From William Frederick Pollock   21st. March 1857

59 Montagu Square | 21^st. March 1857

My dear Tyndall

I did not like the word ‘regelation’¹ although I gave you something like an authority for it, & I am glad that you think of discarding it, and are seeking for a better—

Greek is the great source of all scientific nomenclature, and to it accordingly one turns in the first instance, when in want of a name—

The verb πήγνυμι² is the one to which I first had recourse—you wish to express the action of a solid body passing through a phasis³ of disintegration or disruption, and re-assuming a solid form under pressure—in a different shape—and, altho’ the immediate phenomenon to be described is exhibited by ice, you do not wish to engage yourself to an assumption of thawing and freezing again—You want a word which will define mechanical changes independently of its association in the mind connected with the transformation of ice into water, and of water into ice—The meaning of πήγνυμι satisfies this condition, because altho’ it has the special sense of—to freeze—its primary & general meaning is—to make solid, hard, or stiff—to crystallize—to curdle—It is in fact the same word as the Latin—pingo—there is also the verb συμπήγνυμι, which is still more to the purpose; and from it there is the [substantive] σύμπηξις—a forcible coming or bringing together or solidification—but I don’t like this in English—Sympexis (the existing Greek word)—or Anasympexis, which we may fairly make for ourselves to express the full idea of breaking up and reconstruction, are neither of them nice words, nor would they, I think, immediately suggest their intended meaning—There is another form of πήγνυμι, namely παγóω, which is used more specially for freeze—from which we may very legitimately coin a substantive πάγωσις (as necrosis, νέκρωσις from νεκρóω) which also looks badly—pagosis—and still worse—anapogosis—and synpagosis—or anasympagosis—Notwithstanding its very appropriate signification therefore, I am forced to abandon my πήγνυμι, & turn to something else—From συντείνω—to strain or stretch together—draw tight—we have the existing substantive σύντασις to express that action—which gives us syntasis, and as before we may make for ourselves—anasyntasis—but I don’t like this either—The most likely Greek name I can suggest is symplasis (an authentic word) from συμπλάσσω—to mould together—which furnishes the substantive σύμπλασις—a moulding together⁴—to which again we may prefix the other preposition and form anasymplasis—which most accurately describes the process exhibited by you at the lecture,⁵ both with the help of the hydraulic press—I cannot say however that I love this substantive—but the corresponding adjectives may perhaps be worth adoption—symplastic and anaplastic and anasymplastic are good words, which could not fail to be understood, and commend themselves to use by the familiar sound of their terminal syllables—Regretfully I leave the Greek fountains, and go lower down the stream of language to look for a word in the Latin—Pingo as I have noticed, is the same as πήγνυμι—& we have its compounds, compingo, and recompingo (not quite a classical word but vouched for from Tertullian)⁶—We have no such english word as compaction—but there is compacture for which Johnson quotes Spenser⁷—He also gives a verb to recompact—in a physical sense—with an authority from Donne⁸—You may choose then between recompacture or recompaction—the latter having the advantage of the more usual termination—Anacrymosis, which just occurs to me, w^d. be a mere Greek equivalent for regelation—The root has already done scientific duty for Wollaston⁹ when he named the Cryophorus¹⁰—on the whole I venture to recommend ‘recompaction’ as an exact and intelligible word¹¹—& which may be formed by a very slight extension of the language—

Y[ou]^rs truly | W. F. Pollock

RI MS JT/1/P/226

RI MS JT/1/TYP/6/1900–1