ELECTRICITY. 



15 



I present this Latin noon in full, together with tuo English 



iiu-iiiiintf* : " 



Singular. Plural. 



AM . LAT1H. EJim.IUn. LiTIJf. SBOLISB. 



\ornu, : Y. uubM a cl Bubo* cloud*. 



lienittr*. uubi* / ft cloud uubtum o/ cloujK. 



Dative. iiul-i (o ft cloud nubibu* to cloud*. 



Accv*ativ*. nubtm a cloud nubM cloud*. 



KooattM. !..ii- . aloud! nube* O cloud* / 



.Ibl.i nab by a cloud nubibu* by cloud*. 



Now here, you BOO, what is expressed by the English of is in 

 the Latin expressed by the letter (the i belongs to the stem 

 or root of the word) ; so our to is represented by t, and oar by 

 in represented by 0. In general, then, we may say that the 

 changes of meaning whioh tho Romans represented by variations 

 in the endings of nouns, we express by jrrepositions. These 

 variations in the endings of nouns are in Latin grammar termed 

 cast-endings, or eases. Instead of case-endings we employ 

 prepositions. In tho Latin sense of tho term, then, cases do not 

 exist in English nouns ; for the student will observe that cloud 

 in tho singular, and clouds in the plural, remain through all tho 

 six Latin cases unchanged. 



Tho Anglo-Saxon, however, the parent of tho English, had 

 coses, and a relic of its cases still remains in what may bo called 

 the Saxon genitive. Thus the Saxon cynges dohtor is our "king's 

 daughter," where (the c is pronounced like k) cynges is in tho 

 genitive case. This genitive has been continued in tho English, 

 the e being dropped and represented by an apostrophe ; thus we 

 have king's for cynges. 



This is the true origin of our form in 's, as for example in 

 king's, queen's, boy's, girl's. It has, however, been conceived 

 that the s in this genitive arose from an abbreviation of Tits, 

 and BO we read in the Book of Common Prayer " for Christ his 

 sake," which should be " for Christ's sake." If, after tho 

 exhibition of the real origin of our form in 's as a matter of 

 fact, it was necessary to confute the theory just mentioned, we 

 should do so by remarking that it dees not accounV for tho 

 given phenomena, inasmuch as we say "the queen's majesty," 

 which cannot be expanded into " the queen his majesty," the 

 sense requiring "the queen her majesty;" but if Tier is here 

 necessary, whence comes the s of the genitive ? 



This Saxon genitive is also represented in English by the 

 preposition of. The words of the New Testament (John i. 29), 

 " This is the Lamb of God," stand in Luther's German 

 translation, "Das ist Gottes lam, literally, "This is God's 

 lamb." Hero the German es is represented by the English of. 



It appears, then, that in English we have two ways of 

 expressing what the -Latins expressed by the termination s or 

 is ; for this purpose, we may use 's, or of. 



The 's is of German or rather Saxon (say Teutonic, which 

 includes both) origin. Whence comes the of? The preposition 

 of is of French (Norman-French) origin, being the translation 

 of the French de, which means of. The words stand in the 

 French Bible thus, " Voili 1'agneau de Dieu," i.e., behold the 

 lamb of Qod. I put the several forms together, beginning with 

 the Greek (in English characters) and the Latin, thus : 



English Genitive lamb 



of God. 



In the case of the Latin noun nubes, s (is) has the 

 sharacteristic of the genitive. In the Greek noun Theou (of 

 Qod), and in the Latin noun Dei (of Qod), the terminations ou 

 and t are respectively the characteristics of the genitive in 

 these languages. If, however, you bear in mind that s is one 

 form of the genitive in. Latin (as it is of the genitive of many 

 aouns in Greek also), you will then learn that the relation 

 indicated by our preposition of that is, a relation of origin or 

 possession is in English, in German, in Anglo-Saxon, in Latin, 

 and in Greek, signified by the letter s. Now, as in Greek, 

 Latin, Saxon, and German this relation is denominated a case, 



* For tha sake of distinct comparison, the case-ending* of the noun 

 and the corresponding meaning in English are marked in italics. 



we Mem justified in so calling it in English. We are tana 

 taught that in English we have one COM, namely, the genitive or 

 possessive. We also learn that what the Greeks and others 

 express by means of a case-ending alone, we express, by means 

 of a ease-ending and the preposition of. These two modes 

 cannot, however, be employed, the one or the other, indif- 

 ferently ; but of that I shall speak presently. 



