500 IVahlhohms Sponfalia Plant — Digits of an Eclipfe. [Jan. li 



To the Editor of the Manthly Magazine, 



SIR, 



YOUR Correfpondent J. L. who 

 writes in the lafl Magazine con- 

 cerning Dr. Dirwin'S poetry, is proba- 

 bly millaken in fuppofing the piece of 

 Wahlbohm " On the Nlarriage of Plants " 

 to hsz poem. Iii the firft volume of the 

 " AiTiotnitates Academicse," printed at 

 Stockhoini in 1749, and .confiftiiig: of pa- 

 pers read before the univerfity of Upfal 

 by Linnaeus and his difciples, is one en- 

 titled " Sponfalia Plantarum," bv J, G. 

 Wahlr.ohm ; of which Dr. Pulteney fays, 

 " Whoever would fte t!:e arguments tor, 

 and the reOi'it of, thcfe experiments on 

 wl ich t'>.e do(5hine of the Itxes of plants 

 is fojndtrd, are referred to this dilTcrta- 

 tioij, as rontsining, by far, the moft clear, 

 comprehenfive, and yet copious view of 

 tha' fuhjeft." — Ficiu of the IFrifings of 

 Li/iHtsus. The notice concerning this 

 piece copied fro-n the Journal Jes Scavans 

 feems to betray very flight information on 

 the topic, fince the theory vir.is then far 

 from new, and the paper in qnellion is 

 avowcdiv only a comtnentary upon a chap- 

 ter in Linnaeus's " Fundamenta Bota- 

 nica," firft pnbliftied in 1736. It will be 

 wor(h while for J. L. again t's confiilt his 

 authority, and afcertain whether Wahl- 

 bohm's piece is there Ipoken of as a poenrij 

 and a leparate pubhcuion. 



Youc's, &c, J. A. 



the difference between mere metre and 

 rl:y;hm will be eafdy difcernible : — 

 Tali I concidit | impiger j iftus | vulnere | 



Caefir. 

 Hoc ic- I tus ceci- | dit vio- | lento | vulnere 

 I Caefar. 



In each of thefe verfes the mere is the 

 fame ; but ir the former the tones are im- 

 properly placed. This (hews ttie neceffity 

 cf paying feme regard to accent in tiie 

 pronunciation of the Greek and Roman 

 languages. 



Befides the harmony, however, there is 

 another reafon which 'Tiay induce us to 

 t)M'erve the accents, and that is, in order 

 to diftinguifh the different meaning of 

 of words which are written alike, but 

 wh ch a'e diffrrently accented. Without 

 paying a due regard to the marks ot ac- 

 cent, it would be impofiibU- to know s, 

 not. u HTi a, ubij or cujus ; oico^si', 'he 

 firft perfon plu'^^lof the prefent lenfe, in- 

 dicative mjod, from ^iSojjLiv, the Ionic jn 

 fi .in've ; xaXac, rudtns, fV'm xa,\ui^, 

 pukhre ; tl^i, fum, from ei/.h, eo ; iiav, 

 ovum, from J'ov, fuperior jomus pars ; 

 'i^y.ut, ccdens, i!om 'ukuv, i;na[^o ; SoAoj, 

 fordei. tV :ro SoAt;, teftudo \ yAuv,'vadens, 

 from -Auv, columna 5 n^j-oc,, lex- from va 

 fj.o<;, pabulum ■■, wv, nunc, from iivv, igi- 

 lur ; rj^t nox, from n^, the thu d perfon 

 fingula- of 'hr iadefinitum primumoi the 

 verK \iia-j-to, pii^no ; Xiva;, rupes, from 

 ?is?ra;, kpas , cum multis aliis qua nunc 

 perfcribere loiigum ejl. 



The R .man accent is regulated by the 

 quantity of the te.uiltima-te, the Greek 

 hy .111 of ihe ultimaie. As Mr. Pitk- 

 bnurn has given, from Qoinftilian, the po- 

 fitions of th; former, it may not be impro- 

 per to notice o?. what fyllables the 1 itter 

 falls. The Greek acute, then, is fre- 

 quently foun 1 on the hit fyllable of a 

 word, as in SsJ,- ; on the flmrt penuli ma 

 cf a polyfylhble, as in otvTi:ov, Y:^y.yi.- 

 T/jv ; and on the antepm iliimate when the 

 penultimate i» long, as in uu^i, TVfccHo;, 



In .iildition to the cifes alluded to by 

 \lr Pl-kbourn in whica we are accull 

 tomed t> vi-;l.Hte qiian'iy, allow me to 

 n tice. ;h;it w coi;im;,ni>' err in pr-noun 

 cing as /5»g every yiJ^r/ antepenultima of 

 nil p.'lvfvUahles, whofe peiui'imas are 

 nlf' Jhort. iWu is evident fr-.m the 

 woids impiriuin, latrGcinium, populus, a 

 a ; eajilc, cafuius, cdia, oculuu fy>To^'K:<;, 

 5vci-.i, &c. Thcfe we ctmmonly pio- 

 ji-.i.iice a.i imferium, lairoi'mium, populus, 

 t-dtidus, alia, ocuius, c*iT'iiKor, Svceof, 

 Sec. I am, &c. 



Ravenjlondale. J, Robinson. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN anl'wer to a correfpondent of your's 

 under the fignature of " Ab Initio,'" 

 who wilhes, in your Magazine of lall 

 monih, to know the realon why an eclipfe 

 of the moon is iaid to exceed iz digits, 

 when the whole of her diameter meafures 

 no more than that quaniiiy ; I fubmit the 

 following expanation and example, ia 

 hopes that tn:y will remove the ditfi- 

 cuity. 



There are three (orts of eclipfes, which 

 go under tl)c names of partial, total, and 

 central. 



A partial eclipfe is, when the earth's 

 fhuiow covers only a part of the moon's 

 difc. A total eclipfe fignifies that it co- 

 vers at leaft the whole of it, or meafures 

 II digits. There aie gradations between 

 the tola! and central eclipfe, but in any of 

 thirm the earth's (liulow not only ob- 

 fcures the v»'hoie of the moon's dlfc, but 

 extends beyond it, and raoit of all in the 

 central, which takes piace when the cen- 

 tre of the mocn pafles thiout^h the centre 



of 



