GRAMMAR

of speech, joined with adjectives or verbs to define more accurately the degree of the quality or circumstances of the action predicated. That it is not an e ential part of language is evident from the circumstance that its place may be supplied either by a termination, as " greenish," for " rather green; " or by a periphrasis, as " he walks with speed," instead of " he walks rapidly." Prepositions are those parts of speech which expre relations between substances, and are consequently joined only with substantives; as, "/ro/w the city Page 538 GRAMMARIAN lye are said to speak indicatively, or in the indicative viood. Wiien we consider a tiling as po ible merely, we use tiie potential mood, denoted in Englisii by tlie auxiliary verbs " may" or " miglit." When we speal i of it as dependent for its occurrence on certain conditions, or in case of its occurrence as connected with certain probable or inevitable consequences, we use the conjunctive mood: " I wotdd go, if he would let me." Different languages expre these modifications of judgment more or le perfectly; none, perbaps, with absolute accuracy. Two other modal forms still remain to be considered. They have been called by grammarians the imperative and optative tnoods, as conveying the expre ion of a command or a wish. They may be included under the general term of desiderative, and imply at once the conception of an event and our desire that that event snould take place. They may therefore b.- regarded as forming the connecting link between verbs and interjections; between rhe words which belong to the perceptive and those which pertain to the emotive pait of our nature. What is commonly named ttie infinitive mood may be considered as the point of transition from a verb to a substantive. It is, so to speak, a subs tanti zed attribute, and is used as the subject of a proposition as correctly as substantives themselves: e.g. " To die is gain." The participle is usually ranked as a separate part of speech. It may be said to hold the same intermediate place between a verb and an adjective, as the infinitive holds between a verb and a substantive. It po e es all the properties of the verb, save affirmation; that is to say, to the properties of the adjective it adds the power of denoting Jime. The attribution to verbs of number and person is logically as anomalous as it is to a ign gender and number to adjectives. Most languages fall into this error, which is, however, susceptible of a very easy historical solution. It arose, doubtle , from the original custom of annexing the pronoun to the termination of the verb, and continuing the use of the inflection after its import had been forgotten, and when the pronoun had been formed into an independent part of speech. Those who wish to investigate the principles of grammar more closely, would do well to consult Mr. Harris's Hermes, perhaps the most complete philosophical treatise on grammar that has appeared in England. See also the article " Grammar," in the Encyclopccdia Metropolitan a, where the paradoxical opinions of Mr. Home Tooke on this subject are ably confuted. Profe or Thiersch, in his Greek Grammar, some time since translated into English, has interspersed some ingenious and valuable inquiries into the general principles of language, from which the student may derive many important hintsGRAMM A'RIAN. Literally one versed in grammar; but the term was used by the cla ic ancients as a title of honourable di stinction for all who were considered learned in any art or faculty whatever. (See Vo ius's work on Grammar.) GRANA'DE. See Grenade. GRA'NARY. (Lat. granum, corn.) A building in which to lay or store corn, especially that designed to be kept a considerable time. Various scientific principles have been laid down for the erection of buildings of this nature, of which the reader will find a full account in Rees's Cyclo peed i a; but the most curious, as well as most efficient contrivances for housing and keeping grain in good order, are to be met with in some parts of Sicily. They consist either of excavations into calcareous rocks, or holes in the ground shaped like a bottle, walled up, and rendered waterproof by the neck of the bottle being hermetically closed with a stone fastened with gypsum. They contain about 200 sal me, or about 1600 English bushels of corn, which may be thus preserved for an indefinite period; at least it has been found in perfectly good condition after the lapse of a century. (Simond, p. 25.; Swinburne, vol. ii. p. 405.) GRAND. (Fr.) In the Fine Arts, a quality by which the highest degree of majesty and dignity is Imparted to a work of art. Its source is in form freed from ordinary and common bounds, and to be duly felt requires an investigation of the different qualities by which great and extraordinary objects produce impre ion on the mind. GRANDE'E. (Span, grande; from grande de Esvafla.) The highest title of Spanish nobility. The collective body of the higher nobility in Spain is termed la grandeza. They were originally the same with the ricos hombres. Grandees bear different titles — duke, marquis, .; but there is no e ential difference of rank between these titles: all are equal among themselves. Grandeeships descend through females, and thus become accumulated in