name of an object; stands is a verb, because it avers or declares something of chair; and the union of the two, as chair stands, forms a proposition.

Sentences, then, in their simplest form, consist of a noun and a verb. A noun and a verb are indispensable. Whatever more you may have, you cannot have anything less than a noun and a verb in a sentence or proposition. As a substitute for the noun, you may have a pronoun. Pronoun, again, is a word of Latin origin, signifying a word which stands instead of a noun. Thus we may put the pronoun he instead of Alfred, e.g. (Latin, exempli gratiâ; that is, for example):

Alfred reads
He reads

where he holds the place of Alfred. We must accordingly
qualify our statement, and say that sentences, in their simplest
form, consist of a verb and a noun or pronoun. One or two
other qualifications might be stated; but here, at least, instead
of entering into them, it will be better to put the statement in
its most general form, a form in which it will embrace all
particular cases, and render qualification unnecessary. I say,
then, that in every sentence there must be a subject and a
verb. I have thus set before you a new term. That term I
must explain. Subject is a Latin word, and denotes that
which receives, that which lies under, is liable or exposed to; from

sub, under, and jacio, I throw, I place; in the passive, I lie.
Accordingly, the subject of a proposition is that to which the
action declared in the verb, is ascribed. Hence, the subject
of a proposition is the agent, the actor, the doer. The subject
of a proposition answers to the question who? or what? as,
who reads? Answer; Alfred reads. The term subject is used
with special reference to the corresponding term, predicate. The
predicate of a proposition is that which is attributed to the sub-
ject. What is attributed in our model sentence? This,
namely, that Alfred reads. "Reads," then, is here the predi-
cate, or that which is ascribed to, or asserted of Alfred.
Hence you see the propriety of the term subject, since Alfred
is subject to the averment that he reads. Now, in the gram-
matical construction of the sentence, it matters not whether
you say, Alfred reads, or he reads.
In both cases you have a
subject and verb, or predicate; and consequently you have a
complete enunciation of thought, or a perfect sentence.

The sentence thus analysed and explained may be set forth

in this form :

You observe that reads and is good hold the same place and perform the same function in the two propositions. They in each case form the predicate of the sentence. The predicate is that which is predicated, declared, or averred of the subject of a proposition. In the former instance, reads is that which is averred; in the latter, is good is that which is averred. Mark, that neither is nor good alone forms the predicate, for what is asserted is not that Alfred is,—that is, exists, but that he is good. Accordingly, the predicate here consists of two words,namely, is good; but in the former example, it consists of merely one word, that is, reads. Of these two words, good we have seen is the attribute. It remains to state that the word is forms what is called the copula, a Latin term which may here be rendered link. The term describes its office. The word is in the sentence links the subject with the predicate. The whole may

be exhibited thus:

Subject.
Alfred

Alfred

Predicate.
reads

Copula. Attribute.
is good

By ordinary grammarians what we have termed the subject, is objectionable, for it is incorrect by not being sufficiently comis called the nominative case. The employment of such a term prehensive. Take, for instance, the proposition, to ride is healthful. To ride is the subject of the proposition, and the subject, therefore, to the verb is. But is to ride a nominative Ask the grammarians, and they will tell you that it is the infinitive mood of the verb ride. If an infinitive mood, it is not a nominative case. Cases pertain to nouns, moods to verbs.

case?

But here, we meet with an instance of the complexity and obscurity that have been brought into English grammar by athave but one case, the genitive; or, if the nominative be allowed tachment to Latin forms. Our nouns in their actual condition to be a case, then two cases are the utmost that our nouns can be said to have. Why should more be assigned to them? It may be doubted, indeed, whether what is called the nominanominative, which is formed from a stem common to all the cases through which the noun passes; whereas in English, the nominative is the stem itself. However this may be, in English, nouns now possess no more than two cases. This fact is in no way affected by the allegation that the Anglo-Saxon, the mother of the English, has several cases. It is with the daughter, not with the mother that we are here concerned.

tive can be properly termed a case, for it differs from the Latin

LESSONS IN LATIN.-No. XI.
By JOHN R. BEARD, D.D.

RELATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.
Relative-Qui, quae, quod, who or which. Interrogative — Quis, quae,
quid? who or which?
RELATIVE.
Singular.

Another new term demands another explanation. What is the meaning of adjective? Adjective in Latin signifies that which is added to, or thrown to (ad, to; and jacio, I throw). To what are adjectives thrown or added? To nouns, as in this instance. Adjectives, therefore, in their very nature, cannot stand alone. They perform their office in being added to or connected with nouns. They are connected with nouns in order to qualify the meaning of those nouns, and to answer to Cases. the question of what kind? What kind of a boy is Alfred? Nom. Answer, "he is a good boy." An adjective, then, is an epithet, (a Greek word, which denotes that which is attributed to a noun or a person); e.g., green fields, tall men, hard rocks, where green, tall, and hard are epithets, or adjectives, inasmuch as they assign the quality of their several subjects. Now, what we call qualities, we call also attributes. The attributes of a body are its qualities. Attribute is a word from the Latin, denoting that which is attributed or ascribed to an object. Adjectives, therefore, describe the qualities or attributes of the persons or things they are connected with. In the instance given above, good is the attribute of the proposition; thus,

Gen.

Dat.

qui, who
cujus, whose
cui, to whom

cui, to whom

Acc.

Abl.

quem, whom
quō, by whom

quam, whom
qua, by whom
Plural.
quae, who

quarum, whose
quibus, to whom
quas, whom
quibus, by whom

N. quod, which cujus, of which cui, to which quod, which quō, by which

quae, which quorum, of which quibus, to which quae, which

But this explanation leaves is unexplained. The word is on Gen. reflection you will recognise as a verb, seeing that it avers; Dat. for it avers or declares that Alfred is good. By comparing | Acc. together the two forms

quae?

quibus, by which

quid? before a

noun, quod

cujus ?

cui?

quid?

сцо?

broken, fragile (from frango, I break); pecco, I sin, fail, err; solen
2, I am accustomed; contemno 3, I despise; existo 3, I stand out,
become, exist; quod, conj. that; praedico 1, I speak before, declare
(E. R. preach).
EXERCISES.-LATIN-ENGLISH.

Quot sunt homines, tot sunt sententiae; tantum malum est hoc, quod peccant principes, quantum illud quod permulti imitatores principum existunt; quot genera orationuin sunt, totidem oratorum genera reperiuntur; quales sunt duces, tales sunt milites; qualis est rex, talis est grex; quales in republica sunt principes, tales solent esse cives; vir bonus non contemnit homines miseros, qualescunque sunt; corporis et fortunae bona, quantacunque sunt, sunt incerta et fragilia; quotquot homines sunt, omnes vitam amant; quotcunque sunt scriptores, omnes Aristidis justitiam praedicant.

ENGLISH-LATIN.

As many men so many minds (the minds are as numerous as the men); as many boys so many girls; as many fathers so many mothers; as great as is thy grief so great is my joy; such as are parents such are children (liberi); as is the shepherd so is the flock; I do not despise the things whatever they are; Aristides is declared just by all writers how many soever they are.

Ocean; and he rejected the positive information of Herodotus on this point. He acknowledged little regard for the authority of this ancient historian, and his doubt on the subject of the voyages of Pytheas, Hanno, and Eudoxus, showed his ignorance of many important geographical questions.

Strabo adopted the division of the earth into climates recognised by Greek and Roman authors previous to his time. Long after him, indeed, as well as before him, the globe was divided into five zones, of which two were the frigid or frozen zones near the poles, one scorched by the sun and extending along the equatorial line on each side of it, called the torrid zone; and two others called the temperate zones, occupying the rest of the world. The latter were considered to be the only habitable portions of the globe; and as to the torrid zone, it was supposed to be condemned, on account of its fiery climate, not only to eternal solitude, but to present an invincible obstacle to the exploration of the countries situated beyond the equator. It will afford an illustration of the force of those ideas which prevailed on the subject of the zones of the globe, and on the relative position of the great divisions of the earth, when we reflect on the fact that they maintained their ground in the minds of men for a period of no less than twelve centuries of the history of the world.

