mountainous; and the peak of Nywolla, another of the group, exceeds 3,000 feet in height. The Friendly Islands occupy about 4 degrees of Latitude, and 3 degrees of Longitude; the largest, Tongataboo, is 20 miles long and 10 miles broad; the most of the islands in this group are of coral formation; their population is about 18,000. The Navigator's or Samoa Islands, which are situated north of the preceding group, are all volcanic, Pola, at the western extremity of the group, being the largest, and having a peak more than 3,000 feet high; their population is about 56,000. Hervey's or Cook's Islands occupy about 4 degrees of Latitude, and 3 degrees of Longitude; they are elevated and volcanic, but small; their popu lation is reckoned about 14,000. The Society Islands occupy about 2 degrees of Latitude, and 4 degrees of Longitude; these islands are elevated, volcanic, and productive. Tahiti, the largest, is 50 miles long, and has a surface of 600 square miles. It consists of two peninsulas, connected by a narrow isthmus, and is reckoned the gem of the Pacific. The population amounts to 20,000, and is reckoned Christian; at present it is said to be under the protection of France. The Austral Islands, lying to the south of the Society Islands, contain about 1,000 inhabitants, who speak the language of Tahiti. The Archipelago of Low Islands is a term applied to an immense number of coral reefs and islets lying to the eastward of the Society Islands, and extending over 14 degrees of Longitude; they are scarcely inhabited, and are of dangerous navigation. The Marquesas Islands occupy about 3 degrees of Latitude and Longitude respectively; they are situated about 900 miles north-east of Tahiti; the largest of the group is Noukahiva, about 200 square miles in surface. These islands are all mountainous, and their peaks rise to about 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. Their population is about 20,000; they were lately taken possession of by France. Pitcairn's Island, which is only about 2 miles long and one mile broad, is of volcanic formation, having a diversified surface and a fertile soil. The mutineers of the ship Bounty, who settled here in 1789, have left a population amounting, in 1851, to 160 inhabitants. Easter Island, a small and insular rock, is about 36 miles in circumference, and is considered the most outlying island of the Polynesian basin; it contains craters of extinct volcanoes, and some colossal statues of which the present inhabitants can give no account. Thus we conclude our description of the general Maps in Vol. II. of the POPULAR EDUCATOR, and of one in Vol. III., which completes the series relating to the great divisions of the globe. In our next series of Lessons we intend to enter more minutely into the Geography of each country, and only to refer to the Maps for illustration. LESSONS IN ENGLISH.-No. LXV. SYNTAX OF THE SUBJECT. I Now proceed to the grammatical analysis of simple sentences I shall consider what modifications the several parts may undergo, and what instances of agreement or government they involve. I shall first take the subject, the sick man, and then the predicate, copiously drinks pure water at the well. "I love boys." "All boys?" "No, good ones." Here are many books, some in Greek, some in Latin. These determinatives all agree with their nouns. with man; some also agrees with books, for some and books are symbols of the same objects. Thus a agrees in the expression of comparisons; e. g., The definite article is prefixed to adjectives and adverbs to assist Adjectives. The longer the noviciate the greater the progress. Adverb. I choose the book the rather because, &c. Adj. and Adv. The longer we continue in sin the more difficult is reformation. The definite article is also prefixed to adjectives in the superlative degree, in order to denote the highest possible amount, being thus used intensively, as The most strenuous exertions will be made. The indefinite article gives to plurals the force of totality or unity; as, "Let the damsel abide a few days."—(Gen. xxiv. 55.) When a few is the subject of a proposition, it has a plural verb; e. g., "When a few years are come, then I shall go," &c.—(Job xvi. 22.) The repetition of the article with adjectives of dissimilar import requires the verb to be in the plural; e. g., The metaphorical and the literal meaning are improperly mixed. Here two meanings are intended. But in this example, The original and present signification is retained, only one signification is meant. We may also say, The north and south poles are wide asunder. The article is repeated when each object is contemplated separately. The articles in general stand before the nouns which they qualify; e. g., "See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, The sot a hero, the lunatic a king."