Adhering, then, to established usage, I define cast to be tho 

 change whioh noons take in their terminations as expressive of 

 corresponding changes of meaning, and I add, that in English 

 there are only two cases, the nominative, or the original form of 

 the noon, and the possessive, or what, for the sake of distinction, 

 I have called the Saxon genitive. 



The term genitive arose from the idea that the case so named 

 denoted generation, origin, birth, source, as a man'* son. From 

 the idea of generation, or giving life, comes the idea of 

 possession ; as William's son, for example, " this boy is 

 William's son, not Richard's ; " " this is Henry's dog ; " " this 

 is Charlotte's doll." 



ELECTRICITY. VIL 



HEATING EFFECTS OF THE ELECTRIC SPARK HOW TO FIKE 

 GUNPOWDER, ETC. INSULATING STOOL MECHAICICAL 

 EFFECTS HOW TO PIERCE GLASS, ETC. 



HAVING noticed tho principal physiological and luminous 

 effects of the electric spark and shock, we must now pass on to 

 observe its calorific or heating properties. So long as a good 

 and sufficient conductor is provided along which tho electric 

 fluid may pass, these effects are not seen ; but if the conductor 

 be in any way interrupted, or be too small to allow the current 

 to pass freely along it, an immediate increase in its temperature 

 is produced. A simple mode of showing the heat of the spark 

 is to light a gas-burner by means of it. Let a small jar be 

 charged, and its outside coating be made to touch a part of tho 

 pendant, or connected with it by a chain or wire, and let the 

 knob be then brought within striking distance of the burner, 

 which must be turned on, the spark will pass, and the gas will 

 usually be lighted at once. Another way in which this experi- 

 ment may be tried is by a person standing on an insulating 

 stool, and holding his knuckle or a brass rod to the burner, and 

 thus allowing the spark to pass. 



The insulating stool will be found very useful in many experi- 

 ments ; we must, therefore, just stop to notice its construction. 

 It consists merely of a piece of hard wood, about a foot 

 square, supported on stout glass legs. The wood should bo 

 baked so as to become thoroughly dry, and carefully rounded 

 and smoothed at the edges, aa points always give off a largo 

 amount of electricity. The legs should be about five or six 

 inches high, and may easily be procured. Stout pieces of glass 

 rod will, however, answer the purpose, or, simpler still, strong 

 glass bottles, such as are used for ginger-beer, maybe employed. 

 The object to be attained is to prevent the escape of the electri- 

 city from the person standing on the stool to the earth. 



A sheet of gutta-percha or glass is occasionally employed in 

 place of tho stool, but is not quite so effective; still it will 

 sometimes be found convenient. 



If now a person stands upon this stool, t-^Ving care' that no 

 portion of his dress touches any surrounding object, and holds 

 a chain or wire leading from the conductor, he becomes charged 

 with the fluid, and is in fact for the time a portion of the con- 

 ductor. Any person standing near may draw sparks from his 

 body just as from the conductor itself : the spark will, however, 

 be felt rather more strongly, owing to the increased size of the 

 conductor. 



If a candle with a rather long wick be blown out, and while 

 the wick is still red the shock be made to pass through it, it 

 will be re-lighted. The best plan of showing this is to take a 

 curved discharging rod, and let the wick come between the knob 

 of the rod and that of the jar, or the universal discharger may 

 be used. If a small piece of phosphorus be placed in the wick, 

 the experiment is more certain, and the candle in this case need 

 not have been previously lighted. 



Many inflammable substances can in this way bo lighted by 

 electricity. Bound one ball of the discharging rod twist tightly 

 some tow or cotton wool, and then rub it with finely powdered 

 resin. Now place the uncoated ball against the exterior of the 



