FEMALE EDUCATION.-No. I. ADDRESSED CHIEFLY TO THE YOUNG WOMEN OF THE OPERATIVE CLASSES. and utility to the common people. The art of printing, travelling Ir the hope that I may do something towards the improvement of young women employed in factories, warehouses, shops, or at home in useful labours, I have undertaken to write this series of little papers. They will not refer so much to reading and writing, or grammar or accounts, as to such things as habits, manners, personal cleanliness, neatness and taste in dress, household management, and the care of children, which, though not classed under the name of education, are real proofs of it when practised, and of ignorance when neglected. On many of these points, particularly on those of taste and arrangement in dress, manners and deportment, nicety and elegance in homes, however humble, and to simple beauty brought from fields and woods for their adornment, too little has been written, and of that little nothing whatever has been addressed to the operative classes. It is, therefore, with some pride, and much pleasure, that I shall undertake this peculiar and novel portion of my task; and if thereby I shall be enabled to add one grace to humble life, I shall be fully rewarded for it will expand itself, and lead to the cultivation of others, and thus fill up the blank of one of our great social needs-the power to recognise, make use of, bring into alliance with common daily life things of grace and beauty, by those connected, however humbly, with the operative arts of the country. This has been long a need. We have too long forgotten that the things and circumstances which surround the individual, and constitute his daily life, form him and make him what he is. The intellectual classes are so well aware of this as to regard with watchful though unobtrusive care each act, each circumstance and moment, in the lives of their children; and this, as seen in its result, constitutes, more perhaps than any mere book knowledge, the vast difference which exists between the several classes of society. For I quite deny that refinement, politeness, good habits, taste in dress, or general superiority, need be, or is, the especial privilege of any class. I do not for a moment think that a man has less cause to be refined, though he work with his hands for his bread, or a young woman less tasteful in dress, or admirable in manners, though she pass two-thirds of each week beside the power-loom, or in the warehouse or shop. But let me be understood. I mean nothing affected, assuming, or vain, or in that sense which often makes the refinement and gentility of the upper classes ridiculous in the eyes of the thoughtful and sober; but in their true worth and real meaning-education and self-improvement to young women. Their intellithat of man or woman striving to perform all duties connected with a good life in the most cheerful, truest, best, and noblest manner. A king or a duke, a queen or a countess, can do no more; and, apart from the advantages which fortune, position, and education confer, the best of the graceful acts of life lie open for all to attain to and practice. It is from my belief that the operative classes of this country are making, and are destined to make, great advances in this direction, that I have been chiefly led to hold the young women of this class in view in writing these little papers; for, connected with labour which is not strictly servile, and of a kind often bearing a close relation to the most beautiful of the useful arts-trained by this very labour into a method which is not without its value, and possessing the immense advantage of some hours each day of independent leisure-I think the power is theirs, through self-improvement, of not only adding to their own well-being, but immensely to that of those around them. For, if we but stay a moment, we see how much Divine Providence, through the agency of great improvements and discoveries, has given, and is giving, of beauty VOL. I. For I have unbounded faith in what a woman, however humble, can do for the improvement of home. On her acts and care depend, in a great degree, whether it is peaceful or riotous, sordid or thrifty, dirty or clean; and when we consider for a moment the effect of these for good or evil upon husband and children, we see this tremendous moral responsibility of woman in its true light. But the beginning of many improvements that will, I foresee, in another generation, greatly alter the mental, moral, and social conpally by young women before the time of marriage. That ceredition of the working classes of this country, will be made princi. mony does not bestow sudden virtues, though it does a husband; and a girl that has been in her unmarried state dirty, thriftless siping, and evil-tongued, has little prospect of either making a is otherwise, a new world opens itself to her offspring; for the Lappy home or rearing good and intelligent children. But if she moral worth and virtues thus fostered raise them as it were into a new class and condition of society, and the labour of the country is advanced by a new intelligence brought to bear upon it in countless beneficial directions. This growth in refinement, manners, and education, on the part of the women of the operative classes is, I believe, one of the greatest needs of the time. The beginning, made at home, lies at the root of all social progress, as without it the general worth and intelligence of husbands