of these words, and says that we devise land and bequeath goods. Is the lawyer, or the etymologist, to decide this question of propriety? Or, rather, is the etymon ascertained? To Decline-To Decay. To decline ( declinare) is to lean aside, and to decay (dechoir) is to fall-off. Decline is preparatory to decay. The prop declines when it bends, and decays when it rots. In metaphor a like relation is preserved: Gibbon, who details the progressive debility of the Roman empire, writes on its decline; and Montesquieu, in sketching its very dissolution, animadverts on its decay. Posture-Attitude. to divide is to allot what was separated; I do not laugh; I am serious, when I am to sunder is to detach an inferior from not in joke. a superior portion. We part what was whole, we separate what was contiguous, we divide what was joined, and we sunder what was comprehended. When both the chiefs are sunder'd from the fight. DRYDEN. Cosmogony-Cosmography-Cosmology. Cosmogony treats of the birth, cosmography of the description, and cosmology of the theory of the world (xosuos). Cosmogony applies only to the beginning (yo), cosmography only to the actual state (ypaw), but cosmology (os), to the doctrine of all possible conditions of the earth. A Pair-A Couple-A Brace. A pair is two united by nature (par), a couple by an occasional chain (copula), and a brace by a noose, or tie. A pair of swans. A couple of hounds. A brace of partridges. A pair is male and female; a couple, two accidental companions; a brace, tied together by the sportsman. He keeps a pair of pheasants in the hen-roost. We saw a Couple of pheasants feeding on the bank. You shot a brace of pheasants. This brace of pheasants is a beautiful pair; the other is a vile couple of hens, meagre and mangled. A pair of gloves; a couple of right-hand gloves. Complicated-Implicated. Complicated means folded together, and implicated means folded into. Af fairs are complicated which are mixt, and are implicated, which are entangled with each other. During every tumult many curious loiterers are rather complicated than implicated in the riot. In a complicated conspiracy all the persons implicated are not guilty of the same offence. Grave-Serious. Grave and serious differ as heavy and slow. He is grave who appears weighed down with care; he is serious whose actions succeed each other with deliberate solemnity. The grave man smiles not; the serious man dances not. Some are grave from decorum, and some are serious from stupidity. Wisdom will make a man grave, and religion will make him serious. A judge should be grave, a preacher serious. Gravity is opposed to levity; and seriousness to frivolity. Grave describes an exterior phenomenon: serious includes more of interior disposition. I am grave, when 3 Posture and attitude both describe the visible disposition of the limbs; posture (positura) relates to their position merely; attitude (aptitudo) to the purpose of their position. Posture is attitude without an object; and attitude is expressive posture. A negligent posture. The attitude of admiration. Those foreign teachers of attitudes are mere posture-masters. Painters must study gesture in active nature; the attitude dictated to a model soon sinks into an unmeaning posture. To Review-To Criticize-To Censure. To review a work is to overlook it for the purpose of giving some account of its contents. A reviewal may be a mere analysis without any commentary. To criticize is to appreciate, to give a motived judgment, whether favorable or unfavorable. To censure is to pass a sentence of blame. An author wishes to be reviewed with attention, criticized with taste, and censured with moderation. Odor-Smell. An odor is the emanation which affects the organ of sense; a smell is the action of that emanation on the sense. Odor belongs to the body which supplies, smell to the body which receives, the impression. Odors may exhale unsmelt; as when a flower wastes its sweetness on the desert air: and there are diseased states of the olfactory nerves, in which smells are excited independent of odors from without. Odor is to the sense of smelling, what light is to the sense of seeing. The civet-cat has a stronger odor, but a weaker smell, than other cats. Odor is a newer word in English than smell, which originally served for both: hence, in the older writers, these words are often confounded and misapplied. Of inodorous bodies it is still cominon to say, they have no smell, instead of saying, they have no odor. Strong aud disagreeable odors are called smells; their action on the sense is at once the prominent idea. Perfumes are called odors, and not smells, by the perceiver: their origin is at once the prominent idea. The sense of smelling is called the smell, and so is any one of its perceptions: in like manner the word sight is used for the sense of seeing, and for the thing thing seen. These are imperfections in language, which retard the progress of ideology: an easy remedy would be to say, the smelling, the seeing, when the sense is designated, as we already say, the hearing. are Odorous-Odoriferous. Odorous means having odor; odoriferous means scattering odor. Flowers most odoriferous in wettish air; they are probably most odorous during sunshine. Le corps odoriférant est naturellement très odorant.-Roubaud. Contentment Satisfaction. Contentment is the sufficiency which prevents desire, and satisfaction the sufficiency which gratifies it. He is content who holds enough, con and tenere, he is satisfied who gets enough, satis and facere. You are content with what you have, and satisfied with what you obtain. riferous oil, may not prove an unpleasant In the Magazine for April last, I re- Banwell, Somersetshire, Passion pursues satisfac- To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. tion; indolence invites to contentment. