374 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



Our word pyre is from the Greek word irvp, pronounced pure, 

 " When his brave son upon the fun'ral pyre 



He saw extended, and his beard on fire." Dryden. 

 From pyr and latreia (\arpeia, worship) is formed pyrolatry, or 

 fire-worship, and from the same, with manteia (Gr. divination), 

 is formed pyromancy, or divination by fire. 



" Divination was invented by the Persians, and is seldom or never 

 taken in good sense ; there are four kinds of divination, Jiydromancy, 

 pi/romancy, aeromancy, geomancy." Ayliffe. 



These four kinds you ought now to be able to make out for 

 yourself, if I tell you in addition that aer is the Greek for air, 

 the two terms being different forms of the same word. 



From pyr we have also pyrotechnics, the art of making fire- 

 works. Pyramid is derived from the same, as appears from the 

 following instructive quotation : 



" The seven pyramids that are become wonders of the world ; which 

 in how long a time and with what difficulty they were brought up so 

 high, Herodotus sheweth; towers they be, erected to such an height 

 as exceedeth the handywork of man ; of a huge breadthe in the 

 bottome, and rising to a most sharp-pointed top ; which figure in 

 geometry is tearmed pyramis, for that [like] to the form, of fire, i\ 

 cometh to be small in the head, in fashion of a cone or pine-apple." 

 Holland. 



Sarcophagus, or flesli-devourer, the Greek name for coffin, had 

 its origin in the fact that a stone (alumen schisti) was employed 

 for the purpose, which had the quality of accelerating decom- 

 position. According to Pliny, bodies put into such coffins were, 

 except the teeth, totally destroyed within forty days. Perhaps 

 from religious considerations the Greeks took means to hasten 

 the breaking up of the frame, as is instanced in their practice 

 of burning the dead. 



Strophe, which properly signifies a turning, was the portion 

 of a song which was sung in the Greek theatre while the chorua 

 moved from one side of the stage to the other ; when they began 

 to move in the opposite direction, they sang the antistrophe, or 

 opposite strophe. 



To some it may not appear that enthusiast comes from eos 

 (the'-os), God; in the Greek original, however, the derivation is 

 clear. Enthusiasm, according to its derivation, denotes the 

 presence of God in the soul, and enthusiast was one who had 

 God in his soul. Hence, anciently, enthusiasm was the same 

 as inspiration. By degrees the word fell into bad odour, as 

 may be seen in these words : 



" I mean enthusiasm, which, laying by reason, would set up revela- 

 tion without it. Whereby in effect it takes away both reason and 

 revelation, and substitutes iu the room of it the ungrounded fancies 

 of a man's own brain, and assumes them for a foundation both of 

 opinion and conduct." Locke. 



The word is, however, also taken in a good sense, and then has 

 for its inferior partner fanaticism : 



" He comes ! he comes ! the saviour of the landj 

 His drawn sword flames in his uplifted hand, 

 Enthusiast in his country's cause." logon. 



Zoology is the science of life, that is, of animal life, as may 

 appear in the quotation : 



" Zoology is the noblest part of natural history, as it comprehends 

 all sensitive beings, from reasonable man, through every species of 

 animal life, till it descends to that point where sense is wholly extinct, 

 and vegetation commences." Pennant, " British Zoology." 



Azote, literally life-less, is also the name of tie gas called 

 nitrogen, in which animal life cannot be sustained. 



The Greek a privative is found in several other words which 

 form part of our language. It appears in azymes, mentioned in 

 the " Douay Bible," of which the New Testament was printed at 

 Rhcims in 1582, and the Old Testament at Douay in 1610. 

 The word is made up of o (a), not, and 1^77 (zu'-me), leaven. 



I subjoin several translations of the words found in Matt. xxvi. 

 If 



"In the first days of therf loaves." Wiclif, 1380. 



" The fyrst daye of swcfc breed." Tyndale, 1534. 



" The fyrst daye of swete breed." Cranmer, 1539. 



"On the fyrst day of the feast of imlcauened bread." Qene-va, 1557. 



" The first day of the Azymes." Kheims, 1582. 