and brothers lose half their value; but with it all the many advantages which men have beyond women in regard to association, and the sort of public education which naturally arises therefrom, goes home with them, and has there a value of its own. I think I need say little more on the immense importance of gence in the humbler walks of life will go far to preserving the lives of two-thirds of the children that die under the age of five years to rearing them in a way which shall insure straight limbs example, some of the nobler and brighter virtues of our being-to and sound bodies-to laying, through words of advice and good investing home with a cleanliness, order, and purity in act, of themselves lessons of priceless value, and in cases where womanly intelligence is of a higher kind, adding to these other lessons whereby great talents may be fostered, and through which a long generation shall be benefited and the country proud. Nay, more; let women make but homes as they should be, and half the inducements of the pot-house and the skittle-ground will cease to attract; let her aim at comeliness of person, and a self-respect in apparel and behaviour, and half the licentiousness complained of in simple virtues of the people what they have always been, and the newspapers and in Parliament will pass away, and make the always will be, the surest foundation of order and moral advance in the state. And where marriage is not the case, a self-improved intelligence will give woman the power to seek, through emigration, or through a change of work higher in its kind and better remunerated, means of a self-advance, which no laws or philan thropic associations can give, though they found Needlewomen's 5 Societies, or other charities for com mon benefit, and spread them across the breadth and length of the land. I will speak of the improvement of the mind in a future chapter. LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC.-No. V. RULE OF SIMPLE SUBTRACTION. THIS is the easiest rule in arithmetic, and consequently that in the practice of which one is most liable to commit mistakes. It is founded on a general principle, exactly similar to that of simple addition, viz.-Like things can only be subtracted from like; or, in other words, if things are not alike, the one cannot be subtracted from the other. For example, if the question were asked what is the difference between 12 apples and 5 pears? the answer would plainly be, we cannot tell; it is as impossible to answer this question as to tell the cook's name when the dimensions of the kitchen only are given. It is true that the difference between 12 and 7 is 5; but 5 is no answer to the question. In like manner, it is equally impossible to find the difference between units and tens, tens and hundreds, hundreds and thousands, &c., while we keep them in the same name but if we reduce the tens into units, we can then take units from them; if we reduce hundreds into tens, we can then take tens from them; and so on, whatever be the difference in the ranks of the numbers. On the above principle, therefore, we have the following rule for the subtraction of numbers consisting of several ranks and periods. RULE. Arrange the number to be subtracted (which is called the subtrahend), under the number from which it is to be taken (which is called the minuend), in the same manner as numbers which are to be added together (see rule of simple addition, page 56, 2nd. col, No. IV.) Then draw a line under the subtrahend, and beginning at the units' column, subtract the units' figure in the subtrahend from the units figure in the minuend, and place the difference under the line in its proper column or place of units; and proceed to do the same with the figures in the column of tens. If the figure in the upper number or minuend be the same as that in the lower number or subtrahend, their difference is 0, and, therefore, a cipher is put in the place of units. But if the figure in the units' column of the upper number or minuend, be less than the figure in the same place in the lower number or subtrahend, add ten units to the former, and then perform the subtraction, placing the difference in its proper place or units' column under the line; but remember now to diminish the tens' figure in the minuend by 1, mentally, before you perform the subtraction of the figures in the column of tens; or, which is the same thing, increase the tens' figure in the subtrahend by one, mentally, before you perform the said subtraction. The difference of the tens' figures, in either of these mental processes, will be the same; for the former process depends on the principle that if you first add a certain number, as 10, to a given number, and afterwards take it away, you do not alter its value; and the latter process depends on the principle, that if you increase two given numbers by a third number, as 10, you do not alter the difference between them. The second process is that which is commonly followed in practice, and the increasing of the tens' figure by 1, is called in the language of the schools, carrying one, as in addition; while the addition of ten units to the units' figure is called, in the same language, borrowing ten. If it should so happen that the figure in the tens' column of he upper number, or minuend, is also less than the figure in the same place in the lower number, or subtrahend, add ten tens to the former, and then perform the subtraction, placing the difference