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, S frigorific mixtures have been disA covered which produce a degree of cold greatly below the freezing point, I wish to be informed whether ice-creams might be inade at any time, by means of them, if a sufficient quantity of the mix ture were to be enclosed in a vessel, having a place in the centre to put in the cream that is to be frozen; and, if the frigorific mixture were securely fastened in the vessel, would it not serve to make ice-creams for years, and therefore be cheaper than the present method, which is not accessible, at all times of the year, to most individuals. M. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, READER" who appears to have A been much disappointed in a re ceipt he has obtained, for extemporaneously regaling himself with aromatic vinegar, and who wishes for certain information on this head, may feel assured that by pouring a small quantity of concentrated sulphuric acid on the acetat of copper (or common verdigris), the acetic acid will be plentifully disengaged; and, if kept from the atmosphere, will preserve its pungency for some time. And, if he should feel inclined to pursue the experiment further, he may, by distillation, at a moderate heat, procure the acetic acid very pure from the compound, which, when scented with an odo SIR, ITH reference to the plans of WIT ing the lives of seamen, suppose there your correspondents for preservwas quilted in the jackets of sailors, about the collar and neck, between the outside and the lining, a quantity of corkshavings or chippings, (such as may be had at the cork-cutters,) or as a belt, a considerable breadth across the back and shoulders, then principally omitted under the armas, and resumed over the chest and stomach, yet not so much as to create inconvenience. It appears to me that sufficient might be inserted to give a man time to exert himself, or so far assist as to prevent drowning. The large quantity of cloth now quilted about the neck and shoulders of coats, shew that much could be worn without inconve nience. The slings might also afford a place for a small portion to assist, and probably the band of the trowsers. What I would infer is, that every part of the usual dress of the sailor should be made with a view of preserving his life, in case of accident; for, exclusive of those who, in consequence of engagements with the enemy, are placed in great danger, numbers are frequently precipitated into the watery element, by the sudden heeling of the ship, the breaking of yards and masts, and a variety of other accidents; and, if so much cork could be commodiously worked into the ordinary dress, as would give them an opportunity of recovering themselves, and, using their own exertions, it would certainly preserve many valuable lives. Bristol, June 8, 1312. G. To To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, PERMIT me to offer a few brief re on Mr. De Luc's endeavour to reconcile the Mosaic account of the Creation, with "the Organic Remains of a Former World," by supposing that the word Day," in Scripture, means an indefinite period of time, and is not to be considered in the common acceptation of the word, as comprising a space of twentyfour hours. Now, Sir, let us attentively peruse the first chapter of Genesis, in order to see how far Mr. De Luc is right in his conjectures; in the fifth verse, (unfortunately for that gentleman's theory) we read, "And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night; and the evening and the morning were the first day."-In the sixteenth verse we read, "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also." Provided we admit Mr. De Loc's opinion, it must evidently appear that this planet called the earth must have existed many ages prior to the creation of the Sun; a supposition that will not be entertained by any of common un standing; and moreover we are to conclude, that all the fixed stars are but in ajuvenile state compared with the age of the globe we inhabit; an idea that must be equally exploded by every person who has the least acquaintance with astronomy. If, however, any thing forther is wanting to prove that the word "Day" in Genesis really means an interval of twenty-four hours, and not a lapse of ages, according to Mr. De Luc's theory, let us refer to the 20th chapter of Exodus, verses 8, 9, 10, and 11. "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and ballowed it." Before, therefore, Mr. De Luc can establish his hypothesis, it is incumbent on him to explain satisfactorily the meaning of the fourth commandment, consistent with those principles,-which I conceive to be no easy task. Woburn, June 22, 1812. E. T. PILGRIM. MONTHLY MAG. No. 230. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, To prevent farther imposition on the public by recommendation of rice. bread, I have no doubt you will imme. diately insert the following correct state. ment respecting it. In consequence of what is inserted in page 411 of your last Magazine, by Mr. Johnes, dated Hafod, the experiment was fairly and correctly made in my family, under my immediate inspection; viz. to 15lb. of flour, Slb, of rice, boiled to a jelly, was added, with the usual quantity of yeast, and kneaded up into dough; which, however, proved so soft (although the rice could not be boiled dryer without burning, and not a drop of water was added,) that, merely to render it of sufficient consistence to form into loaves, 174lb. more of flour was obliged to be added. This was well kneaded, and, after being baked in the oven in the very best manner possible, produced