-Pope. When a qualifying word accompanies a noun, that qualifying word sometimes precedes and sometimes follows the article; e. g., Both the men were ignorant. The two men were ignorant. They went many a mile. With names of kings and potentates the definite article with an ordinal adjective comes after the noun, as, Henry the eighth; so of days of the month we say, May the thirteenth. By poetic license an inversion may take place, putting the noun between the article and the adjectives; e. g., The primrose pale, the daisy white and red. In agreement with a usage that is very common in Greek and in French, the article sometimes has the force of a possessive pronoun; e. g., "Seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." This want of determinativeness may be increased by substituting (Rom. xi. 4.) the indefinite pronoun some for the indefinite article the. may be wholly removed, and an exact determination may be substituted, by putting this into the place of a or the, as this (or that) sick man drinks. A gives an intimation of unity, but one declares unity explicitly. One then, is also a determinative. That is, "who have not bowed their knee.” The next word in the subject is the adjective sick, which qualifies the noun man. As qualification is the attribute of the adjective, it may be called the qualifier, and whatever word qualifies a noun performs the part of an adjective. Adjectives may pass into adverbs; that is, adjectives may qualify verbs instead of nouns. When I say "the house is near,' near is an adjective. But when I say "he stood near," I use near in an adverbial sense. Near has also the appearance of a preposition, as "they live near each other;" but here it is really an adverb, the preposition to being understood. Participles frequently stand as adjectives, as the broken wheel, the mourning city. The function of qualifying is sometimes performed also by a noun, and that in two ways: first the noun, used as an adjective, stands in agreement with the qualified noun, as the ear-ring, the book-case; or in the second place the noun is in a state of dependence on the qualified noun; e. g., the man of colour, which is equivalent to the coloured man; where of colour has the same import as the participle coloured. Yet the one form of expression cannot be always substituted for the other, since a warlike man and a man of war represent very different objects. As nouns perform the office of adjectives, so on the other hand In such cases the conjunction and is not used, and the right of adjectives sometimes appear as nouns. The word square is accord-precedence is determined by custom; we do not say, ing to its application either a noun or an adjective; as appears in these examples :: Noun. The general ordered the troops to form a square, Adjective. A square room fails in due proportion. Adjectives may be made into nouns by means of the definite article, as the cowardly; e. g., The cowardly flee when there is no danger. It is only when an adjective has acquired a fixed substantival force that it can be preceded by the indefinite article; as, An imbecile should be restrained from doing evil. Your son is a young agreeable man; nor Your son is a young and agreeable man. There has been some discussion as to whether we should say "the two first" or "the first two" when speaking of two objects out of a series; e. g., 1. 2. Give me the two first books on that shelf. In reality there is no option between the two phrases, for they are not of the same import. Number one signifies the book that is first and the book that is second in the line of books, each of the two being considered separately; but number two means the first It also deserves remark, that an adjective converted into a noun pair of books, it being implied that on the shelf there are several by the definite article is used in the plural; thus we say, The sick are well tended; but if we want to employ the singular, we must say, not "the sick drinks," but "the sick man drinks pure water.' Adjectives are generally placed before the nouns which they qualify; e.g., "Miserable comforters are ye all.”