in its proper place or tens' column under the line; but remember also to diminish the hundreds' figure in the minuend by 1, mentally, before you perform the subtraction of the figures in the column of hundreds; or, which is the same thing, increase the hundreds' figure in the subtrahend by 1, mentally, before you perform the said subtraction. These processes are founded on the same principles as those explained in reference to the tens, because hundreds stand in the same relation to tens that tens do to units, and the principles of operation may be expounded in the very same way. The exact same process may be continued in reference to the figures in the column or place of thousands, tens of thousands &c., in succession, until ultimately it is found that some figure in the upper number is equal to or greater than the corresponding figure in the lower number, and thus the subtraction will be rendered possible and complete. In all cases where the figure in any place of the upper number is the same as the corresponding figure in the lower number, or is rendered so by carrying one, it is necessary, as in the case of units, to put a cipher in that place under the line to indicate that the difference of the figures is nothing, and to preserve the other figures in their places. The same process indeed may be repeated several times in reference to the successive ranks or places of figures to be subtracted in large numbers, until at length the whole difference between any two given numbers be obtained. The application of this rule will be most clearly understood by a few practical examples. EXAMPLE 1.-Subtract 123454321 from 343478987:-Minuend 343478987 Subtrahend 123454321 Difference 220024666 MODE OF OPERATION. Here, beginning with the figures in the units' place, you say, 1 from 7, and 6 remains, and put the difference (6) under the line in the place of units; then proceeding to the figures in the tens' place, you say 2 from 8, and 6 remains, and put the difference (6) under the line in the place of tens; and in like manner proceed to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, &c., putting down the differences in their respective places, until the whole difference be obtained. In the places of hundreds of thousands and millions in this example the differences are nothing, accordingly ciphers are put in these places in order that the other figures may be preserved in their own places, and that the want of figures in these places may be properly indicated. The whole difference here between the two given numbers is two hundred and twenty millions, twenty-four thousand, six hundred and sixty-six. EXAMPLE 2.-Find the difference between 101010101010 and 4268010237. Minuend Subtrahend Difference 101010101010 4268010237 96742090773 MODE OF OPERATION. Here, beginning with the figures in the units' place, as before, you find that the units' figure in the upper number is 0, and that in the lower number is 7; therefore, borrowing 10 (which is equivalent to 1 in the tens' place), you say 7 from 10, and 3 remains, and put the difference (3) under the line in the units' place. Then, carrying 1 to 3, the tens' figure in the lower number, and adding it, which makes 4 tens, you borrow 10, and add it to 1, the tens' figure in the upper number, which makes 11 tens, and say 4 from 11, and 7 remains; and you put the difference (7) under the line in the place of tens. Again, remembering that the 10 which was last borrowed was ten tens, or a hundred, you carry one to 2, the hundreds' figure in the lower number, and add it, which makes 3; you then borrow 10, subtract 3 from it (as there is a cipher, or nothing, in this place, in the upper number), and put the difference (7) under the line in the place of hundreds. Now, remembering that the 10 which was just borrowed was ten hundreds, or a thousand, you carry 1 to 0, the thousands' figure in the lower number, which makes but 1, and subtract this 1 from 1, the thousands' figure in the upper number; the difference being nothing, you put a cipher, or 0, in the place of thousands below the line. As you did not borrow 10 in the last step of the operation, of course you do not carry 1 this time, to the next place of figures in the lower number, but continue the subtraction as at first. Here, a practical suggestion may be given as to the easiest mode of carrying on this operation. In all cases where the figure, in any rank or place of the minuend, is less than the corresponding figure in the subtrahend, without formally, or even mentally, adding 10 (that is, technically, borrowing 10), just read the figure as if I stood on the left of it, and subtract the corresponding figure in the subtrahend at once. Then, without formally or even mentally adding 1 (that is, technically, carrying 1), to the next figure on the left in the subtra hend, just read it as if it were the next higher figure in order, and subtract as before. Thus, continuing the operation in the preceding example, from the place where it was stopt above, say 1 from 10, and 9 remains; 1 from 1, and 0; 8 from 10, and 2; 7 from 11, and 4; from 10, and 7; 5 from 11, and 6; 1 from 10, and 9; putting down these remainders in their proper places as fast as they are uttered. In all this operation, however, never forget the principle, that in consequence of the tenfold manner of increase in the value of the digits or figures, according to the decimal scale of notation, to borrow 10 in any figure of the minuend, and