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sorts, or for sorts containing many individuals' and then very truly auus, when proper names have an article (that is, an adjective) annexed to them, they are used as common names.' We venture to assert that there is no distinction of proper and common nouns, and we bring the above extracts to prove our assertion. We say that every noun in the singular is the name of an individual, and George is no more appropriated to an (that is one) individual, than any other singular noun; for there are or may be a thousand Georges. It is true that when proper nouns have an article before them they are used as common names,' but it is also true that they are used as common names, without what Mr. Murray calls the article. The Cesars were emperors; Twelve Cesars were emperors. It is also true that proper names become common without either an article or adjective before them. 'Cesars were once emperors, now they are dogs.' Why then this unmeaning distinction, contradicted in the very first page that asserts it?

All nouns are of the third person when spoken of, and of the second when spoken to.' We see no reason for this distinction. There is no need of it on Mr. Murray's plan, for he does not let any noun of the second person change its own termination or that of its verb. There is an appearance of reason in attributing three persons to pronouns, but it is not so with nouns. Grant, however, that nouns have persons, why have they only two? Do not some persons represent the person speaking, as well as the person spoken to? I, Mr. Murray puzzle children', is as good an instance of the first person, as Be grateful, children of men' is of the second.

Even Mr. Murray seems to have had some rational views, for in his remarks upon passive verbs he has these remarkable words. 'The English tongue is in many respects materially different from the learned languages. It is, therefore, very possible to be mistaken ouselves, and to mislead and perplex others, by an undistinguishing attachment to the principles, and arrangement of Greek and Latin grammarians. Much of the confusion and perplexity, which we meet with in the writings of some English Grammarians, on the subject of verbs, moods and conjugations, (he might have said cases also,) has arisen from the misapplication of names. We are apt to think that the old names must always be attached to the identical forms and things to which they were anciently attached. But if we rectify this mistake, and properly adjust the names to the peculiar forms and nature of the things in our own language, we shall be clear and consistent in our ideas;' (and, we add, not till then.) It is to be lamented that in the very chapter which contains the above remarks, Mr. Murray undertakes to defend his system of moods, tenses, voices, &c. on the score of their utility, convenience, resemblance to the Latin, beautiful symmetry, &c. for, he con

cludes, although the learned languages, with respect to voices, moods and tenses, are, in general, differently constructed from the English tongue, Yet in some respects, they are so similar to it, as to warrant the principle which I', (Mr. Murray,) 'have adopted.' We are willing to admit that there is a convenience in allowing to nouns three situations in the sentence, which situations, Mr. Murray, who seems to be one of those whom he describes as 'apt to think that old names must continue to be attached to what they were anciently attached to' calls cases, a term possibly applicable to Latin, but not at all to English nouns. Let us examine his definitions.

The Nominative Case simply expresses the name of a thing, or the subject of the verb. As The girls learn.' If this definition has any meaning separate from the definition of nouns in general, we cannot discover it. The objective case also, simply expresses the name of a thing' and is the subject on which a verb acts. The girls learn' (what subject?) 'grammar.' The 'surgeons dissect' (what subjects?) bodies.' Are the girls and surgeons the subjects of the verbs learn and dissect? The fact is, the nomin ative and objective cases, as he calls them, are the same word, the same name of a thing' sometimes acting, when they are placed before the verb; and sometimes the subject or object of action, when in the sense they follow the verb.

The term nominative from the Latin monino to name, has led Mr. Murray to give a definition which implies that the objective case is not the name of a thing. Had he said a word of the doubts which have been raised in regard to the possessive case being the name of a thing, we should have been less inclined to censure him. There has been a spirited contest on this subject, some grammarians asserting that all adjectives are nouns, and others that all nouns are adjectives. It may be well to remark that, whichever existed first, the noun or adjective, it is clear that what we now call nouns may be used as adjectives and verbs also, as ‘eye,' 'to eye,' 'eye ball;' and if some words sound oddly when used in either of these three ways, it is not because the genius of our language forbids such use.of them, but because such use is uncommon or unnecessary.

The terminations of the numerous cases in Latin and Greek, and of the possessive in English were undoubtedly significant of something. It is generally supposed that the is, or es of our possessive was equivalent to add or join, and therefore my father's house' is the same as 'my father add house.' The omission of the e or i before s, and the substitution of the apostrophe, are the work of more modern times, and were no doubt intended to distinguish the possessive from the plural of nouns, which were before spelled

alike.

