130 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
two terms, a focal (central, dominant) relation sensed between them, 
and assertion. The dominant relation and assertion are expressed 
presumably by “Itur.” I do not find however that a single item in 
the listed total is expressed by, or receives the slightest aid from, 
“ab” or “omnibus” or both together. For, if tae meaning of “Itur (ab 
omnibus”) (as indicated on p. 51) is of the type expressed by “Some¬ 
thing is done (by all),” required judgment is complete in form, with¬ 
out adjunctive contribution by “ab omnibus.” 
The effort to interpret “Itur” more exactly may with safety then 
ignore “ab omnibus.” Accordingly, I shall not make the effort till 
I reach Case IV—the case in which the passive voice is used without 
a subject or an agent—in which the unattended “Itur” will be studied 
in the light of other similar expressions. 
However, to complete the present topic, I may add anticipa- 
tively that in Case IV I do not find that unattended “Itur” in its 
meaning comprehends a genuine relation of an action to its 
actor. “Itur” in association with “ah omnibus,” though pos¬ 
sibly the passive of some active verbal form (existing or im¬ 
aginable) can not then he held to be the passive counterpart cf 
“Eunt,” which expresses the relation of an actor to his ac¬ 
tion in the sentence “Omnes eunt.” 
“Eunt,” so far as I have noted, has no proper passive. The 
reverse of the relation (that of all to going) which it names, so 
far as I have found is always nominated by a preposition; and 
a preposition hardly will be ranked as passive till, assuming 
the assertive function, it becomes—essentially at least—a verb. 
Case IV: When Used Without a Subject or an Agent 
Even illustration of this case is hampered by the prevalent 
intrusion, into modern-language sentences, of elements which 
seem to me to have no meaning—or, in other words, to stand 
for no ideas. For example, in “Es wurde gespielt, gesungen 
und getanzt,” I cannot find a bona fide meaning for the “Es”/ 
more than figments of my fancy. For instance, while I might arouse 
your interest—and even lay you under obligations—by “It rains;” 
and while no doubt you would forgive me if I made occasional mis¬ 
takes in such announcements; doubtless I should only vex you by 
the unassertive “It to rain”—and hardly less than by a downright 
lie. Indeed linguistic trifling in either form presumably would 
quickly bring about suspension of linguistic relations. 
* The interpretation of a thrice effective (trebled) “es,” as in succes¬ 
sion “playing” “singing” and “dancing,” either introduces an offensive 
