In 1986 Dr. James Champlin Fernald brought out his first edition of this work. It was notably successful and so well received by careful writers and speakers that, in 1914, he produced a second edition with an augmented number of dissertations, many new synonyms and a careful revision of the previous text. Dr. Fernald died four years after completing that revision. The passage of the years since has convinced the publishers that the style of treatment used by him in showing the divergence in meanings among words which are closely synonymous in one or another respect meets the practical needs of those who wish to be discriminatory in their use of words.