LESSONS IN ITALIAN. 



blister. The manohinaol tree also bean tempting-looking fruit, 

 vhioh an agreeable odour is exhaled, bat even a small 

 portion, it eaten, is certain death. 



: oil is expressed from the seeds of one of the Euplwr- 

 biaccai, the Ricinus communis, or castor-oil plant (Fig. 272). 



The genus Man ilutt contains two important speoies, both 

 especial objects of cultivation in many parts of America on 

 account of thoir feculent root. The Manihot Aipi, or sweet 

 cassava, is eaten by the natives after being roosted in hot 

 cinders; animals eat it raw. The Mam)u>t utilisrima, or bitter 

 cassava, contains in its root a juice charged with prussio acid, 

 or a material which readily produces this acid by decomposition. 

 Nevertheless, the natives where the tree grows derive an 

 num. lance of nutritive matter from thia vegetable, much of 

 which is exported under the name of tapioca. 



SECTION CXIII.-CANNABINACE.&, OE HEMPWOETS. 



Characteristics : Flowora dioecious ; perianth of staminif erous 

 flowers calyciform, perianth of the pistilliforons flowers reduced 

 to a bract ; ovary uni-locnlar, one or two-styled ; ovule single, 

 pendent, curved ; fruit a small nut or achaenium ; seed exal- 

 buminous, bent back ; stem herbaceous ; leaves stipuled, oppo- 

 site, or occasionally the superior ones alternate. 



The genera Cannabis and Humulus compose this small family. 

 Hemp (Cannabis sativa), a native of Persia, has leaves palmate 

 or dentate in segments. The individual on which the stamini- 

 f erous flowers grow has a more withered aspect and sooner dries 

 up than the other, to which the appellation female hemp is 

 commonly applied. The male individual is that from which the 

 substance hemp is obtained. The common hop (Humulus 

 Lupulus, Fig. 273), is a well-known plant, having a climbing 

 angular stem and cordate, lobed leaves. Its achtenium and its 

 brocted calyx are studded with glands containing a bitter aro- 

 matic substance, slightly narcotic in quality, and on which the 

 virtues of the hop depend. It is termed by chemists humuline. 



The counties of England in which the hop is chiefly cultivated 

 are Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. It is also grown in smaller quan- 

 tities in Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire. Pillows stuffed 

 with the hop-blossom are sometimes used to procure sleep. 



LESSONS IN ITALIAN. X. 



THE AETICLE NOUNS DECLINED WITH AND WITHOUT 



THE AETICLE. 



THERE are three articles in the Italian language, il and lo 

 for the masculine, and la, for the feminine gender, equivalent to 

 the English definite article the. 



The article it can only be used before those masculine words 

 which begin with a consonant, excepting always s impure ; i.e., 

 s followed by another consonant. The plural is i. For ex- 

 ample : 



II giar-di-no, the garden. I II si~gn6-re, the gentleman. 



I giar-di-ni, the gardens. I ri-gn6-ri, the gentlemen. 



The article lo, without the apostrophe, can only bo used 

 before those masculine words which begin with the s impure. 

 The plural of lo is gli. For example : 



Lo tpi-ri-to, the spirit. 

 Git spi-ri-ti, the spirits. 



Lo stra-nit-re, the stranger. 

 Gli stra-nie-ri, the strangers. 



The only exception to thia rule is the very frequent use of the 

 article lo after the preposition per, for, through, before words not 

 beginning with the s impure ; as, for example, per lo m6n-do, 

 for the world ; per lo giar-di-no, for or through the garden ; per 

 lo pas-sd-to, for the past. 



Many grammarians of great authority have even emphatically 

 proscribed the use of per il in the place of per lo. As, however, 

 cultivated persons and the best writers have never ceased 

 occasionally to use the combination per il, its correctness and 

 allowableness will at once be admitted, for the usage of a 

 language is a safer guide than the caprice of grammarians. 



The article lo is also used before all masculine words that 

 begin with a vowel ; but in such a case the apostrophe must be 

 used thus, I*. For example : 

 L' dn-ge-lo, the angel. 



