G R A 



yfrafTcs of that Flora, with more exquifite precifion than can 

 be found in any fimihr performance. Stillingfleet, Curtis, 

 and Swayne have in England publiflied botanical and eco- 

 nomical remarks on grades, the latter giving dried fpecimens 

 to illuftrate them. Many fpecies are admirably reprefented 

 and defcribed in the Flora LonHirenf.s, and the fecond part 

 of the fu-lt volume of the Flora Gr'a^ca contains 50 plates of 

 rare and curious graifes, from the drawings of Mr. Ferdmand 

 Bauer, which are among the moft beautiful and perfeft of 

 thfir kind. 



The mmiber of genera of grafles in Juffieu are 60, arranged 

 jn I 3 feClions, nine of which comprehend grafles with two 

 ityles, four thofe with only one. This diitinclion however 

 is not one of the mott abfolute, even in the fam.e genus. 

 Ills fubdivilions are marked by the number of ftamens, or 

 of ilorcts, according to what we liave mentioned above. 



Willdenow has in his Triandrla Digynia 34 genera, befides 

 five in Triandria Moiiogynia, Cinr.a in Motiandria, ?L-nA Nardus 

 in Diandria ; he has moreover, in Hexandria, Ehrbarta, and 

 Orrza, in all 43. He has five genera in Monoeda, making 

 48 in the whole, befides the polygamous ones, which after 

 tiie original plan of Liunxus, he refers to Polygamia. We 

 have not yet fecn this latter part of his work. In the 14th 

 edition of Linnxus's Sy/Icma Vegetabilium the genera of poly- 

 gamous graffos are eight, only, Holciis, Cenchriis, Ifchitmum, 

 Man'ifiirh, JEgdops, Spinifcx, Andropog'ji, and Apluda. 

 \Villdenow places Ccnchrus in Tr'iaiidria Momgyma, we 

 believe with great propriety, but the genus appears unna- 

 tural with refpecl to habit, and perhaps requires to be new 

 modelled. 



Mr. R. Brown, in his Prodrowiis Flora Nova Hollandhs 

 a tnfulu Van-Dhm:n, has defined 35 new genera of this 

 natural order ; Sporobolus feparated from the Linnaean 

 yfgrojl'ts ; Polvpogon of Desfontaines ; Pentapogon of Billar- 

 diere ; Streptachne very near Slipa ; Amph'ipog'jn remarkable 

 for having an awn to each of tlie five fegments of its corolla ; 

 Diplopogori a])parenlly too nearly akin to the laft ; Amfopogon 

 very near the following ; Danthonm of Decandolle ; Glyccr'ta 

 of which we have treated in its proper place ; Triodia very 

 near Poa ; Ertachm fomewhat akin to Aira ; Trirapbis ; 

 ■ Eclrnfta ; Eletifine of Ga:itner; C/i/o;'« of Swarf/. ; Cahuhne 

 :' remarkable for having its imperfcft flower female, not, as 

 iifual in graffes, male ; Cbamitraphts dillinguiflied from 

 Panicitm chiefly by the peculiarity of three ilyles ; Orlbopogcn 

 formed of I.,innxus's Panicum compofitiim and others ; Peii- 

 mjititm of Richard ; Neurachne relembling an Alopecurus ; 

 ffachne to which belongs the Mcncritaiui of Herman's Zeyl. 

 24; Xerocbloa whofe feed is inclo'ed in the inner paper-like 

 - valve of the corolla ; Tbuarea of Thnars in Perfoon's Sy- 

 nopfis ; /ff)^>7V7/iZ of Cyrilli, which is ii7^;//-«j cyUndricus of 

 L.inna:us ; Dinwria near Saccbarum ; Ophhinis ; Leptiirus ; 

 and Hemartbria ; the three laft feparated froni RottboUia ; 

 M'lcroMoa which is Nardits indL-a of Linnicus ; Zoyjia 

 recently formed by Willdenow of his AgroJUs Matrclla ; 

 H'lerccbhe of Gmelin Slbir. which is Difcrraiiim of Billar- 

 diere ; Tetrarrbena compofed of the Ehrbaria djjlicbopbylla 

 of Billardiere with other fpecies ; MicroUna his E. JTipoides; 

 Polamopbtla a water grafs near Oryza and Zigariia ; and 

 finally Leptafpis which has the afpcA of Pbariis la/ifolhis. — 

 It is not wonderful that a country whofe natural produftions 

 arc all fo very anomalous with refpeft to thofe of the reil 

 of the world, fliould afford fo many novelties, even in fo 

 natural and well-known a family as the grafles. 