When we consider the advanced state of the arts and sciences in the age of Augustus Cesar, at least compared with those which preceded it, we cannot but wonder at the imperfect state of geographical knowledge which existed in the Roman world at this period. Horace considered Great Britain and the Thames as the confines of the earth; and Virgil, as we have already remarked, placed the source of the Nile in India. The geographical productions of Dionysius Periegetes and of Pomponius Mela, written within a period of fifty years after the Christian era, contain nothing worthy of notice, being mere compilations of what was then known, and by no means improved.

When the legions of the Emperor Claudius Cesar, A.D. 40, marched to the conquest of Britain, this country was a new world to the Romans. The fleet of Agricola, thirty-five years afterwards, circumnavigated Scotland, explored the surrounding seas, and rediscovered the famous Thule. But even at this epoch Great Britain was still a mysterious country; Tacitus says it was bounded on the east by Germany, on the south by Gaul, and on the west by Spain. As to Ireland, he places it midway between Spain and Great Britain. The interior of Germany became known to the Romans in consequence of their active commerce with certain northern parts of Europe, which arose from the passion of the Roman ladies for succinum or yellow amber. In the east a discovery of very great importance advanced the progress of navigation and geography. Hippalus, about the middle of the first century, established the fact of the periodicity of the monsoons, or trade-winds, in the Indian ocean, which from that period has regulated the motions of the western navigators to India and the Asiatic Archipelago.

LESSONS IN GEOGRAPHY.-No. III. NOTIONS OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. THE desire for nautical expeditions, which, under the excitement of commercial enterprise, had begun to spread among the nations, was restrained by the conquests of the Romans. These conquests, however, if they did not extend the boundaries of the known world, at least enriched the domain of geographical knowledge with new facts, and more exact than those which had been collected and taken for granted by the writers of former ages. The three Punic (Carthaginian) wars, the Illyrian war, the contests with the Gauls, the expeditions against Spain, and those of Aetius Gallus into Arabia and Ethiopia, all contributed, in their turn, to give to this science a more positive character and more varied details. Polybius, about 150 years before the age of Hipparchus, gave a description of the world which, notwithstanding his numerous errors, evinced remarkable progress in the knowledge of the globe. The new acquisitions of the Romans, and of Mithridates Eupator, the campaigns of Julius Cesar in Gaul and in Britain, rendered accessible the knowledge of countries hitherto but partially explored, or altogether unknown. Thus, for example, it was discovered that Ireland was not a fabulous country, as geographers had formerly asserted. Posidonius, a Syrian, resident at Rhodes, endeavoured to correct the measurement of the earth's circumference formerly made by Eratosthenes. He observed that when the star Canopus, in the constellation Argo, became visible in the horizon of Rhodes, it was elevated seven degrees and a half above the horizon of Alexandria. He supposed these places to be under the same meridian, and, from the reckoning of navigators, he found the distance between these two places to be 5,000 stadia. Now, seven degrees and a half being the forty-eighth part of a great circle of the sphere, this gives the circum-to the south of Mauritania Tingitana, or part of modern Barference of the earth equal to 240,000 stadia. This was a nearer approximation to the truth than that of Eratosthenes, and, according to the length of the stadium given by some authors, was pretty nearly correct. But it was founded on erroneous data; for the arc of the great circle between the two places above mentioned was only about five degrees and a quarter, and the difference between their two meridians was rather more than two degrees.

Strabo, who flourished under the reign of Augustus Caesar, was the next geographer who corrected many preceding errors, and made some of his own. The limits of his knowledge of the world, were on the north, Ierne or Ireland, and the mouth of the Elbe. He denied the existence of Thule, and asserted that the earth was not habitable at the distance of 4,000 stadia north of Britain. On the east, he considered Ceylon or Taprobane and Thinæ the borders of the world, and it is doubtful whether his knowledge of it extended as far as the mouths of the Ganges. He knew the western coast of Africa as far as Cape Nun. But he partook of the error of those who represented the Caspian Sea as united to the Northern