—(Job xvi. 2.) pairs. This second is not the ordinary meaning, consequently "the first two" should not be ordinarily used. The phrase "the two first" is elliptical; e. g., Seize the two first that enter the room; that is, Adjectives in the comparative degree take than after them; e. g., But when an adjective is an attribute, and so forms part of the The sentence is obviously elliptical; if you fill it up, it will stand predicate, it stands after its noun, as, "No hand is wholly innocent in war." thus, He is wiser than you are. The qualified noun is sometimes understood, that is, it has to be Here you bears to are the same relation that he bears to is; I supplied from either the sense or the context; e. g., The agreement between the qualifying word and the qualified word is at the bottom a logical agreement, an agreement in the thought and the sense. In form, however, there is usually no variation of the adjective, for we say alike a tall man and a tall woman. In every case the adjective agrees with the particular noun with which it stands connected. When, then, the noun is of the singular number, the adjective is to be accounted of the singular number; when the noun is of the plural number, the adjective is to be accounted of the plural number. Also the gender of the noun determines the gender of the adjective. There are pronouns which possess an adjectival force, as this and that. This and that have plural forms; consequently this and that undergo a change when they come before plural nouns; e. g., This horse, these horses; that book, those books. The word whole denoting one object, a unit, cannot like all be used distributively, and consequently ought not to stand before a plural noun. Hume therefore is wrong when he says, "Almost the whole inhabitants were present." Equally wrong is. Webster in these words, "No less than three dictionaries were published.' Less is an adjective of quantity, and three is an adjective of number. Without incongruity the two cannnot be employed of the same noun. The writer should have said, No fewer than three dictionaries were published. mean they are severally subjects to the verbs. Hence arises the ordinary rule, that conjunctions (than is a conjunction) have the same case after as before them. In the following, I believe him to be wiser than you, you may be either the subject or the object, according to the construction intended. I will fill up the ellipsis in two ways, and you will see the difference,— Subject. I believe him to be wiser than you (are). Object. I believe him to be wiser than (I believe) you (to be). The proper way, then, to ascertain the relation which a noun or pronouns holds after a comparative, is to fill up the ellipsis or supply the words necessary to complete the sense. After than an objective case is sometimes found; e. g., Nero, than whom no sovereign committed greater crimes. This usage is an imitation from the Latin, and not to be encouraged in English. The sentence should be thrown into a different form; e. g., Nero, who committed greater crimes than any other sovereign. And here I may notice a difference of import between two nearly related propositions; e. g., Solomon was wiser than any king. Solomon was wiser than any other king. The difference lies in this, namely, that in the second sentence Solomon is made one of the class called kings, while in the former sentence he is not included in that class. If you say, Iron is more useful than all metais, you, by the use of all, intimate than iron is not a metal, and so do not compare the metal iron with other metals. The proper phrase is, Iron is more useful than other metals (are). Even this, however, is not rigidly correct, for it makes iron more useful than other metals, considered collectively, or in a mass; but what you mean is that, Iron is more useful than any other metal. Other, which is here required, is with the superlative out of place. Some adjectives, from the nature of their import, do not admit of comparison. If a thing is universal, it cannot be more than universal, consequently universal has no comparative and no superlative. Equally is perfect incapable of comparison. The same may be said of absolute, infinite, interminable, boundless. Accordingly it is incorrect to say, HAVING in our last two lessons given a popular view of our moneys, weights and measures, as at present in use, with a few practical observations on some which, though abolished, are still partially employed in particular trades and districts; we now proceed with our remarks on the changes proposed by the "Commissioners appointed to consider the steps to be taken for the Restoration of the Standards of Weights and Measures." In the table of Long Measure, it appears that the English Mile is composed of 8 Furlongs, and that each Furlong is composed of 220 yards in length; therefore, the English Mile contains 1760 yards in its length; for 220× 8=1760. The Commissioners propose an important change in the length of the Mile, namely, that it shall contain only 1,000 yards, and that it shall be denominated Milyard, or some other name to be fixed by Act of Parliament. They also recommend that all our itinerary distances shall be measured by the Milyard, and that marks be set up at every such distance of 1,000 yards; that