they write, and they are followed by all who wish to speak and write that language correctly. Now you are to suppose that I have studied our English classics, and have hence ascertained how I ought to speak and write. In that study I have been preceded by others. Their conclusions afford me aid. Under that aid I have formed a system of rules, and that system of rules is called English Grammar. English Grammar, then, you see, is a science. Science, you know, means knowledge; it is knowledge, the materials of which are systematically arranged; arranged, that is, into a system, arranged in a set order, and with a view to a certain purpose or result; and English Grammar consists of a continued set of rules derived from the practice of well-educated Englishmen, so arranged as to form a complete whole, and communicate useful information to the learner."-"Well, I understand that; but in our house every body says they does,' and you told me yesterday that was wrong.' "It is wrong; remember I said that we are guided by the practice of educated Englishmen, and educated Englishmen say "they do."-"But what does the word Grammar signify? I thought a Grammar was a book; you say it is a science."-" It is both. Grammar is a word of Greek origin. It comes from gramma, which denotes a letter, a letter of the alphabet. Hence Grammar is the the science of letters-letters, that is, employed to express ideas. Listen, letters represent sounds, and form syllables and words; words represent sounds, and the sounds they represent, represent or stand for thoughts or ideas; while those thoughts or states of mind represent things, objects in the inner world or in the outer world. This statement will require thought. Do not trouble yourself too much about it now, you will understand it by and bye. But observe that Grammar is the science by which you learn to express your ideas correctly, that is, according to the usages of the best authors. And a book in which these usages are set forth as rules is also called a Grammar. Every language has rules peculiar to itself. Hence we have 'French Grammar," Greek Grammar,' as well as 'English Grammar."" as " Graham's English Composition;" his letter is well written.-CLASS OF P. T.: ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. As many of our correspondents are desirous to know where cheap globes may be had, we have pleasure in recommending a "Portable Globe" sold by John Betts, 115, Strand, London, price 3s. 6d. This globe is about sixteen inches in circumference, constructed of pasteboard so contrived that it can be laid perfectly flat, or in less than a minute can be made to form a sphere. It is engraved in a distinct manner, and not overcrowded with names, being chiefly adapted for beginners.-R. J. RALPH: Thanks for his information; does he mean a book (or box) of instruments; he has written book! We are the Society of Arts may be obtained at the office of the Society, Adelphi, London, price 2s. 6d. or 6s. each, according to value. The boxes of colours may be obtained at Mr. Rogers', Bunhill-row, St. Luke's, price 1s.-T. GIBBS (Southwark): Thanks for suggestions on the Latin dictionary.-A LEARNER (Bonner's-road): See answers on the same subject to others.BEATRICE (Manchester): Pitman's is strongly recommended to us by a host of subscribers; but we have two parties to please, those who follow short-hand as an amusement or an aid to private study, and those who follow it as a profession; it is not used by parliamentary reporters. Spanish will come in its turn.-J. ARMITAGE (Bradford): Thanks for his correction. Our readers will please to draw the pen through the word length, vol. I., page 309, col. 2, line 26. To improve your spelling write a good deal of English, and whenever you are in doubt consult a dictionary.-J. B. (Forfar) should purchase Cassell's Euclid and Arithmetic, and study the lessons on the same in the P.E.; we do not recommend the course he mentions.-W. STEPHENSON (Lancaster): The errors have been corrected.