forty-two pounds and a half of bread only, or ten quartern loaves; although, according to Mr. Johnes' asser tion, it ought to have produced twenty quartern loaves. The expence was as follows with the rice, and also in general use with flour: 1st. With rice, 3lb. cost 1s. 74d. or 64. per lb.; flour 2 pecks and nearly of a peck, (within a few ounces, which may be allowed for water,) at 5s. 4d. per peck, and 2d. added for the quarter of a peck, being 12s. 6d. ; yeast Sd.; wood to heat the oven, as it was baked at home, 6d. ; amounting in the whole to 14s. 104d. The bread was as good as any rice bread ever was, or could possibly be made. 2d. The same quantity of bread made with flour, without rice, would cost as follows: 24 pecks of flour, at 5s. 4d. is 18s. 4d.; yeast 3d.; wood for the oven 6d.; being in the whole 14s. 1d.; which is 94d. less than the same quantity and weight of bread made with rice; and, to a moral certainty, that made of flour alone is by far the most wholesome. Thus, instead of saving, it is paying dearer for an inferior, and certainly a more improper, article of food. . All this having been done most correctly under my due inspection, I can substantiate this statement upon oath, as well as four persons more who care fully performed and attended to it; and, I defy any of them, who make the assertion of rice adding to the weight, and diminishing Ꭰ diminishing the expence of bread, to inake good or prove their assertions, by actual experiment. No doubt their intentions are well meant, but, to a moral certainty, they have been deceived by their servants, or those in whom they confided; and, to prevent a continuance of this notorious, but general, deception, you will render great service to the pub lic by communicating the above. Let any person make use of their reason and reflection, and consider whether it can be possible for 3lb. of rice alone to add 44b. in weight, as Mr. Johnes has asserted; or, in fact, can it be possible that 3lb. of rice is of as much weight as 4lb. of flour? the very idea is absurd; for the additional weight of bread, be yond that of the flour of which it is made, proceeds from the yeast and water added to it, and requiring the very same quantity of moisture in both. A still stronger objection to it is--its anwholesomeness. It is well known that rice possesses such a drying quality, as not only to produce extreme costiveness, but to cause the negroes fed entirely upon it to become blind in South Carolina; therefore it cannot be it for general use in this country. Further, I beg leave to state the effects of this bread upon myself, which, indeed, I did not expect from so small a quantity of rice mixed with so large a proportion of flour, and baked into the very best bread that could possibly be made of it; yiz. as follows: I ate freely of it hot, with butter for tea; and afterwards, hot also, with cold milk for supper, with several lettuces, (which might be expected to counteract that drying quality;) the consequence how ever was, to prevent me from passing the usual quantity of water during the night; next morning I ate of it freely, in bread and butter cold, with tea for breakfast, and it produced extreme sickness, during six hours afterwards, followed with constipation. F.S. S. Billericay, June 7th, 1812. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, N answer to Mr. De Luc's laboured and perplexed Geological Theory, in is reply to Common Sense, the following statement is at your service, which evidently accounts for, and clearly reconciles to our understanding, every extraordinary appearance mentioned by Mr Parkinson and others, on the same interesting subject. That there have been many and mighty changes in all the planets and celestial bodies, particularly in this earth, is most evident, and produced by causes natural and known, particularly from a collision of a comet with a planet, which must produce overwhelming and tremendous consequences, the most obvious of which are, the dreadful effect of such a shock upon the earth; the axis and motion of rotation changed; the snow and ice of the polar regions dissolving on the equator; and the burning equator beco. ming the frigid poles; the waters abandon their ancient position, and precipitate themselves towards the new equator; the greatest part of men and animated nature, as well as vegetables, drowned in an universal deluge, or destroyed by the violence of the concussion given to this globe, the strata of which are thus thrown into general and promiscuous confusion, and vegetation destroyed; while species of animals, as well as of vegetative na ture, are entirely demolished and lost;* all the monuments of human industry reversed; and the whole face and surface of this globe, and even far below the sur face, changed. Such are the dreadful disasters which the contact of a comet would produce upon the earth. Thus we see, why the ocean has abandoned the highest mountains, on which it has left incontestable marks of its former abode. We see why the animals and plants of the South may have existed in what are now the climates of the North, where their relics and impressions are still to be found. Lastly, this explains the short period of the existence of this state of the moral world, whose earliest monuments do not exceed a few thousand years. The human race, reduced to a few individuals, in the most deplorable condition, occupied only with the immediate care of their own subsistence, must necessarily have lost the remembrance of all science, and of every art; and, when the progress of civilization has again created new wants, every thing is to be discovered, begun, and done anew, as if mankind were then just placed upon the earth. |