distances less than this shall be measured in yards and decimal parts of a yard; or in feet and decimal parts of a foot. They next recommend that the acre and decimal parts of the acre shall be employed for the measurement of the surface of land in all surveys, &c.; that the denomination square chain or shain, shall be recognised as describing the tenth part of the acre, and that some name shall be recognised as describing the thousandth part of the acre. If a name were adopted similar to that employed by the French in their decimal system, it would be the Centi-chain, or the Milliacre, and this measure would contain 4.84 square yards. Lastly, on this part of the subject, they recommend that the method of expressing Land Measure in acres, roods, and perches shall be abolished, and that it shall be required in future to express such measures in acres and decimal parts of an acre. According to this proposed new arrangement our old measures as compared with the new would stand thus: This system of Land Measures proposed by the Commissioners is only a modification of that which was long ago introduced into this country by the celebrated Edmund Gunter (who died in 1626), and which was founded by him on the square chain above described. This square chain is, in fact, the square of the length of the chain still called Gunter's Chain, and it is constantly used by our land surveyors at the present day. This length is 22 yards or 66 feet, being 4 poles of 5 yards each; and its square is 484 square yards, 10 times this quantity It is divided decimally, or rather centesimally, being an acre. into 100 links, each link being of course 7.92 inches in length. According to this recommendation, the Table of Land Measure will stand as follows: GUNTER'S LAND MEASURE. 1 square link, 1 centichain, 1 chain, Such is the beautiful system of reckoning originally invented by Gunter to accompany his chain, and since his time adopted by all land surveyors, without the authority of an Act of Parliament, simply because it was founded on common sense, and strongly recommend itself by its simplicity. The term centichain, of course, has not been in use, but the thing itself has been in use for a very long period of years. The following comparison of Gunter's Measures with the Common Measures of Land, will make this subject still more evident to the attentive reader : Common Measures. 1 square inch 1 square foot 1 square yard 1 acre Gunter's Measures. 0.015942+ 2.295684+ 20.661157+ 625. 25000⚫ = 100000 In this remarkable case, therefore, the Royal Commissioners are slowly following in the wake of a man whose improvements were put in practice in this country more than 200 years ago! We have already remarked that the Commissioners recommend that the weight called the Troy Pound and even its name should be abolished; yet, with strange inconsistency, they would permit the use of the Troy Ounce and the Troy Pennyweight, by recommending that this use be confined to gold, silver, and precious stones! This, of course, is for the sake of the Goldsmiths and Jewellers, and is a fine specimen, in a small way, of what is called Class Legislation." They recommend the abolition of the "Avoirdupois dram," which is, as our readers know, the sixteenth part of an Avoirdupois pound; and they recommend that no denomination of weight lower than the pound be recognised, except the ounce, the grain, and the decimal parts of a pound! Here's a pretty kettle of fish! No denomination of weight lower than the pound, except the ounce! Now the ounce is the sixteenth part of a pound; and why not the sixteenth part of an ounce, or the eighth part of an ounce, or the fourth part of an ounce, or half an ounce? Yet these Commissioners, we presume, call themselves practical men! These reasonable parts of an ounce are to be disregarded by an Act of Parliament,-no, they are not to be recognised by the Act, and yet the grain is to be recognised! And pray what is the grain? why it is only the 7000th part of a pound! And so the 7000th part of a pound is to be recognised by a proposed Act of Parliament, but the 256th part is not to be recognised! What inconsistency is this! And pray where is the Decimality (or, the Tenth-part-ed-ness) of the SEVEN-THOUSANDTH PART of a pound? The grain is to be recognised! and what part of an ounce is a grain? not a decimal part assuredly; but the part represented by, or two-eight hundred and seventyfifths of an ounce; for it takes 437 grains Troy Weight to make an ounce. The Commissioners next recommend as the unit of weight following the grain, a weight called Millet, which is to be the one-thousandth part of an Imperial or Avoirdupois pound, and, of course, must weigh 7 grains. On these recommendations, we should find that our table of Imperial or Avoirdupois weight would stand thus, with the necessary names and decimal divisions for ordinary purposes :- 1 millet 10 millets 100 millets or 10 decamillets = = 1 hecatomillet 1000 millets or 10 hecatomillets Or if new names like Millet were wanted for the decimal sub-divisions recommended by the Commissioners, they might stand thus: 7 grains 10 millets 10 centets = 1 millet 10 decets 1 centet 1 decet 1,000 pounds, or 10 centners 10,000 pounds, or 100 centners = 1 centuer, 1 hecatocentner. 