Malta.
_The Termination "-itis"_ (Vol. vii., p. 13.).--ADSUM asks: "What is the
derivation of the term _-itis_, used principally in medical words, and
these signifying, inflammation?" If "N. & Q." were a medical journal, the
question might be answered at length, to the great advantage of the
profession; for, of late years, this termination has been tacked on by
medical writers, especially foreigners, to words of all kinds, in utter
defiance of the rules of language: as if a Greek affix were quite a natural
ending to a Latin or French noun. _-itis_ can with propriety be appended
only to those Greek nouns whose adjectives end in [Greek: -itês]: _e.g._
[Greek: pleura, pleuritês]; [Greek: keras, keratitês], &c. [Greek:
Pleuritis] is used by Hippocrates. [Greek: Pleura] means the membrane
lining the side of the chest: [Greek: pleuritis] ([Greek: nodos]
understood) is morbus lateralis, the side-disease, or pleurisy. In the same
manner _keratitis_ is a very legitimate synonym for disease of the horny
coat (cornea) of the eye. But medical writers, disregarding the rules of
language, have, for some years past, revelled in the use of their favourite
_-itis_ to a most ludicrous extent. Thus, from _cornea_, they make
"corneitis," and describe an inflammation of the crystalline lens as
_lentitis_. Nay, some French and German writers on diseases of the eyes
have coined the monstrous word "Descemetitis," on the ground that one
Monsieur Descemet discovered a structure in the eye, which, out of
compliment to him, was called "the membrane of Descemet."