-G. QUAIGH (Manchester) shall have the explanation in the Lessons. We know no better JAS. CHARLETON (Birmingham): We understand that the system of short-plan than to go to Norway; the next best would be to order a Norwegian hand used by reporters of the daily presa, is not Pitman's, but a modi-grammar and dictionary, if such can be had, from D. Nutt, foreign bookfication of Taylor's or Gurney's. A gentleman belonging to this staff in seller, Strand.-J. A. (Hull): See vol. I., p. 176, col. 1, and p. 208, col. 1. the Metropolis would oblige ourselves very much by informing us more precisely on this point.-WM. JONES (Liverpool): We shall explain all about gravity, and specific gravity, when we come to Natural Philosophy; as to the nature of decimals, and units, and zeros, he should consult Cas sell's Arithmetic.-DEUX JEUNES HOMMES (Hollinwood): If e be fina! in hotesse, and consequently not pronounced, how can s be final too? The s must be pronounced because it is not final. What meandering is this? eau is a triphthong, and is pronounced o in French.-W. JACKSON (Man-"Phiz," and other eminent Artists, price 1s. chester): His answer is too long.-J. RUSSELL (Kingscavil): His solution is correct. The final e is pronounced.-W. G. (Tokenhosue-yard) should study Dr. Beard's Lessons in English first, or along with one of the other languages.-P. E. E. (Ely): We do not know.-ROWBOTHAM (Sutton-inAshfield): Tardy's Improved.-G. W. (Holme-lane) proposes to ask Tentamus first, by what power can an irresistible body be SETin motion? He is wrong on the anail, and on the eternity of matter; let him read our answer to J. Guthrie, sen.-WILLIAM TAPECE (Bradbury): We shall keep Lessons in Agriculture in view.-W. S. (Cheltenham): We have said Spiers long THE TEMPERANCE ALMANACK for 1853, much improved and enlarged, and ago; we use Boniface and find it very good; we do not recollect the price. in which will be inserted a Tale of thrilling interest, from the inimitable pen S. R. B. (Halsted): There are Lessons in Grammar every week, the best of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, authoress of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," enthat could be got, and they are entitled Lessons in English.-LAMARTINE titled, "THE PLEDGE TAKEN; or, The Husband Saved, and a Family made (Rotherithe): We do not know the best; but there are some teachers of Happy" with valuable details of the great Temperance Movement, StaFrench in London, who use the P. E. as a text-book; if they will send their tistics, &c. With several Engravings, designed by Gilbert, price 2d. addresses we will insert them.-GULIELMUS: When you "wonder whose THE PROTESTANT DISSENTERS' ALMANACK for 1853, with 12 beautiful plan it is," you wish to know the person whose plan it is;" the antece-Designs, by Gilbert, of striking Events in the History of Nonconformity, dent to whose, therefore, is person, understood though not expressed.-A. | price 6d. RICHARD (Crowhurst): Correct.-J. W. D. (Lambeth): Thanks.-CELSUS: J. GUTHRIE, sen. (Kelso): We admit that the mutability of matter is not its annihilation, but we cannot admit that its non-annihilation is any proof of its existence from eternity. God having once called matter into being, may change it from time to time as it pleases Him, and even endow it with eternal existence after its creation; but this is certainly no proof of its preexistence from eternity; and this is all we contend for. If matter be change-informed by W. W. SNELLING, that the box of instruments announced by able or mutable, there must be an immutable or unchangeable being who made it so; and if it be rendered immutable or unchangeable, it can only be according to the will of HIM, who willeth all things, and they are done. It is a glorious statement of His, "I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any one pluck them out of my hand. ...I and the Father are one." As to the reference to Psalm Ixxviii., verse 69, it is not in point, because it denies the pre-eternity of matter by the assertion that "the earth He [that is, God] has established for ever." Neither does this sentence assert the post eternity of matter in the original Hebrew; for the phrase Le Olam translated for ever, signifies only FOR THE HIDDEN PERIOD, for the time unknown,-that is, for the time known only to God. Otherwise, the following scripture would be contradictory; but with the true translation of the phrase, it is in