LUcKEM1:Yn1z v. Mmoum. . 33
other materials}? etc. The only possible construction of that clause,
standing by itself, seems to be that goods composed wholly of wool, worsted,
or a mixture of them, shall pay 9 cents per square yard and 40 per cen-
tum ad valorem, and that all goods composed wholly of wool, worsted,
or a mixture of them, but which have selvedges made wholly or in part
of other materials, (and to that extent are in fact of mixed material,)
shall pay the same rate as provided further on. That disposes of the
nrst clause of the exception. The other clause provides for "a1l such
goods * * * with threads of other materials introduced for the pur-
pose of changing the classification." This is the clause I shall leave to
the jury. It is undisputed that the threads of thewarp are composed
of a mixture of cotton and woolen, and for that reason the defendant
` asks for a direction in his favor. In my opinion, however, the clause
does not cover goods with threads of mixed material, i. c., if the mixture
is not itself a mixture of threads. The word "other," as we have seen
above, means "other than wool, worsted," etc., and the abrupt change in ~
the same sentence from the phrase "wholly or in part of other materials,"
descriptive of the selvedges, to the phrase " of other materials," descrip-
tive of the threads, seems explicitly to restrict the clause to threads into
whose composition neither wool nor worsted enter. _ A
Now, gentlemen of the jury, the question before you is perhaps a sim-
ple one, but the task before me, in leaving it to you, I find to be ex-
tremely difficult. When we get away from the domain of science. and
the strictly accurate phraseology which it employs, one of the hardest
tasks that can be laid u on us is to give an accurate definition of any
particular word. Thatp with which you are here concerned is the word
"thread." , It is a word which perhaps each of you uses more than once
each day of his life. What are you to understand that word to mean
when you come to deal with the facts of this case? Of course, when we
are challenged to find the meaning for a word, however familiar we may
be with it ourselves, it is our custom to go to the dictionaries; and so
we may, in this instance, turn to them. Now, lexicographers have sev-
[eral functions which they undertake to discharge. They deal not only
with the every-day meaning,—the received meaning in common speech
of any particular word,-—but they hunt down its antecedents; they trace
its origin and its growth; they {ind in some syllable, or combination of
its letters, the root from which it has sprung; and in preparing their
V dennitions they take all these elements into consideration. That should
be remembered whenever we turn to a dictionary for a meaning. The
most comprehensive meaning which I have found in any of the authori-
ties which have been submitted—and we had best begin with the most
comprehensive meaning—the most comprehensive definition of the word
"thread " which I have found, is in Worcester: "A small line or twist .
of any fibrous or filamentous substance, as ilax, silk, cotton, or wool,
particularly such as is used for weaving or for sewing; a filament; a small
string." Turning to the same dictionary for a deEnition of the wo_rd "fila-
ment " we find it defined as "a substance like a thread; a long thread-like
process ; a slender fiber." That is the most comprehensive and far-reach-
` v.38F.no.1—3‘ A I A `