1 decacentner, We may now ask, where would be the place of the recog- might be very convenient; and certainly the restoration or nised ounce in this table, which is not a decimal part but a For large weights, these names and this decimal system sixteenth part of the pound? Where, also, would be the place 100 pounds to the rank of the unit in this table would be a of the Troy Ounce, and the Troy Pennyweight, in the same very great improvement; still we do not see why the name table? Assuredly, these also are not decimal parts of a pound. Hundred-weight should be abolished, seeing that it more clearly And in addition to all this, where would be the place of the expresses to the English ear the weight of 100 lbs., than Centner different parts of the Apothecaries weight? For the use of this or any other name that could possibly be devised. By this weight is also recommended to be permitted by the Com-means the name Ton would be abolished, which there would missioners, being only the Troy Weight differently divided for be little reason to regret, seeing that it is often confounded with medicinal purposes. that of Tun, the former being a weight and the latter a measure. Standard of length be measures and beds [for the measures] of The Commissioners further recommend that the Exchequer one foot (the bed having divisions into inches, tenths of inches, and tenths and hundredths of feet); of two feet (the bed similarly divided); of one yard (the bed divided into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, and also into tenths and hundredths); of 10 feet (the bed divided into feet and tenths of feet); and a measure of the chain of 22 yards (divided into links). Here then we have the combination of the centesimal, duodevigintal, decimal, duodecimal, ternary, and binary systems in the subdivision and multiples of the chain, the yard, the foot, the inch, and the link; and the table of standard measures of length will stand thus: STANDARDS OF LENGTH. 10 tenths of an inch 1 ounce, Apothecaries, = 1 decet, 10 hundredths of a foot 1 pound, Imperial. We have here employed the terms Centet and Decet, gratuitously of course; because, intimating as they do the parts of a pound for which they stand, like the term Millet, they are formed quite according to analogy; besides, if these terms were not adopted, some others, perhaps less expressive, would have to be adopted in their stead; but whether the names are adopted or not, the things for which they stand are strongly recommended for adoption. Now, if the preceding table, which, as we have said, includes all the recommendations of the Commissioners relating to the subdivision of the pound, what are we to think of the uniformity in our weights and measures, and what of the adoption of the proposed Decimal scale commingled with such heterogeneous elements? Let the public judge and answer for itself; we are doing our duty. The Commissioners, in concluding this part of the subject, recommend the "Government to consider the expediency of preparing and printing for the use of dealers in bullion an edition [they mean a set] of tables for facilitating the reduction of Assays, equivalent to those now in use, but adapted to decimal multiples of the Troy ounce, instead of multiples of the Troy pound." This recommendation shows that they are serious in wishing to preserve the elegant irregularity of subdivision exhibited in the preceding table. But we leave this part without comment to the sagacious reflections of our more ingenious readers! 