GRAMINEA, in Antiquity, is applied to a crown 

 formed of grafs, gramen, beftowcd by tiie Romans on certain 

 of their generals, in confideratioH of their having iaved or 

 refcued an aimy. 



G R A 



The graffy crown, corona gramima, was but rarely con- 

 ferred, and for fome fignal exploit ; when, through the 

 courage or dexterity of a general, an army reduced to the 

 laft extremities had been faved, or dehvered, and the enemy 

 put to flight. 



GRAMINEOUS Herbs, zmong Boianl/ls, are fuch as 

 bave a long, narrow leaf, with no foot-ftalk. 

 ♦ GRAMINIFOLI A, a name given by Dillenius to a ge- 

 nus of plants, called by iSIicheli and Linnius zannichelha. 

 GRAMMAR, teaches the right ufe of language, or to 

 fpeak, to read, and to write a language with propriety. 

 Particular grammar teaches the principles peculiar to any 

 one language. Thus the Englifh gramm.ar afccrtains and 

 teaches the principles which exclufively belong to, and 

 which difting\iifli the Enghlh tongue. The French grammar 

 profefies the fame end with regard to the French ; and 

 this is the cafe with the grammar of any other language. 



When grammar is limited to any particular language, it 

 is employed in its humbleft province, and may be confidered 

 only as a mere mecbanieal art, the rules of \\ liich are little 

 inveftigated, and have no other foundation than the practice 

 of thofe who fpeak and write that language. But when 

 grammar, rifing above the confideration of any one language, 

 compares many languages together, and by this companion 

 traces the principles which are common to them, unfolding 

 by that means the nature and origin of fpeech, the caules by 

 which it is divided into diftindt dialects, and the analogies 

 whicii facilitated tlie growth and determined the idioms of 

 each : grammar, in this extenfive view, an"umcs the nature 

 of afdence, and is jullly dillinguiflied by the name oi general 

 or univirfal grammar. 



That grammar claims the dignity of a fcience, in confe- 

 quence of inveftigaling the general principles of fpeech, is 

 evident from the fligliteft confideration. All languages, 

 however different, have many properties in common. They 

 have in general the fame parts of fpeech, becaufe the ideas 

 or things which they exprefs cxiit with httle or no variation 

 in the nature of things. Men alfo, in all ages and countrie.s, 

 have the fame organs of fpeech, which are fimilar in ftruclure, 

 however modified by peculiarities of enunciation. Finally, 

 the lame great law of aflbciation regulates the mind of every 

 man ; and the political, moral, and religious inftitutions, which 

 direft the operations of this law, however remote in age 

 and country, confiderably rcfemble each other. To thefe 

 caufes it is owing, that the languages of all nations, ancient 

 and modern, are marked by a fimilitude truly furprifing ; 

 and the more clofely they are examined, the more numerous 

 will appear the points in which they all refemble each other. 

 Hence may be juftilied the conclufion, that as all the tribes 

 of men originated in one family, fe all the languages of men 

 are but ramifications of one original tongue. 



Grammar has ufually been divided into four depart- 

 ments, namely; ortbograpby, e/ymology, fyntax, and profody. 

 Orthography teaches to form and to found letters, to analyfc 

 or combine fyllables, or to exprefs words by their proper 

 letters. Etymology comprehends the clafliiication, the pro- 

 perties, or, more properly fpeaking, the derivation and coiii- 

 pofition of words. Syntax prefcribes the government or the 

 right order of words in a fentence ; while profody direfts 

 the j\ift pronunciation, the poetical conftruC^ion of words, 

 or fupplies the laws of verfilication. But this diftribution 

 of the parts of grammar is neither ufeful nor accurate, as 

 they are not independent of each otiier. Etymology is a 

 principle neceflary to account for phenomena in every de- 

 partment, and is that upon which orthography is chiefly 

 founded. We therefore difcard thefe divilions of grammar, 

 and dilhibute and confine our obfcrvations on this lubjef't 



to 



