14 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



point along the line A B, so that the line of sight from A to C 

 exactly touches the point c' of the rod. Let this point be at 

 B', say fifteen feet from A, and let the length of the rod 

 B' c' be twelve feet ; then A B' is to A B as B' c' is to B c, or 

 arithmetically 



A B' : A B : : B' c' : B C 

 15 : 50 : : 12 : 40 



that is to say, the height of the building is forty feet. 



Again, suppose a building whose height is known stands upon 

 the edge of a river whose breadth we desire to know. Upon 

 the opposite brink of the river fix a rod of a known height 

 perpendicularly, and let the observer retire from the river until 

 his line of sight from the ground level places the top of the rod 

 in coincidence with the summit of the building. Then measure 

 the distance from the foot of the rod to this point, and by the 

 rule of three we obtain the breadth of the river. 



In Fig. 8 let B c be a building, whose height is known to be 

 forty feet. Let B' B be the river flowing between the observer 

 at A and the building. Then plant the rod B' c' perpendicularly 

 upon th'e brink of the river, and let A be the point where the 

 line of sight A c strikes the top of the rod. Let the height of 

 the rod be twelve feet, and the distance from A to B' be found 

 to be fifteen feet ; then 



B c 

 12 



AB 



15 



B C 



40 



A B 

 50 



but A B' = 15 feet, therefore B' B = 50 15 = 35 feet, the 

 breadth of the river. 



Our next paper will contain further examples upon the fore- 

 going points. 



LESSONS IN ENGLISH. XLIV. 



NUMBER (continued). 



WORDS which come from foreign languages ought to retain 

 their vernacular plurals. Many such words do retain their 

 vernacular plurals. Others form their plurals after the English 

 manner. A few are used both ways. Common sense dictates 

 that so long as a word is not naturalised, it should keep its native 

 form ; but when a word is naturalised that is, when a word 

 has become thoroughly English by being in common use then 

 such word should follow English examples. The seventy-three 

 words which ensue, derived from the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, 

 Italian, and French languages, retain in English their original 

 plurals; those to which U is affixed, have also the English 

 plural in s. 



Singular.* Signification. Plural. 



Amanuen'sis a secretary amanuen'ses. 



Anal'ysis decomposing anal'yses. 



Antithesis opposition antitheses. 



Apex a point, top apices. 



Aphelion greatest distance from the sun aphe'lia. 



Appen'dix addition appen'dices. 



Arca'num a secret arca'na. 



Auto'maton a self- mover auto'mata. 



Axis the pole on which a wheel turns axes. 



Ban'dit a robber baudit'ti. 



Basis a .foundation bases. 



Cal'culus a small sfona cal'culi. 



Calx a reduction- to pou-der by burning calces. 



Catacbre'sis an abuse of words catacbre'ses. 



Che'rub an angel cherubi'm. 



Colos'sus an immense statue colos'si. 



Crisis a decisive condition crises. 



Crite'rion a means of discrimination crite'ria. 



Datum something granted data. 



Desidera'tum something wanted desidera'ta. 



Diag'resis 



Dogma 

 Efflu'vium 



Ellip'sis 



Em'phasis 



Empo'rium 



Enco'mium 



Ephem'eron 



(the marks, as in aer, showing \ 

 <tliat two DOU'els coming together s di 

 (are to be separately pronounced ) 



diffi'reses. 



an opinion 



dog'nmta, E. 

 ( something flowing out of a body,) , . 

 \adisagreeableodour f eflluvm - 



an omission 



force in utterance 



a market 



a eulogy 



a short-liued animal 



ellip'ses. 

 em'phases. 

 empo'ria, R. 

 enco'mia, R. 

 ephem'era. 



* The accents as in Amanuen'sis, Catachre'sis, are put to show 

 where in pronunciation tbe stress of the voice should be tbrown. 



Singular. 