" The first day of the feast of unleavened bread." Authorises,, t gn, 

 The a privative is found also in asbestos (a, a, not; and <rj3ewujua:, 

 sben-nu'-mai, I bum), literally unburnable. Asbestos is a species 

 of fossil stone which may be split into threads and filaments 

 Erom one inch to ten inches in length, very fine, brittle, yet 



somewhat tractable, silky, and of a greyish colour : also endued 

 with the property of remaining unconsumed in fire. This stone 

 is said to be found in Anglesey and in Aberdeenshire. Out of 

 it the ancients made the cloth which is known under the same 

 designation. By enveloping the body in a covering of asbestos, 

 the ancients, in burning corpses, kept the ashes of the corpse 

 separate from the ashes of the fuel, and so had the former for 

 preservation in funereal urns. 



EXERCISES IN COMPOSITION. 

 Words with their Prepositions to be formed into sentences. 



Ballot for, 

 Banish from, 

 Bare of, 

 Bargain for, 

 Bear up, on, with, 

 Beguile of, 

 Believe in, 

 Belong to, 

 Bereave of, 

 Bestow on, 

 Betray to, 

 Betroth to, 

 Bigoted to, 

 Bind to, in, up, on, 

 Blame for, 

 Blush at, 

 Boast of, 

 Border on, 

 Brag of, 



FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES. 



Fr. ballotte, a little ball. 



Fr. bannir, to banish. 



Sax. bare, naked. 



Fr. barguigner, to hesitate, cliaffer. 



Sax. beoran, to carry. 



Fr. guiller, to conceal. 



Gr. glauben, to believe. 



Gr. belangen, to belong to. 



Sax. bereafian, to take away from. 



Sax. bestandan, to givt. 



Fr. trahir, to betray. 



Sax. treoth, fidelity. 



Sax. bigan, to bow, to worship. 



Sax. bindau, to surround with cord. 



Fr. blamer, to blame. 



Sax. blosen, to be red. 



Welsh, bostio, to brag. 



Fr. border, to edge. 



Welsh, braggio, to swell. 



EXERCISES FOB PARSING. 

 Gratitude is a virtue that is not much cultivated by man. This 

 preat change can hardly be effected without bloodshed. The general 

 is described by those who know him as being destitute of military 

 xbility. It has seldom happened that a dynasty has been so univer- 

 sally condemned that none hare been found to lift up their hands in 

 ts favour. The effect of the earthquake was felt at the Sandwich 

 [slands. The fluctuations exhibited by these tables are highly significant. 



GREAT BOOKS. 



X. EOBINSON CEUSOE. 



IN the month of September, 1704, a certain Scotch sailor, 

 named Alexander Selkirk, who had been leading a semi-piratical 

 life in the American seas, quarrelled with his captain, and, at 

 iis own request, was set ashore on the uninhabited island of 

 Juan Fernandez, in the South Pacific Ocean, with a few books, 

 tiis nautical instruments, a knife, a boiler, an axe, a gun, and 

 some powder and ball. Here he remained in utter solitude for 

 nearly four years and a half, but was at length taken off by 

 'aptain Woods Eogers, in February, 1709. A few particulars 

 of his life on the desert island are given in an account of 

 'aptain Rogers's voyage, published in 1712, from which it 

 appears that he existed after a very primitive fashion, and was 

 compelled to feed, house, and clothe himself by the exercise of 

 ris personal ingenuity. At first he was terrified and depressed 

 Dy the loneliness that spread around him. but in time he got the 

 setter of his melancholy, and found a sufficient diversion in the 

 abours of each succeeding day. He built for himself two huts, 

 one of which served for a kitchen, the other for a dining-room 

 and bed-chamber. These were constructed of pimento-wood, 

 which supplied him also with fire and candle. The island 

 abounded in goats, which Selkirk shot as long as his ammu- 

 nition lasted, and which he afterwards ran down by sheer speed 

 f foot. His food consisted mainly of the flesh of these animals ; 

 ;heir skins furnished him with rough but serviceable garments, 

 and added to the comfort of his dwelling. Of the young kids 

 made playfellows ; and these gamesome creatures, together 

 with some cats, which had been left by passing ships before his 

 arrival, formed his only companions during the long term of his 

 solation from humankind. When at last rescued, he had almost 

 'orgotten the use of speech, and the ordinary ways of civilisa- 

 ion were strange to him. Captain Rogers made him his mate, 

 and he returned to England in 1711. Some years after, he 

 jecame lieutenant of H.M.S. Weymouth, and died in that 

 opacity in 1723, at the early age of forty-seven. 



The chief title of Selkirk to remembrance consists in tbe 

 'act that his experiences are the groundwork of the most 

 popular story in the English language. It has been thought 