10 tenths of a foot, or 12 inches 10 feet, or 120 inches 10 hundredths of a two-foot or, 24 inches 2 sixteenths of a yard 2 eighths of a yard 2 fourths of a yard 2 halves of a yard 10 hundredths of a yard } 10 tenths of a yard, or 3 feet 10 links 100 links, or 66 feet, or 22 yards lowing standards of weight: 1 grain, 10 grains, 100 grains, 1,000, The Commissioners also recommend the adoption of the fo.grains, 100,000 grains, and several multiples of each; 1 Troy ounce, 10 Troy ounces, 100 Troy ounces, and several multiples of each; 1,000 Troy ounces, but no weight of 12 Troy ounces several multiples of it, but no dram weights; lastly, one pound (Avoirdupois) and several multiples of it not beyond 10lbs. ; or of any of its multiples. Also the ounce (Avoirdupois) and 10lbs., and several multiples of it not beyond 100lbs.; 100lbs., but no weight of 14lbs., or any multiple of it, except 70lbs. Also, the tenth, the hundredth, and the thousandth parts of a pound, with several multiples of them. We are not yet done, however, with the recommendations which consist of the Imperial gallon and Imperial bushel, with of the Royal Commissioners on the subject of the Imperial or some multiples and submultiples of the same, they recommend In addition to the standards of capacity now in the Exchequer, Avoirdupois weights. They recommend that all weights of the adoption of a wine bottle measure to hold exactly one-sixth 14lbs., 28lbs., 5lbs., 112lbs., or any of their multiples shall be of a gallon, and of measures of 3, 5, and 9 gallons. Surely this abolished; and that the only legal weights above one pound is not a decimal division or subdivision of the standard meashall be weights consisting of multiples of one pound not exceed-sures of capacity! ing 10lbs., and weights consisting of multiples of 10lbs., not exceeding 100lbs.; that the name Centner, or some other name for carrying their proposed new system into operation, of to be fixed by Act of Parliament, shall be recognised as describ- which of course, our readers will plainly perceive we cannot In conclusion, among a variety of useful recommendations rendered by ce, but by the pronoun used with all unipersonal verbs (il) :— Il est nécessaire d'étudier. Il est plus difficile pour les nations que pour les individus, de recouvrer l'estime de leurs voisins quand elles l'ont perdue. BOISTE. It is necessary to study. It is more difficult for nations than for individuals, to recover the esteem of their neighbours when they have lost it. wholly approve, the commissioners recommend that a set of Itinerant [Itinerating] standards be employed for the purpose of extending its adoption in our Colonies. We think that a similar set would be of immense use in extending the same throughout the three kingdoms; but this is a minor consideration so long as the system of Weights and Measures is itself liable to great objections. Another recommendation, borrowed from the example of some towns in Scotland, is to fix standards of the principal measures of length in the wall or on the floor of some public building, in each of the principal towns of the empire, for public use. But here we must draw our obser(1.) The relative pronoun que, whom, which, can in French vations to a close. Some correspondents have asked us to ex-never be suppressed like the corresponding English proplain how the pendulum could be employed as a natural standard for the recovery of lost standards of measure. We cannot stop to explain this now, but we shall do it on a future occasion; the idea, however, is not new, being at least as old as the time of Butler, who says, in "Hudibras," that nouns:* § 109.-THE RELATIVE PRONoun. The praises (which) we give, have Les louanges que nous donnons, se rapportent toujours par quelque always in some way a relation to chose à nous-mêmes. MASSILLON. ourselves. (3.) Qui is also used interrogatively for the régime direct, and preceded by a preposition for the régime indirect. then means whom, of whom, to whom, whose, &c. :Qui avez-vous vu? De qui tenez-vous cette nouvelle? Whom have you seen? § 110. THE PRONOUN EN. (1.) We have already [§ 39, (17.) § 95, (5.) § 103, Rule (1.)] made several remarks on this pronoun. (2.) En signifies of it, from it, with it, about it, of them, from them, &c., expressed or understood. Though en is by some French writers often used in relation to persons, their example should be imitated in such cases only as that presented by the example [§ 92, (2.)]. expressed or understood, preserves its nature of an indirect (3.) En, used as an equivalent for the English some or any, regimen, and has, in the same manner as the French article placed before a noun used partitively, the sense of of it, of them; the word partie being understood: (4.) En sometimes recalls the whole or part of a proposition: L'on ne saurait voir, sans en être Posséder par un autre un bien § 111. THE We cannot, without being piqued, see another person in possession of goods which we have failed in obtaining. Let us no longer argue about this ; every one has his own opinion. PRONOUN Y. Some remarks have already been made on this pronoun [§ 39, (18.) § 103, (2.)]. Y means to it, at it, to them, at them. It is seldom used in relation to persons or animals, but frequently in relation to things: • The conjunction, that, is often omitted in English; its equivalent, que. must always be expressed in French. I believe (that) he is here, Je crois qu'il est ici. |