“Yes,” said his father. “In hotels, where they have a great many lamps to light, they have a little bottle of spirits of turpentine with a wire running down into it; and, when they take out the wire, a little drop of the spirits of turpentine hangs to the end of it, and they touch this to the wick, and then it will light very quick.”
“Why, sir?” asked Rollo.
“Because spirits of turpentine is very combustible, or rather inflammable.”
“That means it will burn very easily, I suppose,” said Rollo.
“Yes,” replied his father.
“That makes me think of something Jonas said, which I was going to ask you,” said Rollo. “He said that, in books, burning was always called combustion, and I told him I meant to ask you why they couldn’t as well call it burning.”
“I don’t think that Jonas said exactly that,” said his father.
“Yes, sir, he did,” replied Rollo; “at least, I understood him so.”
“It is true, no doubt,” added his father, “that, in philosophical books, philosophical terms are very often used, instead of the common language which we ordinarily employ.”
“Why are they, father?” said Rollo. “I think the common words are a great deal easier to understand.”