to carry 1 to the next higher figure of the subtrahend, is just the same thing as to increase both numbers by 10 in the rank or place denoted by that figure of the minuend; and that this operation does not alter the value of the difference, while it renders the process of subtraction as easy as it could be made on any other principle. To the general rule, it may be of use to add this direction: that when there are fewer figures in the subtrahend than in the minuend, the process of subtraction must be continued to the highest figure in the minuend, just as if ciphers were placed under each of its figures, where there are none in the subtrahend. PROOF OF SUBTRACTION. The best and the easiest proof of subtraction is to add the difference to the subtrahend, and if the operation is correct, the sum of these two numbers must be equal to the minuend. The principle of this method of proof is self-evident; for, if the difference between two numbers be added to the less number, the sum is equal to the greater number. An ingenious method of proving subtraction by casting out the nines, as it is called, was supplied by a correspondent, and inserted in No. IV., page 64. The principles on which the four common rules of arithmetic are proved by casting out the nines, will be explained in a future number. In connexion with the rules of Addition and Subtraction, there are two very useful theorems, which we subjoin for the advantage and practice of our readers. Take any two numbers, say 12 and 8, and find their sum and difference, namely, 20 and 4. Now observe, that if we add 20 and 4, we have 24, or twice the greater number, 12; and if subtract 4 from 20, we have 16, or twice the smaller number. Now these results would take place with any two numbers; and in order to satisfy yourself, try as many pairs as you please; but choose even numbers to avoid the trouble of fractions at present. The general theorems deducible from these invariable results, are 1.-If the sum of any two numbers be added to their difference, the result is double the greater number. 2.-If the difference of any two numbers be subtracted from their sum, the result is double the smaller number. EXAMPLE:-The sum of two numbers is 1050, and their difference is 428, what are the numbers? Here, 1050+428-1478, which is the double of 739; therefore 739 is the greater number. Again, 1050-428-622, which is the double of 311; therefore 311 is the less number. PROOF. 739+311-1050, the sum; and 739-311-428, the difference. EXERCISE.-At an election, the whole number of voters was 9068, and the successful candidate had a majority of 2734: how many persons voted for each candidate? We now proceed to give a few questions for exercise. 3. Find the difference between every two successive numbers in the square contained in question 6, on the Rule of Simple Addition, page 58, No. III., taking care always to place the larger number uppermost-that is, for the minuend. 4.-Find the difference between a million and a thousand and one? 5.-From 4850902 subtract 98998; from the remainder subtract the same number; and from every successive remainder, subtract the same number, until a remainder at last be obtained from which it cannot be subtracted; and then, tell how many times the sub6. What is the difference between a hundred thousand and ten millions one thousand, and a hundred millions ten thousand and one? traction has been performed. 7. 1000000000-123456789; and, 142857142857-42857142858? LESSONS IN PHYSIOLOGY.-No. III. MAN. Do you think that you are now so familiar with the bones and the muscles as to be ready for a third lesson? If so, then we are now going to take up a very interesting subject. It is the circulation of the blood. The building up of every part of the body is dependent on the material derived from the blood; and to find out how this precious fluid is conveyed to every part, is the object of the present lesson. For this circulation the most beautiful provision has been made in the heart, the arteries, the veins, and the lungs. Some idea of the arrangement and connexion of those various parts may be obtained from the engraving. The heart is divided into the right and the left sides; and each of these two sides is composed of two cavities, with muscular walls. These cavities are placed one above the other, and communicate the one with the other by means of a large opening. The superior cavity, which is called the auricle from its resemblance to the ear in shape, and whose walls are thinner and of a globular form, is in communication with a number of veins; while the inferior cavity, which is called the ventricle, from its sac or pouch-like appearance, and whose walls are thicker, and of the form of a cone or pyramid, is in communication with a large artery, which bears the name of the AORTA, and which, subdividing in its course, terminates in myriads of very minute ramifications closely interwoven with the texture of every living part. The two sides of the heart are placed the one against the other-auricle in contact with auricle, and ventricle with ventricle, and united by elements common to the structure, and yet without any communication of their cavities with each other. That is to say, auricle does not communicate with auricle, or ventricle with ventricle, but the right auricle with the right ventricle, and the left auricle with the left ventricle. If we look upon the heart as representing a root, and the aorta as the principal trunk rising