perfect harmony: "But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens, that is, the lower heavens, or atmosphere] shall pass away with a great uoise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works therein shail be burnt up." 2 Peter iii. 10. LITERARY NOTICES. JOHN CASSELL'S ALMANACKS FOR 1853 ARE NOW READY of Thirty beautiful Engravings, price 6d. THE POPULAR EDUCATOR ALMANACK for 1853, containing Forty-eight Pages of most interesting and valuable Educational Statistics; including a Comparative View of Education at Home and Abroad; Essays on the Leading Sciences; Brief Notices of Eminent Scholars; Exposition of Technical Terms; &c. &c., price 21. The same result would happen.-UN IRLANDOIS will and what he wants Printed and Published by JOHN CASSELL, La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgatein Cassell's "Mannal of the French Language," price 23., and in books such hill, London.-October 31, 1852. In this class those plants are ranged which have no apparent flowers, and do not appear to produce seed in the same way as flowering plants. Linnæus gave them the name of cryptogamia, formed from two Greek words, meaning hidden marriage, from this circumstance. Some light has been cast upon them since the day of that distinguished naturalist, but much still remains to be learned. It is, however, generally admitted that the plants of this class produce a number of small particles called spores, each of which contains several minute germs, which spring from it without any particular regularity, and which are not assisted in their growth, by any such store of nutriment as that provided in the seed of others. Of some of these, we shall therefore take a brief survey. Gorden, who took out a patent for the dye, and changing his own name to Cudbear, gave this also to the substance which he had procured from the lichen. This plant is imported largely from Norway, but it thrives well on the rocks in the Highlands. One of the fungi, the edible mushroom, fig. 3, is known to everybody. The gills are of a pale-pink colour, becoming by age, of a dark chocolate brown. According to M. Dutrochet, what we commonly regard as the whole plant, namely, the bonnet and the stem, are nothing more than the fruit, the plant itself being wholly concealed under ground, and consisting of the small delicate white substances which gardeners term the spawn, and which is well known to be indispensable when mushrooms are cultivated artificially. It ought to be known to all who gather mushrooms for the table, that the funguses similar to them in form, which grow in woods, and Fig. 4. Among them are the lichens, those peculiar looking productions which give so much of the character of age and antiquity to trees, rocks, stones, and walls, by their various shades of grey, brown, black, and yellow. Thallus is the term generally applied to that part of a cryptogamia plant which bears the reproductive organs; and in lichens it constitutes the great bulk of the plant. When it resembles a little shrub, it is called centripetal, but it is termed centrifugal, or foliaceous, fig. 2, when it opens like a rosette. Fig. 3. Fig. 5. Liver-wort. are of bright colours, or have worts on the bonnets, are more or less poisonous or dangerous. The truffle used like the mushroom for food, has no root, but grows beneath the surface of the ground. It is round and solid, and the outside is rough. The method of finding this subterranean delicacy is by dogs, which are taught to hunt for it by the scent. As soon as they discover it, they begin to bark and scratch up the ground, a sure indication to their employers that the truffle of which they are in search is at hand. The liver-wort, fig. 4, besides its regular fructification, which conFig. 