his errors have not even the negative merit of consistency. Snowbroth, _s._ (_snow_ and _broth_) 'very cold liquor.' And Shakespeare is quoted; but when the poet said[127] that the blood of an old courtier was as cold as _Snowbroth_, he meant _melted snow_. Now it is somewhat odd that every body can see Shakespeare's idea exactly, except this learned commentator. Lion. 'The fiercest and most magnanimous of four-footed beasts.' But fierceness cannot consist with magnanimity[128]. Other animals exceed the Lion in fierceness; and a Horse, an Elephant, or a Dog, equal his magnanimity. This definition contains nothing but a glaring contradiction, of which neither end is true! Thunder 'Thunder is a most _bright flame_ rising on a sudden, moving with great violence, and with a very _rapid_ velocity, through the air, _according_ to any determination, and commonly ending with a loud noise or rattling.' _Shakespeare._ _Milton._ It is needless to say that the learned and ingenious Pensioner has confounded thunder with lightning. The inelegance and tautology of this definition I pass by; but why should he profane the names of Milton and Shakespeare to support such monstrous nonsense?