from the left ventricle, we shall discover, how like two beautifully ramified trees, the vessels in which the blood flows gradually divide themselves into branches, and twigs, and minute ramifications finer than the hairs of our head, and terminate at the circumference of the named the PULMONARY ARTERY which arises from the right body, the limbs, and the internal organs. The other trunk is ventricle, and is extended through the lungs. We have thus has its trunk in the right ventricle, and its extremities in the two systems of arteries. We have the pulmonary artery which lungs or organs of respiration. We have also the aorta, which has its trunk in the left ventricle, and its extremities in every part of the body. These arteries or tubes, by which the blood is distributed to every part of the body, are composed of three membranes or coats, which receive other minute arteries in such a manner as to form a beautifully complicated mesh or network. This network of small vessels may be regarded as the minutest subdivisions of the veins and arteries between which it omes, and through which the blood has to travel from the one to the other. For not only do the arteries communicate with each, and this communication become more frequent as the arteries are distant from the heart, but the arteries deliver the blood into the capillary network, and from thence the veins receive it, because in that delicate network the veins seem to originate. Distribution of capillaries or small blood-vessels at the surface of the skin of the finger. As it is the office of the arteries to convey the blood from the heart, so it is the office of the veins to convey it back to the same great centre. From the extremities of the arteries in which they have their origin, we can trace them back till they terminate in the auricles of the heart, through the vena cava in the right, and through the pulmonary veins in the left. confined to the wrist. There is another method of distinguishing an artery. It is this. If it be wounded, or if you cut it, the blood escapes by jets. But a vein does not pulsate, and its blood is of a much darker colour. The walls of veins are thin, and soft, and but slightly elastic, while those of the arteries are thick, and firm, and elastic in a high degree. The direction of the blood in their arterial and venous vessels is constant; but relatively to the heart, which is their common centre, this direction is both centripetal and centrifugal. In the venous system it is centripetal-the blood being conveyed from all parts of the body to the right auricle through the vena cava, and from the lungs to the left auricle by the pulmonary veins. In the arterial system it is centrifugalthe blood being carried from the right ventricle to the surface of the lungs or respiratory organs through the medium of the pulmonary artery, and from the left ventricle to every part of the body through the medium of the aorta. Such is the wondrous mechanism which determines and directs the circulation of the blood. In the course of its circulation the blood is found to be in two entirely different conditions-it is partly arterial, and partly venous. It is the blood, as it exists in the arteries, which only is capable of affording nourishment, and of supporting life. What, then, becomes of the blood in the veins? On arriving at the right auricle of the heart, the auricle contracts, The blood is returned from every part of the body, except the lungs, into the right auricle from the three following sources:The VENA CAVA SUPERIOR, which brings it from the head, neck, chest, and superior extremities. The VENA CAVA INFERIOR, which brings it from the abdomen or belly, and the inferior extremities. The CORONARY VEIN, which receives it from the coronary arteries of the heart. You will now very naturally ask-and how is the blood from the lungs returned? After coming into contact with the atmospheric air in these organs of respiration, it is conveyed back by the pulmonary veins to the left auricle of the heart. As we have two systems of arteries, so we have two systems of veins. The one has its minute divisions or roots in every part of the body, and terminates by the two principal trunks of the vena cava in the right auricle. The other has its roots or extremities in the organs of respiration, and terminates by means of the four trunks of the PULMONARY VEIN in the left auricle of the heart. What, then, is the difference between an artery and a vein? During life, an artery is distinguished by its pulsation The pulse may be compared to a wave which commences in the heart, and travels onwards through the whole arterial system. When your doctor wants to feel your pulse he puts his finger upon your wrist as being more convenient; but the pulse is not and sends the blood into the right ventricle; this again is stimulated to contraction, and the blood is propelled into the pulmonary artery, out of which, by a similar contraction, it is forced into the smaller branches of the artery, and these bring it into contact with the inspired air in the lungs. On reaching the lungs, the blood is of a dark red hue approaching to purple, but leaves them of a bright florid colour approaching to scarlet. This change is due to the elimination or discharge of carbonic acid gas, and the imbibing of oxygen from the air. Having thus lost its superfluous carbon, and having its capacity much increased for receiving and entering into combination with the caloric