On an Universal written Character. 295 
we have adjectives from the same source. I do 
not mean participles, which have been considered 
as a part of this class of words. 
__ There seems to be two kinds of verbal adjectives; 
one may be called active, and the other passive. 
The active verbal adjective denotes, that the 
substantive noun with which it is joined, is capable 
of exerting the action indicated by the verb from 
which it is derived. It differs from the present par- 
ticiple in this, that the participle asserts, the substan- 
tive with which it is joined to be actually perform- 
ing the action denoted by the verb: the verbal ad- 
jective only points out its capacity of doing so, 
In English, this class of verbals terminate in ive: 
some of them may have been perverted from their 
original meaning ; but if any person will consider 
the import of this ending, I make no doubt he will 
readily allow that their true signification is that which 
I have given. 
Terminations of this kind, I believe, are not fre- 
quent among the Latins. They seem to have ex. 
pressed this idea by a relative and verb, or by 
‘the gerund in the genitive case: thus, the phrase 
percepirve faculty, they translate facultas que per- 
cipit, or facultas percipiendi. There are, however, 
some examples of this class of words in Latin, ad. 
‘hesivus, passivus, indicativus, c. The Russian 
Janguage is very rich in this class : thus, pobeditelnor, 
capable of overcoming, from pobedit, to overcome; 