families. {Quart. Rev., 1838.) GRAND JURY. See Jury. GRANGE. A farm-yard or farmery, which consists of a farm-house, and a court of offices for the diflferent animals and implements used in farming, and also of barns, feeding houses, poultry houses, . See Farmyard, or Farmery. GRA'NITE. A crystalline aggregate of quartz, felspar, 525 GRAVEL. and mica, with the occasional addition of other minerals. It is regarded by modern geologists as of igneous origin, and as having been protruded from below, so as to elevate and dislocate the adjacent strata, and occasionally to penetrate them in the form of veins. Granite is a hard and generally durable rock, and of vast importance as a building material, and in its applications to pavements. The crystals of felspar are sometimes very large and distinct, and constitute the whitish imbedded ma es which are seen in such perfection in some of the granite pavements of London, especially of London and Waterloo Bridges. When the mica prevails in granite, its texture becomes lamellar, and it pa es into the rock which has been caWed gnei ; which again, by the gradual sece ion of the felspar, degenerates into mica-slate. There are some kinds of granite which are undergoing rapid disintegration and decay, in consequence of the jomt action of air and water upon the felspar; the potash of which appears to be removed, and tlie residue falls into a white powder, composed chiefly of silica and alumina in a state of veiy fine division: it is thus that the celebrated Cornish clay is produced, which is in such request for the purposes of pottery. The curious district in which the Carglaise tin mine, near St. Austle, is situate, is a good and characteristic specimen of decomposing granite. See Geology. GRANI'VORiE. (Lat. granum, agjflm,• \0T0,Ieat.') The name given by Temminck to an order of birds, including thelnse orial specifcs,which feed on grains: other animals with a similar diet are termed "granivorous." GRANT. In Law, a mode of conveyance by deed, appropriate to estates in lands and tenements not in po e ion, and also to incorporeal hereditaments. GRA'NULATE. (Lat. grana, a grain.) When a surface is beset with many very small elevations like shagreen. GRA'NULATION. The method of dividing metallic substances into grains or drops. It is usually effected by pouring the melted metal into water; and if fine division is required, it must pa through a perforated ladle or sieve; and in order to obtain spherical particles, it must fall from such a height as to have become solid before it meets with the water: hence the height of the towers in which s/iot is made. GRA'NULATIONS. This term is applied to the little granular formations \vhich arise in sores that are healing, and by which the destroyed parts are filled up and the edges brought together. When healthy they are of a red colour, not exuberant; when unhealthy they are pallid, and become soft, spungy, and irregular. GRAPE-SHOT. In Artillery, a quantity of small shot put into a canvas bag, and corded together in the form of a cylinder, the diameter of which is adapted to the piece of ordnance from which it is intended to be discharged. It is now superseded by canister-shot. GRAPHO'METER. (Gr. yi»(fai, J write, and (/.trfcy, measure.) A mathematical instrument used in land surveying; otherwise called a semicircle. GRA'PHITE. (Gr. ^^0.(^00.) The substance improperly called black lead, of which pencils are made. It is a peculiar form of mineral carbon with a trace of iron. The finest is found only at Borrodale in Cumber land. Coarser varieties are not uncommon, GRA'PNEL. A small anchor for a boat. GRA'PPLING IRONS. Small grapnels with four flukes for securing ships together in action. GRA'PTOLITES. {Gr. y ^aifoj, 1 write; XiBos, a stone.) A genus of fo il Zoophites, nearly allied to the existing sea-pens {Pennatulce) found in the bituminous shales of the Silurian sandstone deposits. GRASSHOPPER. See Locust. GRASS LAND. In Agriculture, land kept perpetually under gra , as contrasted with land which is alternately under gra and tillage. Perpetual gra lands are generally such as from the soil and situation are too moist to be ploughed with advantage, or too hilly and irregular on the surface to be plouglied at all. Hence we have hill pastures, and low moist meadows. The former admit of very little improvement, excepting that of drainage, and occasionally, in low hills, of irrigation; while the latter may not only be drained, but may be manured, and in some cases irrigated. See Pasture, Meadow, and Irrigation. GRATE, may be described as the iron frame and bars for holding the fuel burnt in our fireplaces. It is, however, confined to the use of coal; wood fires being better kept up on what are called " dogs." GRAU'WACKE. A German miner's term, implying grey rock; adopted in Geology to designate some of the lowest secondary strata, which form the chief part of the transition rocks of some geologists. See Geology. GRAVE. In Music. See Allegro. GRA' VEL. A term applied to a well-known material of small stones, which vary in size from a small pea to a walnut, or something larger. It is often intermixed with other substances, such as sand, clay, loam, flints, pebbles, iron ores, ., from each of which it derives a distinctive appellation. See Geology. Page 539