 Erra'tum 

 Focus 

 Fora'men 

 Formula 

 Fo'rum 

 Fungus 

 Ge'nius 

 Genus 



Gymiaa'sium 

 Hypotb'esis 

 Ig'iiis-fat'uus 

 Index 

 La'mina 

 Larva 

 Magus 

 Mausole'um 

 Me'dium 

 Memoran'dum 

 Men'struum 

 Mephi'tis 

 Metamor'phosis 

 Mias'rna 

 Momen'tum 

 Monsie'ur 

 Nau'tilus 

 Neb'ula 

 Oa'sis 



Paren'thesis 

 Parhelion 

 Peribe'lion 

 Pbasis 



Pheno'menon 

 Po'lypus 

 Probos'cis 

 Ra'dius 

 Sarco'phagus 



Sta'men 



Seraph 



Stim'ulus 



Stratum 



Thesis 



Tu'mulus 



Vertex 



Vortex 

 Virtue's o 



Sijni/ication. 

 an error 



a hearth, a centre of heat 

 an opening 



a form, model, direction 

 a market-place 

 a mushroom, 

 a tutelary god 

 a race or kind 

 a place of exercise, a school 

 a supposition, theory 

 will o' tlie wisp 

 a pointer, a list of icords 

 a thin piece of metal 

 a grub 



a magian, a magician 

 a tomb 

 a channel 



Plural, 

 errata, 

 foci. 



fora'mina. 

 for'mulee, B. 

 fora, R. 

 fungi, 

 genii, 

 genera, 

 gymna'sia. 

 hypoth'eses. 

 ig'ues-fat'ui. 

 in'dJces. 

 la'ininse. 

 larvae, 

 magi. 



inausole'a, E. 

 me'dia, E. 



something to be remembered, a note, memoran'da, E. 



a dissolvent menstrua, K. 



a pestilential exhalation mephi'tes. 



a change metamor'plioses. 



a noxious particle mias'mata. 



moving power mo'menta. 



Sir or Mr. messieu'rs. 



the little sailor, the nautilus nau'tili. 



a little cloud neb'ulee. 



a gre?i spot in the desert oa'ses. 



something 2>ut in, interposed paren'theses. 



a mocfc sun parhelia. 



the nearest distance from the sun perihe'lia. 



an appearance, a phase phases. 



a natural appearance pheno'mena. 



many-/ooted, an ulcer polypi. 



an elephant's trunk probos'cides. 



a spofce of a wheel, half a diameter ra'dii. 



a stone coffin sarco'phagi. 

 ( the threads of a warp, stn'ng of ) , , 

 \ an instrument, fibre. } sta mma > E " 



an angel seraphi'm, E. 



a good impulse stiru'uli. 



a layer strata, R. 



a position, a theme, a subject theses. 



a mound, barrow tu'muli. 



{the extreme point on which some- "\ 

 J thing turns, the top of the head, \- 

 (a top j 



a whirlpool 



a student of art 



ver'tices. 



vor'tices. 

 virtuo'si. 



The following words are the same in the singular and the 

 plural, viz. : 



Hia'tus, a gaping, opening, an inter- 



Appara'tus, preparation, a collection 



of instruments. 



Census, a numbering of the people. 

 Conge'ries, a heap or pile. 

 Corps (core), a body of soldiers. 

 Deer, a stag. 

 Gallows, an tnstrumejit for hanging 



criminals. 



Sheep, a woolly quadruped. 

 Species, a race. 

 Swine, a pig. 



Im'petus, impulse, momentum. 

 Means, met7iod of obtaining any' 



thing. 



News, fresh information. 

 Pains, labour, trouble. 

 Fish, an aquatic animal and all 



kinds of fish, as cod-fish, &c. 

 Se'ries, a number of things placed in 



order. 



The word alms is commonly given as a noun plural in form, 

 and either singular or plural in signification. The s, however, 

 is not an inflection, but belongs to the root, being retained from 

 the Greek eleemosyne. Alms is rarely used in the singular. 

 The s in riches is in the same way derived from its original, the 

 French richesse. 



Census and apparatus retain in English their Latin plurals, 

 which are census and apparatus; the same remark may be 

 made of impetus,, series, and species. 



Corps, from the Latin corpus, corporis, a body, has the s 

 from its root, and is really singular in form. 



CASE. 



Our grammatical terms are derived from the Latin. In Latin 

 grammar, case denotes the change or changes which nouns and 

 pronouns undergo in their terminations corresponding with 

 certain changes in signification. Thus nubes is a cloud ; but 

 nubi is to a cloud, where the termination or what is called the 

 case-ending es is changed into the case-ending i. The case- 

 endings of the plural vary from the case-endings of the singular. 



