314 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



having an angular aperture of 90 and a magnifying power 

 of 500 diameters, they made out a double series of lines 

 crossing each other at an angle of 60, so as to produce an 

 appearance of diamond-shaped markings, as in Fig. Qa. In- 

 creasing the magnifying power to 600 diameters, three sets of 

 lines, longitudinal, transverse, and oblique, were brought out, 

 producing an appearance of fine hexagonal markings, as shown 

 in Fig. 96. Mr. Wenham, about 1854, produced a photo-micro- 

 graph of this species (represented in Fig. 10), under a power of 

 15,000 diameters, which gave an appearance of hexagonal struc- 

 ture, the centre light and the margin dark, as shown at B (Fig. 

 10), when all parts were accurately in focus, and a dark hexagon 

 with a light margin, as at A (Fig. 10), where the parts were out 

 of focus, giving an appearance of dark dots on a white ground. 

 The inference drawn from this photograph was that the hexa- 

 gonal markings were depressions, and that all appearances of 

 dots or elevations were due to such parts being out of focus, 

 and producing an optical illusion. 



" Previous to this date Gillett, by careful mounting of the 

 object, and ' under the most favourable illumination, either from 

 a white cloud, or a lamp with direct light (parallel rays, bo it 

 observed!), and a magnifying power of at least 1,200 diame- 

 ters ' (see Quekett on the Microscope, p. 509), had resolved the 

 three seta of lines into dots, or elevations from the surface, as 

 shown in Fig. lib. 



"In recent years Mr. Wenham, since employing the 5 ^-inch 

 objective, has been disposed to give up his former interpretation 

 of the markings being hexagonal depressions, and inclines to Mr. 

 Gillett's view that the areolaa are minute tubercular elevations, 

 and that the intervening network is formed by the thinner por- 

 tion of the valve, the structure shown in Fig, 11 a, which repre- 

 sents Pleurosigma formosum magnified 5,500 diameters." 



Thus the parallel is completed ; distant heavenly bodies 

 present new features when more critically examined, just as 

 natural objects may present almost a metamorphosis when 

 examined with the full light of scientific microscopical investi- 

 gation. 



LESSONS IN ITALIAN. XXIX. 



REFLECTIVE VERBS. 



IN these verbs the subject from which the action proceeds is 

 at the same time a passive object, and for this reason is ex- 

 pressed twice : (1) by the personal pronoun io, I ; tu, thou ; 

 erjli or esso, he or it ; ella or essa, she ; noi, we ; voi, you ; 

 eylino, elleno, or essi, esse, they ; (2) by the so-called conjunctive 

 pronouns mi, myself, or to myself (i.e., a me) ti, thyself, or 

 to thyself (i.e., a. te) ; si, himself, herself, itself, or to himself, 

 etc. (i.e., a se) ; ci, ourselves, or to ourselves (i.e., a noi) ; vi, 

 yourselves, or to yourselves (i.e., a voi) ; si, themselves, or to 

 themselves (i.e., a se). These are consequently in the accu- 

 sative and sometimes in the dative case, must be placed before 

 the verb, and will be fully explained hereafter : for example : 



Io mi di-fen-do, I defend, myself. 

 Tu ti di-fen-di, thou defendest thy- 



' self. 



Egli si di-fen-de, he defends him- 

 self. 



Noi ci di-feu-dia-mo, vie defend our- 

 selves, [selves. 

 Voi vi di-fe'n-de-te, you defend your- 

 Essi or esso si di-fen-do-no, they 

 defend, themselves, etc. 



The personal pronouns may in this case, as well as in the con- 

 jugation of all Italian verbs, be omitted ; and it is sufficient to 

 say mi difendo, ti difendi, si difende, ci difendiamo, vi defendcte, 

 si difendono, and BO on through all tenses and moods. When 

 the pronouns mi, ti, ci, vi, and si come before a verb beginning 

 with a vowel, their final vowel i may be omitted and an apos- 

 trophe put in its place ; aa 



M' av-veg-go (for mi aveggo), T perceive or remarlt. 

 T' ac-cor-gi (for ti accorgi), thou perceivest. 



S' ini-pa-dro-ni-sce (for si impadronisce), Tie seizes upon, or mafces 

 himself master o/ 



In the infinitive mood of these verbs the pronoun si must be re- 

 moved to the end as a suffix ; as, van-tdr-si, to boast ; ral-le- 

 grdr-si, to be delighted ; af-fli-ger-si, to grieve, which ia equiva- 

 lent to rallegrare, affiigere, etc., se me-de-si-mo. 



Some verbs are reflective in the strictest sense of the word, 

 and can never be used without the above-mentioned reciprocal 

 pronouns ; as 



Ac-c6r-ger-si, to perceive, or be sen- 

 sible of. [down. 



Con-tri-star-si, to be afflicted, or cast 



In-na-mo-rar-si, to fall in love. 