But this termination was by no means indispensable nor was it generally affixed to nouns. There can be no doubt that in such expressions as 'bell rope,' 'shoe string,' 'night cap,' and a thousand others, 'bell,' 'shoe,' and 'night,' are substitutes for the possessive case. But we hesitate not to call these words adjectives. Some connect the two words with a hyphen, and call the united words a compound noun, but we conceive this to be as unnecessary as it would be to connect any other adjective with the noun it qualifies.* Thus rope is the common name of a thing, long rope restricts the meaning of the noun, as do large, old, new, cart or bell rope. Bell and cart cease to be properly names, and serve to express the quality of things. Again, Charlotte when alone may be a noun, but when prefixed to the sirname, is merely a distinctive term. The office of an adjective, is merely to enable us to distinguish nouns, that is names, from each other. Mr. Wilson has three daughters. Wilson is the family name of each, but they must be distinguished. The father calls one the good daughter, another the fair daughter, and the third the little daughter, but he has another way of distinguishing them and calls the first Charlotte, the second Harriet, and the third Caroline. Charlotte, Harriet, and Caroline, therefore, are true adjectives when used in this manner, and we shall endeavor to show that every possessive case in our language is no other than an adjective.

If a noun is the name of a thing, we think no one will deny that the English possessive is not a noun. 'Father's house." Father's in this sentence is not a name. Father to be sure is so, but father's implies more than the relation which exists between a parent and his child. In fact its original meaning is secondary, and subordinate to its new office, which is, to distinguish one house from another. We can see no difference between the office performed by the first words in the following sentences, and therefore are compelled to call them all adjectives. 'Noisy carriages;' 'Boston streets,' 'Boston's streets;' 'vernacular tongue,' 'mother tongue,' 'mother's tongue.' As we have hinted before, if the termination 's, have any meaning, father and father's differ in meaning; and if father can be used alone, while father's, like any adjective, cannot make sense without a substantive, the use of the two words is different.

Our contributor is here at variance with the practice of the more correct presses, both of this country and of England. In the following, and similar cases, a hyphen is thought indispensable: a glass-house, a house for the manufacture of glass,)-the only possible means of distinction from a glass house, (a house made of glass.)-Examples. A man who lives in a glass house, should not throw stones at his neighbor's windows.'-'found James at the glass-house.'-Ed.

INTELLIGENCE.

PROFESSOR VOELKER'S GYMNASIUM, LONDON.

Extracts from Professor Voelker's prospectus.

FOR many centuries education has been exclusively directed to the developement of the mental faculties, while the bodily powers have been entirely neglected; and this because the intimate connection between mind and body has not been sufficiently considered, for who does not know, from his own experience, that the mind uniformly participates in the condition of the body;-that it is cheerful, when the body is strong and healthy; and depressed, when the body is languid and unhealthy?

The ancients better understood the value of bodily exercise. What rendered that little troop of Greeks so courageous, and so formidable to the numberless hosts of their enemies, but their continual and regulated gymnastic exercises? And what inspired them with such contempt for the barbarians, but the effeminate education of the latter, that made them unfit to cope with antagonists trained to discharging every duty of a warrior by running, leaping, climbing, wrestling, &c. ?-See Xenophon, Paneg. Ages.

In modern times, great promoters of education, as Locke, Rousseau, Campe, Basedow, Pestalozzi, and Fellenberg, have pointed out the want of so important a discipline; but it was reserved for Professor Jahn to be the restorer of this long lost art. After a careful examination of the structure of the human body, he devised a great number of exercises, arranged them in a well-adapted series, and again raised Gymnastics to the rank of an art. In 1810, he established a Gymnasium at Berlin, and the number of his pupils, consisting of boys, youth, and men, soon increased to several thousands. His ardent zeal and indefatigable exertion, and his powerful and persuasive appeals to his pupils, had such an effect, that all vied with each other in endeavoring to render their bodies strong and active. But the rising of the German people, in 1813, suddenly changed the cheerful game into a serious combat. Professor Jahn, and such of his pupils as were capable of bearing arms, (many of these being but fourteen years of age,) joined the volunteers of Lutzow. But few lived to revisit the place, where they had prepared themselves for enduring the hardships of war. Most of these young heroes covered the fields of battle with their corpses from the gates of Berlin to the capital of their enemies. The exercises, however, were resumed at Berlin, and had spread through several other towns, when the campaign of 1815 caused a new, but short interruption.

