mysterious declarations off in left field

["Scott E. Fahlman" <Fahlman@CMU-CS-C.ARPA>]

    Don't packages offer an alternative way of scoping declarations?

Sure, but packages normally function at a very large grain size.
Sometimes you want to add something to a package without having to scan
the whole package definition to ensure that some fool has not declared X
to be a quadruple-float.  If I bind a lexical X, that's my X and I'm not
interested in anyone else's views about what type X's in general should
be.

-- Scott