148 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



and ductile, but at 200 it becomes so brittle as to b jar pound- 

 ing in a mortar. At a bright red heat it melts nnd volatilises, 

 and its vapour burns with a bright yellowish flame into the 

 oxide. 



Zinc can decompose both steam and carbonic acid at a red 

 heat, and, as we have seen, is dissolved in sulphuric, nitric, and 

 hydrochloric acids, giving off hydrogen and forming the corre- 

 sponding salt. With nitric acid, however, the action is varied 

 with the strength of the acid and the temperature ; nitric oxide, 

 nitrous oxide, nitrogen, or ammonia being given off according to 

 circumstances. 



Zinc precipitates all metals less oxidisable than itself from 

 their solutions ; but a strong boiling solution of potash dissolves 

 it, hydrogen being liberated and an oxide of zinc formed, 

 which is dissolved by the alkali. When exposed to the air, it 

 becomes covered by a firmly-adhering coat of oxide, which pro- 

 tects the metal beneath from any further action of the air ; 

 hence it is used to galvanise iron, which is effected by plunging 

 a sheet of iron, perfectly clean, into a bath of molten, zinc, 

 covered by sal-ammoniac ; the zinc readily adheres to the iron. 



It forms many useful alloys. Brass is the most important, 

 consisting of two parts of copper and one of zinc. German 

 Silver is brass whitened by the addition of a little nickel. 



Zinc Sulphate, or White Vitriol (ZnSOJ, appears, when a 

 solution of zinc in sulphuric acid is evaporated, as colourless 

 four-sided acicular prisms. 



Zinc Sulphide (ZnS) is precipitated as a white gelatinous 

 mass when sulphuretted hydrogen passes through a solution of 

 zinc sulphate. The presence of a mineral acid prevents the 

 precipitation. 



Zinc Chloride (ZnCU) is largely used as an antiseptic, as 

 "Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid." It is easily obtained by dis- 

 solving the metal in hydrochloric acid. 



The salts of zinc are distinguished by giving no precipitate 

 with sulphuretted hydrogen in acid solutions. They yield a 

 white precipitate, with potash, soda, or ammonia, which is 

 soluble in excess of the alkali. 



If placed on charcoal in the blow-pipe flame, when moistened 

 with cobalt nitrate, a green residuum remains, which is not 

 fusible. 



LESSONS IN ITALIAN. IV. 



III. THE SEMI-VOWELS (continued). 



I HAVE not yet spoken of the letter H. It is named in the 

 alphabet acca (pronounced ah'k-kah). According to its alpha- 

 betical sound, and because its two syllables are substantially 

 one, only placed inversely, it might be classed as a semi-vowel ; 

 but as it is only an auxiliary letter to modify the sounds of c 

 and g, as I shall have occasion to explain fully hereafter, it is a 

 mere soundless, written sign, not a letter. It also serves to dis- 

 tinguish the words ho, I have, from o, or ; hai, thou hast, from 

 o/i, dative plural of the article ; ha, he has, from a, the proposi- 

 tion "to" ; and 7i.an.no, they have, from anno, the year. This dis- 

 tinction is, however, only for the eye, for, in pronouncing, the h 

 is quite mute ; and some purists, headed by Metastasio, instead 

 of an li, put the grave accent in those first four words. 



The Italian has no aspirates, which essentially distinguishes 

 it from the leading languages of Europe. Only in the middle, 

 and at the end of some few interjections, a kind of aspiration 

 i.s heard, which is only produced by the prolongation of the 

 sound of the vowel, or of the transition of the voice from one 

 vowel to another principally, however, by a more emphatic 

 emotion by which such interjections are thrown out ; as. for 

 example, ah ! ahi ! deh ! ahime ! eh ! oh ! ehi ! ohi ! ohime ! doh ! 