6. Mushroom. Frullania Hutchinsia. Several of the species are valuable, supplying us with dyeing materials. One of them is scraped from the rocks, and sold to the manufacturer by the people of Auvergne. It yields a rich purple dye, called litmus, which is used very extensively in France, either alone, or mixed with similar lichens. Another species is the celeorated Cudbear of commerce. This plant was long used by the Welsh and Scots, for dyeing linen cloths of a dull brown tint, but was brought into general use as a purple dye by Dr. Cuthbert VOL. II. The Moss. sists of little bodies forming, as it were, the spokes of a wheel, and which are cases containing spores, has a very curious apparatus. For the spores, when mature, are scattered by a set of elastic spiral filaments, which lie among them. When it begins to develop itself, the spore does not altogether burst and emit the grains it contains, but its outer coat only ruptures, and a long tube projects from its interior, within which new cells are seen to grow, taking their origin from the minute grains which the spore contained. These cells 32 averted my present sufferings, I was indeed a stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the protecting eye of that God who has condescended to call himself the stranger's friend. At this moment, painful as my reflections were, the extraordinary beauty of a small moss caught my eye; and though the whole plant was not larger than the top of one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and fruit without admiration. Can that Being, thought I, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after his own image? Surely not! Reflections like these would not allow me to despair. I started up, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled onwards, assured that relief was at hand, and I was not disappointed." Of all the CRYPTOGAMIA, the ferns approach most nearly to flowering plants. They present a small number of leaves, generally much divided into leaflets, and these again often minutely subdivided, each arising from the ground by a woody stalk, which is commonly regarded as the stem of the plant. The true stem, however, is buried beneath the ground, or sometimes creeps along its surface, and the branches it sends upwards into the air are really the leaf stalks. In several parts of the earth, ferns assume the form and magnitude of trees, and at the southern extremity of Van Dieman's Land, a species has been seen whose trunk was from twelve to sixteen feet high. Nothing like a flower is ever seen in the ferns. The spore-cases are here developed on the backs or at the edges of the leaves. When the fructification is matured, which may be known by the brownish tinge of the yellow or orange spots or ridges on its leaves, if one of them is placed with its under-side upon a piece of white paper this will be found in a day or two covered with a very fine brown dust. This is formed of the spores which are scattered by the bursting of their cases. In most ferns all the leaves are concerned in producing the fructification. The term frond is generally applied to the leafy portions of the Cryptogamia, as distinguishing them from the true leaves of flowering plants. 1. Avoir beau-Vous avez beau, corresponds in signification to the English expression, it is in vain for you to. It must be followed by the infinitive : Vous avez beau dire, il ne viendra It is in vain for you to speak, he will 2. Epouser, marier, to marry, have, in French, a different meaning. Marier, conjugated actively, can only have as its nominative the person performing the ceremony, or giving one or both of the parties in marriage; épouser takes, as its nominative, the contracting parties only, and must always be followed by a direct regimen. Se marier, to get married, and marier, conjugated passively, take the same nominative as épouser : Mr. L. has married his daughter to Mr. G. Mr. G. has married Mr. L.'s daugh Mr. G. and Miss L. are married. My brother is going to be married. 3. Un de mes amis, is equivalent to the English, a friend of mine: Your friend has married a friend of Whatever they may say or do, they will not prevent his marrying. is in vain for you to remonstrate The Bishop of B. has married my sister. Captain G. has married my cousin. Quand il se mariera, il nous vitera à la noce. Votre cousine est mariée avec mon cousin. Votre cousine à épousé un de mes consins. Le colonel a épousé une de mes sœurs. Ainé, e, elder, eldest. - When he marries, he will invite us to Your cousin has married a cousin of mine. The colonel has married a sister of mine. EXERCISE 131. Devoir, 3. ir. to owe, to Parent, e, relation. 