In-ge-gnar-si, to endeavour, to task 

 all one's powers of ingenuity and 

 application. 



Im-pa-dro-nir-si, im-pos-ses-sar-si, 

 io seize upon, or make one's self 

 master of. 



La-gnar-si, to complain. 



Ma-ra-vi-gliar-si, to wor.der. 



Ral-le-grar-si, to be delighted. 



Ver-go-gruir-si, to be ashamsd, etc. 



It must, however, immediately appear that every verb may 

 assume the reflective form, having the pronoun si added to its 

 infinitive, whenever the action which the verb implies returns 

 back to the subject ; as 



Ab-ban-do-na-re, to abandon, or. give up; a-ban-do-nar-si, to give one's 

 self up, or over. 



Ab-bas-sa-re, to abase, lower; ab-bas-sar-si, to fall off, sinlc, to cringe. 

 Do-le-re, to suffer, feel pain; do-ler-si, to grieve, complain, pity. 

 Al-za-re, to raise ; al-zar-si, to rise, get up, etc. 



The genius of the Italian language generally requires the 

 reflective verbs to be considered as passive, thus giving rather 

 an illogical predominance to the passive state of the subject 

 reacting on itself, while the unmistakable active nature of a 

 reflective verb, which distinctly names the passive object, is 

 dropped. For this reason the great majority of these verbs, i.e., 

 the reflective verbs governing the accusative case of the person, 

 in their compound tenses must be conjugated with essere instead 

 of avere, and their participle must agree in number and gender 

 with this accusative, preceding the verb ; for example : 



ACTIVE. 



L* ho in-gan-na-to, I hare deceived 

 him. 



Mi ha in-gan-na-to, he has deceived 



REFLECTIVE. 



Mi sono in-gan-na-to, I have d~ 

 ceived myself, or I have been 

 mistaken 



Egli s' e in-gan-na-to, he has de- 



ceived himself, or he has been 



'mistaken. 



Mi suno do-lu-to, I have grieved; ci siavno ral-le-gra-ti, vie were de- 

 lighted ; dgli s' era fiit-to co-ro-ua-ro (not egli s' aveva fatto coronare), 

 he had got himself crowned. 



It cannot be denied that in these cases even good writers 

 sometimes exhibit examples of the use of avere in the place of 

 essere, saying, for example, si a-v6-va-no lun-ga-me"n-te ama-ti, 

 for si e-ra-no lun-ga-men-te amd-ti, they had been in love a long 

 while ; egli s' aveva fatto coronare (as quoted above), etc. 

 These are, however, licences of celebrated writers, and are not 

 to bo imitated. 



The reflective verbs governing the dative case of the person 

 and the accusative case of the thing in their compound tenses 

 may be conjugated either with essere or avere. and when the ac- 

 cusative case of the thing precedes them, their participle must 

 agree with it ; but it remains unchanged when the accusative 

 follows : for example : 



El-la si e (or si ha) strac-cia-to il vi-so, she has lacerated her (i.e., to 

 herself the) face. 



fi-gli-no si so-no (or si han-no) fat-to o-no-re, they have been an honour 

 (i.e., done Jionour) to themselves. 



The conjunctive pronouns mi, ti, ci, vi, si, in ordinary or 

 familiar language, precede the reflective verb, as will appear 

 from the paradigm of its conjugation. The only exceptions are 

 the imperative and infinitive moods, the gerunds and participles, 

 where they are added as suffixes to the verbs. But in a more 

 measured or elegant style, and especially in poetry, those pro- 

 nouns may be added as suffixes to all the tenses where they 

 generally precede the verb, unless ambiguity or harsh sound 

 should forbid it, and it is allowable, for example, to say 



Pen-to-mi for mi pen-to, I repent. 



P6n-te-si for si pen-te, he or she repents. 



Pen-ti-va-si for si pen-ti-va, he repented. 



Pen-ti-ron-si for si pen-ti-ro-no, they repented, etc. 



By anticipation it must be stated here that the conjunctive 

 pronouns mi, ti, ci, vi, and si, before the words Io, it ; la, her ; 

 li, them (m.) ; le, them (f.) ; and ne, of it, for it, with it, etc., 

 are changed into me, te, ce, ve, and so : for example, pen-tir-se-ne, 

 to repent it, or to be sorry for it, is conjugated 



Io me ne pen-to, or pen-to-me-ne, I repent it, or I am sorry for it, etc. 



Tu te ne pen-ti, or pen-ti-te-ne. 



Egli se ne pen-te, or pen-te-se-ne. 



Noi ce ne pen-tia-mo, or pen-tia-mo-ce-ne. 



Voi ve ne pen-ti-te, or pen-ti-te-ve-ne. 



fis-si se ne pen-to-no, or pen-to-no-se-ne. 



Pen-ti-to-se-ne, hawing repented it, or been sorry for it. 



Pen-ten-do-se-ne, repenting it, or being sorry for it, etc. 



