INTRODUCTION. 



THE present work, intended to serve as a preparatory Reader 

 for technical literature, cannot devote much space to the elucida- 

 tion of purely grammatic points. The student is presumed to 

 have studied German grammar ; but there are at least two respects 

 in which scientific German differs from the classical or literary 

 German, namely, WORD- COMPOSITION, and PARTICIPIAL CON- 

 STRUCTION. 



I. WORD-COMPOSITION. 



The formation of words by the addition of a prefix presents 

 nothing peculiar to this style, unless it be that the compound 

 word retains more of the force of the prefix than in the other 

 styles; as: Zuriickwerfung, reflection, from zuriick, back, 

 and Werfung, to throw ; Durchschnitt, cross-section, from 

 durch, through, or across, and Schnitt, a cutting; Gegen- 

 druck, counter pressure, from gegen, and Druck, pressure; 

 Unterabteilung, sttbdivision, from unter, under (sub}, and 

 Abteilung, division, from ab, with the force of separation, and 

 teilen, to put into parts; auseinanderfahren, to diverge, from 

 aus, out of, from, einander, one another, and fahren, to go. 

 It is possible to get the correct force of many of these words 

 by taking the Latin meaning of the components, as : wider- 



(v) 