1. Votre nièce ne va-t-elle pas se marier? 2. Elle se mariera l'année prochaine. 3. Qui épousera-t-elle ? 4. Elle épousera le fils ainé du général M. 5. Savez-vous qui a marié ces deux époux? 6. L'archevêque de Paris les a mariés. 7. N'a-t-il pas aussi marié Mlle. L. 8. Ill'a mariée avec M. G. 9. Qui votre demoiselle a-t-elle épousé? 10. Elle a épousé M. L., capitaine au 25ème régiment d'infanterie. 11. Ce vieillard n'a-t-il pas tort de se marier? 12. Il n'a pas tort de se marier, mais il a tort d'épouser cette demoiselle. 18. Quand ces princesses vont-elles se marier? 14. Elles se marieront le mois prochain. 15. Qui les mariera? 16. L'évêque d' Arras les mariera. 17. Qui doivent-elles épouser? 18. L'ainée doit epouser M. W. et la cadette M. G. 19. Le capitaine G. n'a-t-il pas épousé une de vos parentes? 20. Oui, Monsieur, il a épousé une de mes cousines? 21. Qui est cette demoiselle? 22. C'est une de mes sœurs. 23. N'avez-vous pas un de mes livres? 24. J'ai un de vos livres et une de vos plumes. 25. Je viens de parler à une de vos sœurs. EXERCISE 132. is used before the noun expressing the measure, weight, &c. 11 gagne six franes par jour. 4. The same preposition is used, when we speak of the number of times any occurrence takes place in a given space of time : Je vais à la poste deux fois par I go to the post-office tabios a day. jour. RESUMÉ OF La canelle se vend deux francs la Cette soie vaut six francs le mètre. Ce clocher a cinq cents pieds de hauteur. Cet étang a huít pieds de profon deur. Une chambre de quinze pieds de De quelle taille est votre frère? pouces. Notre ami est-il grand ou petit? Bon marché, cheap. EXAMPLES. Cinnamon is sold [at] two francs per That silk is worth six francs per metre. A room fifteen feet long by eighteen I go to school twice a day. Profondeur, f. depth. 1. Is your brother going to marry Miss L. 2. Yes, Sir, it is in vain for us to speak to him, he will marry her. 3. Will not your father marry your sister to Mr. G.? 4. No, Sir, he will marry her to Mr. L. 5. Is Captain H. married? 6. No, 1. Votre maison est-elle grande? 2. Elle a cinquante pieds Sir, he is not yet married, but he will be married next year. de long et vingt-cinq de large. 3. Combien de longueur votre 7. Whom does he intend to marry? 8. He intends to marry jardin a-t-il? 4. Il a vingt-cinq verges de longueur et douze a cousin of mine, who is at my brother's. 9. Who will marry de largeur. 5. De quelle grandeur est ce livre? 6. Il a dixthem? 10. My eldest brother intends to marry them. 11. Is huit pouces de longueur, treize de largeur et trois d'épaisseur. your youngest sister married? 12. No, Sir, she is not mar-7. Votre maison est-elle plus longue que celle-ci? 8. Elle ried. 13. Is she going to be married? 14. She will marry est plus longue de deux pieds. 9. Quelle profondeur a ce when she is [Sect. 60, 5] old enough (assez agée). 15. Whom puits? 10. De quelle hauteur est ce clocher? 11. Il a trois did Colonel J. marry? 16. He married a sister of mine. 17. cent cinquante-trois pieds de hauteur. 12. De quelle taille How long have they been married [Sect. 56. 2] 18. They est cet officier? 13. Il est de haute taille. 14. De combien have been married two years. 19. Is not that young lady cet Ecossais est-il plus grand que son frère. 15. Il est plus wrong to get married? 20. She is wrong to marry, she is too grand de toute la tête. 16. N'êtes vous pas de beaucoup plus young. 21. Who married General S. and Miss N. 22. The grand que moi? 17. Je suis plus grand que vous de trois Bishop of Arras married them. 23. Did not the Archbishop pouces. 18. Combien cette étoffe se vend-elle la verge? 19. of York marry that couple? 24. The Archbishop of Paris Elle se vend trois francs le mètre. 20. La cassonade ne se married them. 25. Will not your aunt marry? 26. She will vend-elle pas cher? 21. Elle se vend à bon marché. 22. Comnot marry. 27. Is not your sister at home? 28. No, Sir, she bien de lettres écrivez-vous par semaine? 23. Je n'en écris is with (chez) an aunt of mine. 29. Is your brother at your que six par semaine. 24. Combien payez-vous par semaine house? 30. No, Sir, he is with one of my relations. 31. Is pour votre loyer? 25. Je ne paie que dix francs par semaine. he married? 