Excerpt from The Language of Medicine: A Manual Giving the Origin, Etymology, Pronunciation, and Meaning of the Technical Terms Found in Medical Literature Even the names of diseases, strange as it may seem, contain metaphors and other poetical figures. Carbuncles are like the purple reddish gems of the same name, icterus (greek 'ixre,oog) is the name of the yellow bird, while iliac passion is a phrase which recalls the spear thrust and the tragic sufferings on the Cross. History is found everywhere illustrated in words, calculate and testify take us back to the days when men told members with pebbles, calculi, and cast their votes with Shells, testae. Gentianas of Illyria is said to have discovered the virtues of the plant named after him. Magnets were first known in Magnesia, chalk, creta, in Crete. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.