On the south, the expedition of the Consul Suetonius Paulinus into the country of Sejelmissa, on the borders of Sahara, or the great Desert of Africa, disclosed the zone of the continent which extends from the southern side of Mount Atlas bary. The campaign of Cornelius Balbus in a neighbouring and parallel region, was accompanied with still more interesting results. The Roman army set out from Tripoli, traversed the desert, penetrated into Fezzan, and advanced even into the country recently visited by Messrs. Denham and Clapperton; that is, to the vicinity of Bornou. Of the scientific information gained by these enterprises, the celebrated Caius Secundus Pliny availed himself, in his Natural History. He also knew how to dip with considerable discernment into the writings of the Greeks; but he appears not to have considered it necessary to consult the work of Strabo. From the inquiries and information he had obtained in this way, he assigned to the different quarters of the world then known, the following magnitudes To Europe one-third, to Asia one-fourth, and to Africa one-fifth of the whole.

Marinus of Tyre, who preceded Ptolemy, was distinguished for his geographical knowledge. He took advantage of all ancient and contemporary writers, to compose a complete treatise on the subject of geography and maps; and he even prepared new editions of his books, corrected and improved in

MODE OF OPERATION.

=

3152588 897 88

260700
397000

proportion as he obtained more exact information; but it is to be regretted that these have not reached us. At last appeared, about the middle of the second century, the famous Ptolemy, three figures (700) from the dividend. You then perform the Here you mark off three ciphers (000) from the divisor, and who lived at Alexandria in Egypt, and taught astronomy there. His system of astronomy and geography which stood unim-division by Rule 3, and obtain the quotient 3152588. The repeached for about twelve centuries, and received the name of mainder after this division is performed is 260; to this number the Ptolemaic system from its author, was not superseded till annex 700, the figures marked off from the dividend, and you Copernicus appeared; and notwithstanding his errors, due have 260700 for the complete remainder, answering to the complete divisor 397000. The result of the process may now be represented more to the ignorance of mankind, than to himself, his name is still revered as a geographer and astronomical observer. His as usual, thus: 1251577696700 work entitled the "Megale Syntaxis, or Great Construction," 397000 is a monument of his labour and his learning. He examined the ratio of the length of the gnomon or style of the sundial to its shadow at the equinoxes and the solstices; he calculated eclipses; he investigated the calculations founded on the difference of climate, and carefully consulted the reports of travellers and navigators. He reduced his information and observations into a regular system, and expressed the positions of places by longitude and latitude, after the manner of Hipparchus. His great work consists nearly of an elementary picture of the earth, in which its figure and size and the positions of places on its surface, are determined. It contains only a very short outline of the division of countries, with scarcely any historical notice. It is supposed that a detailed account was added to this outline, but it has not reached us.

2607

mainder might be expressed more briefly, thus: 399.
On the principle formerly explained, this fractional re-
EXAMPLE 2.-Divide 15875494569000 by 67680000.
Dividend. Quotient.
6768 0000) 1587549456 9000 (234567

the Divisor.

Divisor.

Multiples of

13536

23394

6768 1

20304

13536 2

30909

20304 3

27072

His

27072 4

38374

33840

33840 5

geography is contained in eight books, and is certainly more scientific than any previous work on the subject. He calculated the circumference of the earth at 180,000 stadia; but the value of this calculation depends entirely on the assumed length of the stadium, which, according to some estimates of that length, brings his calculation very near the truth. He taught how to determine the longitude by lunar eclipses, and by this method ascertained that of many places with tolerable

accuracy.

LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC.-No. XI.

SIMPLE DIVISION-Continued.

WHEN the divisor is a number consisting both of significant and insignificant figures, and the dividend a number consisting of figures either wholly significant, or like the divisor, proceed according to the following rule :

Rule 4.-From the right of the divisor mark off all the insignificant figures or ciphers; then, from the right of the dividend, mark off the same number of figures or ciphers as were marked off in the divisor. Perform the division with the remaining figures of the divisor and dividend, according to the preceding Rule. If there be a remainder when this process bas been performed, annex to it the figures or ciphers which were marked off from the dividend, in order to form the complete remainder answering to the complete divisor. If there be no remainder, after the process has been performed, then the figures, or figures and ciphers marked off, form the complete remainder as before; but, if ciphers only were marked off from the dividend, then in this case, there will be no remainder, as ciphers alone have no value.

EXAMPLE 1.-Divide 1251577696700 by 397000.

9000 complete remainder.

1191