32. He is not married. 33. Is Captain H. married? 34. He was married last week. 35. He married Miss H. SECTION LXVII. DIMENSION, WEIGHT, ETC. 1. The verb avoir is used in expressing the size of an object. The preposition de precedes the noun of dimension. When there is no verb in the sentence, the preposition must be placed before the number, and again before the noun of dimension:Cette muraille a dix pieds de That wall is ten feet high. hauteur. Ce puits a cent pieds de profondeur. Une table de quatre pieds de longueur. That well is one hundred feet deep. EXERCISE 134. 1. How large is your father's garden? 2. It is twenty-five rods long and ten broad. 3. Is your cousin's house large? 4. It is fifty-six feet long and forty broad. 5. Is your house larger than mine? 6. It is larger than yours by ten feet. 7. Do you know how deep that well is? 8. It is twenty-five feet deep and six feet broad. 9. How is that cloth sold per metre? 10. It is sold [at] forty-five francs per metre. 11. How much do you receive a week for your work? 12. I receive fifty francs a week for my work. 13. How much does your friend pay a month for his board (pension, f.)? 14. He pays seventy francs a 16. I am month. 16. Are you taller than your cousin? taller than he by the whole head. 17. Is not your nephew taller than your son? 18. He is taller than my son by three inches. 19. How large is this room? 20. It is sixty feet long 2. In sentences where sizes are compared, and the verb être is used, the preposition de is placed before the number ex-by forty. 21. What size is your brother? 22. He is tall, he pressing the excess :— Vous êtes plus grand que moi de You are taller than I by two inches. deux pouces. 3. When the price of an article is mentioned, the article le is taller than I. 23. How many books do you read a week? 24. I read ten volumes a week. 25. How is butter sold per pound? 26. Butter is sold [at] two francs per pound? 27. Do you know how much your son earns a day? 28. He earns as much as yours, he earns ten francs a day. 29. How much is that silk worth per metre? 30. It is worth six francs per metre. 31. Our friend's stature is middling. 32. Do you go to church twice a day? 33. I go to church once a day. 34. Does your son go to the post-office every day? 35. He goes thither six times a day. SECTION LXVIII. 1. Mettre (4. ir.) forms, in French, many idiomatic expressions. Mettre à même de, to enable; mettre pied à terre, to alight, to land; mettre le pied, to set one's foot; mettre à la porte, to turn out of doors; mettre au fait de, to acquaint with; mettre à l'abri, to shelter; mettre à l'ombre, to put in the shade; mettre un habit à l'endroit, à l'envers, to put on a coat right side out, wrong side out, &c. :— Nous l'avons mis à même de connaître la vérité. Il a mis cet insolent à la porte. We enabled him to know the truth. He turned that insolent person out of doors. 2. Mettre conjugated reflectively, i. e. se mettre, means to place one's self, to dress one's self; se mettre à table, to sit down to table; se mettre en colère, to become angry, to put one's self into a passion : Il se met à l'ombre, au soleil. He places himself in the shade, in the sun. EXERCISE 136. 1. Did the gentleman alight this morning? 2. No, Sir, he would not alight, he had no time. 3. Have you put that insolent person out of doors? 4. No, Sir, but I forbade him to set his foot in my house. 5. Did you shelter those little children from the rain? 6. I sheltered them from the rain and the wind. 7. Have you enabled your son to study medicine (la médecine)? 8. I enabled him to study medicine, if he wishes to do so. 9. Have you put on your coat inside out? 10. I have not put it on inside out, but right side out. 11. Did you put yourself in a passion ? 12. No, Sir, I did not become angry. 13. Did you sit down to table at four o'clock yesterday? 14. We sat down to table at six o'clock. 15. Do you intend to commence boarding? 16. I intend to board with Mr. L. (chez M. L.) 17. When do you commence your journey? 18. We commence our journey to-morrow morning. 19. Did your son commence laughing? 20. No, Sir, he commenced weeping. 21. Why do you not commence working? 22. Because I am going to commence reading. 