100 



• KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Feb. 16, 1883. 



tlie word " incerta " means, not that the condition 

 of being horn is uncertain, but that it is not a condi- 

 tion whicli is consciously recognised. Manifestly, our 

 ■words " certain " and " uncertain " do not represent this 

 shade of meaning ; and the teacher (or a foot-note) should 

 point out that even wlien these English words fairly re- 

 present the meaning of the Latin, the Latin word cerlns 

 contains, over and above the idea of certainty, the idea of 

 conscious ascertainment or discernment ; and the con- 

 nection between the words " certus " and " cerno " should 

 be indicated. The exercise of the student's mind in 

 noticing peculiarities of meaning in the corresponding 

 words of dirt'erent language might well detain him as long 

 over each line of translation as the work of turning over a 

 dictionary ; but I venture to say very confidently that it is 

 a much more improving exercise, and would much more 

 rapidly advance not only his knowledge of the language 

 he is studying, but also his progress in attaining that keen- 

 ness of perception by which the true force of words and 

 sentences is discerned. 



The use of such a translation as the above is obvious. 

 But the way in which I have myself used the Hamiltonian 

 method may, perhaps, be worth explaining to the readers 

 of Knowledoe. It does not carry one quite so rapidly 

 over the ground as one may go, should it be wished ; but 

 it is (to me) exceedingly interesting, and I believe it to be 

 very instructive. 



Take, then, first, such a passage as the above (German 

 was the language I was studying, however) and go care- 

 fully over it, word for word as it stands. Thus, the above 

 would be read as follows : — Quirites, Romans, videtis, you 

 see, kc. i^ext, read it over several words at a time. After 

 this, read the English through alone, and then turn to the 

 original, and read that through. You will find that by 

 this time you can read the original understandingly. Take 

 the passage next (not more at a time than is given above) 

 and turn it into English by a free translation — not too 

 free, but just free enough to be good English. Now 

 follows what in practice I found the most improving part 

 of the whole work. Make a word-for-word translation in 

 the exact order of the words in the original, and note what 

 this tells you of the character of the idiom and also of the 

 mental peculiarities of the nation who owned or own the 

 language you are dealing with. 



To do this for Latin, note that some words must be 

 differently translated than they are above. Thus the best 

 way of representing the enclitic que is by " also," and we 

 are entitled to represent as the proper translation of " con- 

 servamur " ire-are-prese.rved, though Mr. Underword sepa- 

 rates the ire, writing we are-preserved ; for, the personal 

 pronoun is in reality present in the termination, though in 

 an archaic form nearer akin to the .^olic a/i/ifc than to 

 the Latin nos. 



The translation, then, would run somewhat as follows : — 

 [7'A«] Republic, Romans, [the'\ life also of-all you, goods, 

 fortunes, wives, children also, yours, and also this abode of 

 [a] most famous emjnre, most fortunate most beautifid also 

 city, this-day's day, of the Gods' Immortal by highest towards 

 you lore, by labours by counsels by dangers also mine, out- 

 nf flame but also sword, and also out-of jau-s of fale snatched, 

 and to-you, preseii^ed and restored, you behold. And, if 

 not less io-us jojiful and illnstrious are those days, on-which 

 weare-prcserved, than those on-udiich we are born — {because 

 of-safli/ perceived \lhe\ joy is, nf being-born unperceired 

 [fke\ cinnlilion : and because unthout feeling ire are born, 

 v'ilh delight me are prejierved), — assuredly, (since he, who 

 this city built — Ronmh/s — to [the] Gods immortal in. 

 benevolence and in-fame u-e-have-raised,) to be among you 



descendants also yours, in honour ought he, who [the] same 

 this city — founded, enlarged also — has-pre served. 



This translation should be read over two or three times 

 in alternation with the free translation, and it should be 

 noted in what respects the free translation fails, as all such 

 translations must fail, to represent the original, and to give 

 its full force. 



In making such a translation, the student not only tests 

 and renews his acquaintance with all the new words the 

 passage contains, but Icams much of the construction of 

 the language he is engaged with. He notes in this par- 

 ticular case also, how the Romans in speaking, and, there- 

 fore, in thinking, preferred first to present the object with 

 all that seemed necessary to be .=aid aljout it, then the 

 person or persons whose actions or relations towards that 

 object are to be indicated, then the nature of those actions 

 or relations. This is seen in parts of a sentence as in the 

 whole sentence. The same turn of mind is shown also by 

 the customary positions of noun and adjective in Latin : 

 for though there is no such hard and fast rule in this 

 respect as in French (for example), still the Roman would 

 rather give his subject first and its attribute after, than 

 reverse this arrangement as we English generally do. 

 Where we would say, " The lively horse strives to throw 

 his skilful rider," the Roman would prefer to say, " The 

 rider skilful* of-him, the horse, lively, to throw strives. 



Thus, in learning the language of a race, we may, if 

 reflectively disposed, learn something also of their turn of 

 mind. 



{To he continued.) 



ON THE FOEMATION OF COMETS' 

 TAILS. 



By a. C. R.a,nyard. 



AT a meeting of the Astronomical Society in 1874, I 

 suggested (see " Astronomical Register " XII. p. 80) a 

 possible explanation of the repulsive force acting on the 

 matter of comets' tails, which differs somewhat from that 

 suggested by 3Ir. Grensted in Knowledge of Feb. 2. He 

 assumes that space is filled with a universal atmosphere as 

 attenuated as that within the bulb of a Crookes' radiometer, 

 and that the force which drives back the matter of a 

 comet's tail is due to inequalities in the pressure of such an 

 atmosphere. Without making any assumption as to a 

 universal atmosphere, I would suggest that the accumulated 

 effect of the minute recoils accompanying evaporation, as 

 molecules are thrown off from the surface of a small body 

 towards the sun, is sufficient to account for the force which 

 overcomes the action of gi'avity and gives rise to the 

 enormous velocities with which matter is occasionally 

 driven away from the sun in a comet's tail. 



If one half of the mass of a particle is rapidly thrown off 

 by evaporation towards the sun, with an average velocity 

 (V), the remaining h.alf not yet driven into vapour will 

 have received a series of impulses all acting in directions 

 nearly opposite to the source of heat, which will give a 

 velocity comparable with V, away from the sun, to the 



* I am aware that I have departed here from the usual order ; I 

 have done so because I am trying to convey rather the general 

 idea than to indicate tlie actual practice in detail. The nse of 

 varying terminations in Latin renders the order of the words less 

 important than in English. Thus, "The rider of him skilful, the 

 horse," &c., would, in English, be understood to mean that the 

 horse was skilful, instead of the rider ; but there could be no such 

 mistake in Latin. 