As a pupil of Jahn's, I also had the honor of serving among the volunteers. The campaign being finished, I returned to my studies; and when I thought myself sufficiently qualified for the duties of a teacher, I commenced them in 1818. At first, I established gymnastic exercises at the Academy of Eisenach, and in the University of Tubingen. In these establishments, as in all others, where similar exercises had been introduced by Professor Jahn or his pupils, a new vigor was imparted to the scholars. Boys, youths, and men, soon found more pleasure in exercises which strengthened the powers of their body, than in pleasures, which render it effeminate and weak. By the consciousness of increased vigor, the mind, too, was powerfully excited, and strove for equal perfection; and each of the pupils had always before his eyes, as the object of his exertions, ' Mens sana in corpore sano.' Even men indolent by nature were irresistibly carried away by the zeal of their comrades. Weakly and sick persons, too, recovered their health; and these exercises were, perhaps, the only effectual remedy that could have been found for their complaints. The judgement of physicians, in all places

where these exercises were introduced, concurred in their favorable effect upon health; and parents and teachers uniformly testified, that by them their sons and pupils, like all other young men who cultivated them, had become more open and free, and more graceful in their deportment. Fortune led me to the celebrated establishment of M. Von Fellenberg, and this great philosopher, and at the same time practical educator, gave the high authority of his approbation to the gymnastic science. It would not become me to state how I have labored in the acadmy of that gentleman; but the recommendations with which he and others have favored me, and also the testimonials for which I am indebted to them, sufficiently prove that I do not set too high a value upon the utility of this branch of education. After I had established this system of education there, I accepted an invitation as Professor of the Canton School at Chur, which I received from the government of the Canton. My exertions here had the same result as in other establishments, as is fully shown by the testimonials of the government.

The thanks which I received from so many of my pupils, the testimonials from the directors of those establishments in which I have taught, my own consciousness of not having worked in vain, and the invitations of some friends, emboldened me to come forward in England, also, with Gymnastics, on the plan of Professor Jahn, and animate me with the confidence that here, too, my endeavors will not be fruitless.

I have, therefore, opened a GYMNASIUM in an airy and healthy part of the suburbs of London, the neighborhood of the Regent's Park, No. 1, Union Place, New Road; and I trust, that parents and educators will willingly entrust me with their children and pupils, and that gentlemen will participate in the exercises.

Exercises at Prof. Voelker's Gymnasium, London.

I. Preliminary exercises, which serve principally to strengthen the arms and legs, and to increase their activity, to give the body a graceful carriage, to accustom it to labor, and thus prepare it for the other exercises.

II. Running for a length of time, and with celerity. If the pupil follows the prescribed rules, and is not deterred by a little fatigue in the first six lessons, he will soon be able to run three English miles in from twenty to twenty-five minutes. I have had pupils who could run for two hours incessantly, and without being much out of breath.

11. Leaping in distance and height, with and without a pole. Every pupil will soon convince himself to what degree the strength of the arms, the energy of the muscles of the feet, and good carriage of the body, are increased by leaping, particularly with a pole. Almost every one learns in a short time to leap his own height, and some of my pupils have been able to leap ten or eleven feet high. It is equally easy to learn to leap horizontally over a space three times the length of the body; even four times that length has been attained. IV. Climbing up masts, ropes, and ladders. Every pupil will soon learn to climb up a mast, rope, or ladder of twenty-four feet high; and after six months' exercise, even of thirty-four or thirty-six feet. The use of this exercise is very great in strengthening the arms.

V. The exercises on the pole and parallel bars, serve in particular to expand the chest, to strengthen the muscles of the breast and small of the back, and to make the latter flexible. In a short time, every pupil will be enabled to perform exercises of which he could not have thought himself capable, provided that he do not deviate from the prescribed course and rules.

VI. Vaulting, which is considered one of the principal exercises for the increase of strength, activity, good carriage of the body, and courage, which employs and improves the powers of almost all parts of the body, and has hitherto always been taught as an art by itself, is brought to some perfection in three months.

VII. Fencing with the broad sword, throwing lances, wrestling, and many other exercises.