23. Does that lady dress after the English fashion? 24. She dresses after They are extremely well dressed. 27. Will you not place the Italian fashion. 25. Are those ladies well dressed? 26. yourself in the shade? 28. I will place myself in the sun, I am very cold. 29. Is your coat inside out? 30. No, Sir, it is right side out. 31. Is this the right side of this cloth (l'endroit)? 3. Se mettre, followed by an infinitive, means to commence, 32. It is the wrong side (l'envers). 33. Are you not dressed to begin : Ils se mirent à pleurer. They commenced weeping. Why do you go into the shade 1 Ces enfants se mirent à rire. Those children commenced laughing. Pourquoi ne vous mettez-vous pas Why do you not set yourself to work? à l'ouvrage ? Je vais me mettre en pension. Nous allons nous mettre en voyage. A l'italienne, after the Italian fashion. Etudi-er, 1. to study. I will commence boarding. We are going to commence our journey. EXERCISE 135. Défend-re, 4. to forbid. Effets, m. p., things. A merveille, exceedingly Entr-er, 1 to come in. well. Etourdi, e, giddy perCouvert, See Sect. 31, 1. son. 1. Avez-vous défendu à cet homme de mettre le pied chez vous? 2. Je le lui ai défendu. 3. Avez-vous mis ces effets à l'abri de la pluie. 4. Je les ai mis à l'abri de la pluie et du vent. 5. Avez-vous mis votre frère au fait de cette affaire? 6. Je ne l'en ai pas mis au fait. 7. Ne l'avez-vous pas mis à même d'étudier? 8. Je l'ai mis à même de s'instruire, s'il désire le faire. 9. Voulez-vous mettre cela de côté? 10. Je vais le mettre au soleil. 11. Votre ami n'a-t-il pas voulu entrer? 12. Il n'a point voulu mettre pied à terre. 13. Votre teinturier n'a-t-il pas mis son tablier à l'envers? 14. Non, Monsieur, il l'a mis à l'endroit. 15. N'avez-vous pas mis cet étourdi à la porte? 16. Nous lui avons fermé la porte au nez (in his face). 17. A quelle heure vous mettez-vous à table? 18. Aussitôt que le couvert sera mis [Sect. 60, 5]. 19. Cet homme se met-il bien? 20. Il se met toujours à l'anglaise ou à l'italienne. 21. Ces enfants ne se mirent-ils pas à pleurer ? 22. Au lieu de se mettre à pleurer, ils se mirent à rire. 23. Pourquoi ne vous mettez-vous pas à écrire? 24. Il est temps de se mettre à table. 25. Ces Siciliennes sont-elles bien mises? 26. Elles sont mises à merveille. after the English fashion? 34. I am dressed after the Italian fashion. 35. You are well dressed. These facts start the question, How came these mountains by their stores of water? and where are the reservoirs which feed so many perpetual springs? It used to be thought that all mountain springs are derived from the ocean, and that it is the sea that feeds all the wells. All this is pure fancy; and it is now nothing but a prejudice. Of this prejudice you must divest yourself at once. I only as sume that you may have it, from the fact that thousands of people are brought up in this prejudice. I do not wish you to dismiss such an assumption, at my request; but as the result of your own intelligent examination of the phenomena of the case. I will try to assist you to see that the theories which philosophers have invented to account for the derivation of springs from the ocean, are pure assumptions, and are therefore to be rejected by the geological student. The first theory is that of the celebrated Descartes, [pronounced De Cart]. He thought that sea water diffused itself, in all directions, under ground; that when it reached the bottom of mountains, it found there large caverns. In these caverns, the waters become much rarified by the action of subterranean heat, ascended in vapour towards the cold roof, and in its ascent left its salts behind as being specifically heavier. These vapours, on reaching the cold roof, condensed into drops which trickled down the sides of the cavern, until they found interstices and crannies in the rocks through which the water forced for itself a passage to the sides of the hills in the open air. To this theory, apply all the geological facts that may have come under your own observation. It is merely begging the question to assume such a passage between the sea and the foot of mountains, as that supposed by Descartes. No observation, no experiment has warranted the existence of such a |