GK dn-9-li, the angels. 



L' im-pit-go, the office or 



employment. 

 GI' tm-pu'.ghi, the offices or 



employments. 



The reader will remark that I have placed no apostrophe 

 after oZt, the plural of lo, before dn-ge-li, while I have used the 



apostrophe on gl' before im-pif-ghi. The reason of this is, that 

 tii.! plural ijli only require* the apostrophe before word* com* 

 ' with the vowel i, and never before words commencing 

 with the vowels a, e, o, and u; which is clearly a nnnnssar/ 

 usage to maintain the squeezed sound of the word yli (llyee) in 

 these oases. For, otherwise, <jV An-ge-H would be pronounced 

 according to the rules explained in the fifth pronouncing 

 table, glahn-jai-lee. Even Italians themselves are occasionally 

 liable to commit the fault of placing the apostrophe on the gl' 

 before a, e, o, and u ; but the difference caused in the pronun- 

 ciation manifestly shows the grossness of this blunder. 



The article la can only be used before words of the feminine 

 gender which begin with consonants. The plural is U. For 

 example : 



La td-w-la, the table. I La. ma-dre, tho mother. 



Le td-vo-le, the table*. Le md-dri, the mother*. 



The article la must have the apostrophe I' when it comet 

 before words of tho feminine gender commencing with a vowel. 

 For example: 



L' o-ni-ma, the soul. L' tr-ba, the herb or grass. 



Le d-ni-me, the souls. | L' ef-le, the herbs or grasses. 



The reader will have observed that I have not placed an 

 apostrophe on the le before the plural a-ni-me, while the le baa 

 tho apostrophe before the plural 6r-be. The reason is, that it ie 

 a common usage only to place the apostrophe on the plural le 

 before words of the feminine gender commencing with the vowel 

 e. For example : 



L' es-pe-rie'ii-ze, tho experiences ; V e-re-si-e, the heresies. 

 But before feminine words commencing with the other vowels, 

 the le is not commonly used with an apostrophe. For example ; 

 le d-ni-me, the souls ; le in-se'-gne, the banners, signs ; le d-pe-re, 

 the works ; le-u-sdn-ze, the usages. 



It is obvious that the six words above mentioned, constituting 

 the three articles in the singular and plural, it, lo, la, i, gli, and 

 le, must frequently meet monosyllables, and therefore occasion 

 dissonance. As harmony is a marked characteristic of the 

 language, some means must be found to correct this. This is 

 effected by contractions, in which letters are changed, omitted, 

 or added according to laws dictated by the conveniences of 

 pronunciation, by custom, and by harmony. The monosyllables 

 referred to are di, of; a, to ; da, from, by ; con, with ; per, for, 

 through ; sw, upon ; and the important contractions (to be 

 committed to memory) to which they are subject, when in 

 combination with the articles it, to, la, i, gli, and le, are the 

 following : 



The reader will remark that I only give three contractions of 

 the word per. For this reason, that per, generally speaking, is 

 not contracted with an article commencing with the letter t, and 

 in such cases, it is customary to place per and such an article 

 separately ; as per lo pas-sd-to, for the past ; per la cd-sa, for 

 the house ; per le so-re"l-le, for the sisters. 



The letter s in the word cosa, although placed between two 

 vowels, has the sharp, hissing sound, as well as in the words 

 cd-sa, thing, and co-si, thus, before commented on. 



With regard to the word con, with, it may be remarked that, 



It is useful, with regard to pronunciation and orthography, to bear 

 in mind the difference between theae three words : dVi, of the (pL) ; 

 I).'-i, gods (the plural of Di-o) ; and De-\, dey (of the Barbary States). 



t It is, for the reasons stated in the previous note, useful to mind 

 the difference between di, to the (pi.), and d-j, tutors. 



J Mind the difference between ddi, from or by the (pi.), and dd4, 

 thou givest. 



Mind, also, the difference between n^i, in the (pL), and lU-i, molat 

 (upon the body), patches (on the face). 