In the early period of the language, the Italians wrote all 

 words manifestly of Latin origin with an initial h; as, for 

 example, habile, now abile; hinno, now in.no; hora, now ora; 

 historia, now istoria. This insignificance of the h has given 

 rise to some proverbial expressions : as, " Quesia cose, non vale 

 uri acca," " this is not worth an h," or, as an Englishman would 

 say, " not worth a fig, or a farthing ;" or, " Non m' imporla, un' 

 acca," " I don't care an h for it," or, as an Englishman would 

 say, " I don't care a straw for it ;" or " Non ne saper un' acca,," 

 " not to know an h of something;" or, as is often said in Eng- 

 land, " an iota of it." When an Italian has to pronounce the 

 h in another language, it is only with the greatest difficulty he 

 oan master it. 



To complete my remarks on the alphabet, I must now say 

 something of the letters K, W, X, and Y, important letters in 

 English, but which do not occur in Italian. 



Instead of fe, the Italians use before consonants, and before 

 the vowels o, o, and u, the letter c; and before the vowels e 

 and i, ch. For example, instead of Kalend, the Italians write 

 Calende. 



The English letter w does not occur at all in Italian. 



The letter X, which represents, properly speaking, a compound 

 sound (ks), is unknown in pure Italian words, and the English 

 sound is never heard. In words of foreign origin, which would 

 have this sound in English, the Italians place an s or ss, or c ; 

 as for the word example (from the Latin exemplum), the Italians 

 write essempio ; for extreme (from Latin extremus), they write 

 estremo; for Xenophon, Senofonte; for Xerxes, Serse ; for Alex- 

 ander, Alessandro. The letter c replaces the x in words which 

 are the compounds of the prefix ex, when c follows it ; for 

 example, for excellent they write eccellente; for excess, eccesso, 

 etc. Custom has, however, sanctioned the use of the a; in a few 

 words of Greek origin, for Xantippe and Xanto (Xanthus, the 

 river in Asia Minor) are just so written in Italian. They are 

 nevertheless pronounced as if they were written Santippe and 

 Santo. (The latter word has retained the x principally that it 

 might not be confounded in writing with the word Santo, a 

 saint.) 



The letter y is always replaced in Italian by i; as, for ex- 

 ample, for physics (physical science), the Italians say Jisica; for 

 stygian, stigio. 



SECOND PRONOUNCING TABLE, 



Showing the combination of Vowels with Semi-Vowels vn 



Natural Order. 



That my pupil readers may thoroughly exercise themselves in 

 pronunciation, in order to give a complete illustration of the 

 junction of vowels and semi-vowels in natural order, I have 

 selected words of two syllables, in which the first syllable of 

 the first word is the same as the concluding syllable of the 

 second. 



Italian. Pronounced. English. 



Fsre fe-rai Beasts. 



Reft rai-fai Thread. 



Foce fo-tchai Mouth (of a river). 



Ce/o tche-fo A monkey. 



Fugo foo-go I put to flight. 



Gufo goo-fo A horned owl. 



The vowel u in Italian, as a final letter, is only to be found 

 in monosyllables ; as, tu, thou ; fu, was ; or in those words that 

 have the grave accent on the last syllable ; as virtu, virtue ; 

 Corfu, Corfu. I am therefore compelled, by the use of the word 

 gufo, and others to follow, to depart from the strict system. 



Logo lah-go Lake. 



Gola go-lah Throat. 



Leso lai-zo Hurt. 



Sole so-lai Sun. 



Lice le"e-tchai It is permitted. 



Cieli tohe-lee The heavens. 



Lode 16-dai Praise. 



Delo de-lo Delus. 



Lume loo-mai Light. 



Mule moo-lai Mules. 



Maro mah-ro "Wild basil. 



liomu ro-mah Rome. 



Mese mai-zai Mouth. 



Seme sai-mai Seed. 



Mira mee-rah The sight in artillery, aim. 



Kami rah-mee Branches. 



Modo mo-do Manner, mode. 



Domo do- mo Tamed. 



Muro moo-ro Wall. 



Kumo roo-mo I reconsider. 



Nave nah-vai Ship. 



Vena vai-nah Vein. 



Nera nai-rah Negress. 



Rane rah-nai Frogs. 



Nice nee-tchai Berenice, a woman's name. 



Ceni tchai-nee Thou suppest. 



Nome no-mai Name. 



Meno mai-no Less. 



Nuca noo-kah Nape of the neck. 



Cuna. koo-nah Cradle. 



Rado rah-do Thin, rare 



