To express the relation existing between act and potency, or between form and matter, the philosophical Latin possesses many good phrases, such as the following: _Forma dat esse materiæ, actuat materiam, informat materiam, terminatur ad materiam_; and, reciprocally, _materia accipit esse a forma, actuatur a forma, informatur a forma, terminat formam_. In English, I presume, we are allowed to say that the form _informs_ its matter, that the form _gives existence_ to the matter, and that the form _actuates_ the matter. But can we say that the form _is terminated to_ its matter, and that the matter _terminates_, that is, completes its form? This manner of speaking may be considered awkward, nevertheless its mode of expressing the relation of the form to its matter is so remarkable for its philosophical precision, clearness, and universality, that I would not hesitate to adopt it in philosophy. To say that the form is terminated to its matter, is to say that the matter is the potential _term_ actuated by the form. The philosophical notion of _term_ (_terminus_), which is susceptible of a general application to all conceivable beings, is a very important one in philosophy as well as in theology; and since it can be made quite intelligible even to the dullest of students, I think that in metaphysical speculation the use of the words _term_, _termination_, _to terminate_, _terminability_, _terminativity_, etc., cannot but greatly help both teachers and students in their efforts to explain correctly a number of ontological relations which it would be difficult to express as simply and as correctly by other words.