186 
thould conftantly take a garele of fugar 
diffolved in vinegar. Let him eat often, 
but fparingly, and if he can content him- 
felf with a difh of chocolate, coffee, or 
ftrong tea, he will reap ftill greater bene- 
fit. Hethould never drink water in its 
pure elementary ftate, but mix it with 
brandy, vinegar or wine. 
ing, inftead of brandy, he may takea giafs 
_ ef wine, with an infufion of orange peel, 
gentian root, or peruvian bark(quizguina. ) 
A glafs of punch taken occafionally will 
prove of very effentiai fervice as it pro- 
motes peripiration. 
Perfons in the habit of fmoking, will 
find a pleafant and falutary companion 
in the pipe, but thofe who are not ac- 
cuitomed to it will be fufferers by taking 
to the practice. : 
In conclufion it is proper to add, that 
warm clothing, flannel fhirts, trowfers, 
caps, &c. are eflicacious remedies againit 
exceffive expectoration, and all other 
{ymptoms of this terrible diforder. 
NAUTICUs. 
———a 
To the Editar of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
OUR two correfpondents W. A. 8. 
and Mr. Dow.Linc, have made 
fome very proper obfervaticns upon the 
erigin of punctuation ; but having prin- 
cipally confined them to times fub{fequent 
to the invention of printing, they have 
neither exhaufted nor even fufhciently elu- 
cidated the fubject. Ido not contradict 
the authorities of thofe gentlemen, but 
fhall be glad to have contributed in the 
leaft to the illuftration of that part of li- 
terature, by pointing to what fome ef the 
Greek and Roman writers have faid up- 
en it. 
Some fpecies of paufes and divifions of 
fentences in {peaking and writing muft 
have been coeval with the knowledge of 
_ communicating ideas by found or by fym- 
bols. 
Suidas * fays, that the deviod and the 
colcw were difcovered and explained by 
‘Thrafymacus, about 380 years before the 
_ Chrifttan era. Cicero} fays, that Thra- 
fymacus was the firit who ftudied orato- 
rical numbers, which entirely confifted 
inthe artincial ftru€ture of periods and 
colons. It appears irom a paflage in 
~Ariftotle ft, that punctuation was known 
in his time. The learned Dr. Edward 
* Qui primus periodum et colen moniira- 
Fit. Suidasde Thrafymacho. 
+ Cicero Orat. § 33. 
{ Rhet. Lub. disc. 5- 



Dr. Warburton on Punéiuation, 
In the morn- 
Bernard *, refers the knowledge of point- 
ing to the time of that philofepher, and 
fays, that it confifted in the different poli- 
tion of one fingle point. At the bottom 
of a letter; thus, (A.) it was equivalent 
toa comma; in the middle (Av) it wae 
equal toa colon; at the top (A-) it de- 
noted a period, or the conciuiion of 3 fen- 
tence. ; 
This mode was eafily praifed in 
Greek manuicripts, while they were writ- 
ten-in-capitals. But when the finall let- 
ters were adopted, that is, about the ninth 
century, this diftinétion could not be ob— 
ferved ; a change was therefore made in 
the icheme of pun€tuation. Unciales lite- 
ras hodicrna ufu dicimus cas in vetuflis codi+ 
cibus, gue prifcara formam fervani, ac je- 
luize funt, nec mutuo colligantur. Hujus 
modi litere unciales obfervantur in hbris 
omnibus ad nonum ufque feculum. Montts 
Palzog. Recens. p. xil. 
_ According to Cicero, the ancient Re- 
mans as well as the Greeks made ule of 
poimts. He mentions them under the 
appellation of kbraricrum xot@ and in fe- 
veral parts of his works he {peaks of ** iz~ 
terpundia claufule in oraitonibus”” ot © clau- 
Jele atque interpuntia verberam” of inter- 
punciiones verborunm, Ect. 
Seneca, who died A. D. 65, exprefsly 
ays, that Latin writers, in his time, had 
been uled to punétuation. ‘“* Nos t, curs 
Scribimus interpungere confuevimus.”” Mu- 
retus and Lipfius imagined that thefe 
words alluded to tue iniertion of a point 
after each word; but they certainly were 
miftaken, for they muft neceffarily refer 
to marks of punétuaticn in the divifion of 
fentences, becaufe in the paffage in which. 
thefe words occur, Seneca is {peaking of 
one Q. Haterius, who made no paufes im 
his orations. 
According to Suetonius in his Iluft. 
Gram. Valerius Probus procured copies 
of many old books,and employed himéelfin 
correcting, pointing and iliuftrating them; 
devoting his time to this and no other 
part of grammar. Multa exemplaria con- 
tracia emdare, ac diflinguere et aduotare 
curavit ; foli huic, nec ulli preterea, gram- 
miatices parti deditus. 
It appears from hence that in the time 
of Probus, orjabout the year 68, that 
Latin manufcripts had not been ufvally 
pointed ; and that grammarians made 


ice 9- 
- lit. & 26, ibid. 7. Qrate 