or heat generated in the lungs, the blood is conveyed back by the pulmonary veins to the left auricle of the heart, which being stimulated to contraction propels the blood into the left ventricle, which in its turn also contracts, and forces the fluid into the aorta, which, as we have seen, divides and subdivides in its course, and ultimately terminates in a multitude of thread-like branches, which become interwoven with the very texture of every living part. In these minute vessels the veins have their origin. These veins gradually coalesce and form larger trunks, till at last they terminate in two, and by these two the whole current of the venous blood is brought back in a direction contrary to that of the arterial blood, again passes into the lungs to undergo the same purifying process as before, and is again conveyed to the left side of the heart to be put in circulation. The time occu- sixty pounds, he would have in his body two-and-thirty pied in this circulation may be eighty, a hundred, or a hundred and twenty seconds of time. pounds of blood; and if we allow seventy-five pulsations to a minute, then if we multiply these seventy-five pulsaEach of the cavities of the heart presents alternately two tions by the two ounces of blood propelled at each contracopposite states-one of dilatation, and the other of contraction. tion of the ventricles, we shall find that at least one hunDuring the relaxation, the walls permit the cavity to be filled dred and fifty ounces of blood must pass through each and distended by the introduction of the blood; but during ventricle of the heart in that short space of time. At this rate the contraction, the walls diminish in their length, energetically it would require more than three minutes and a half to perform approach each other till they come close together, force out all the entire circulation. It may, however, be effected in onethe blood, and leave no cavity whatever. Let us try to under-third of that time. stand this. Let us suppose that the left auricle is filled and distended by the flowing in of arterialized blood from the four pulmonary veins; it suddenly and energetically contracts, and by expelling the blood ceases to present a cavity: it so happens that at the very same instant the left ventricle is in a state of relaxation, and its walls offering no resistance to the introduction of the blood, the blood by means of a free opening which enables the cavity of the ventricle to communicate with the cell of the auricle, briskly flows into the ventricle and fills it. But how is the blood which has thus passed into the ventricle prevented from flowing back into the auricle if there be a free passage between those two cavities? To provide against this there exists in the heart itself a beautiful little apparatus which hermetically seals this opening at the very same moment that the ventricle contracts. If you will carefully examine the two engravings (see page 68) you will the better be able to discover how this little apparatus works. In the engraving to the left you have the ventricle laid open, and you trace a ring composed of strong tendon, very tough and without extension, whose superior border (a) surrounds the free passage between the ventricle and the auricle, and whose inferior border plunges into the cavity of the ventricle itself. This inferior border gives attachment to two series of firm, yet strong cords, the one (6) anterior, and the other (c) posterior, and which are seen to fix themselves in the summit of two muscular columns (df) detatched from the anterior and posterior walls of the cavity. Each of these two columns exhibits two juttings or projections, separated by a little gutter. Look now at the engraving on the right, and you will see that at the moment of contraction those two columns (df) approach each other till they come into contact, and embrace each other in such a manner, that the right projection of the anterior column fills up the gutter of the posterior column, and the left projection of the posterior column fills up the gutter of the anterior column. The two columns are now seen to make but one. The cords, bent by the abridgment or shortening of the columns, have been drawn out, and with them the inferior edge of the tendonous ring, in such a manner that the cords have become vertical, the ring drawn together, folded and knit, and closed like the mouth of a purse. We have something more to say of the blood-of its composition and its use-but we must reserve it for our next lesson. QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. What provision do we find in the body for the circulation of the blood? How is the heart divided, and of how many cavities does consist? How are these cavities situated in relation to each other, and what are their names? Why is the superior cavity called an auricle, and the inferior cavity a ventricle? Do these cavities communicate with each other, and in what way? What great artery arises from the left ventricle, and whither does it reach in its ramifications? What artery arises from the right ventricle, and to what does it extend? Give the two systems of arteries in their origin and progress. From what three sources is the blood returned from every part of the body to the heart? How is the blood returned from the lungs ? Give the two systems of veins in their origin and progress. What are the two conditions in which the blood is found to exist in the human body? What becomes of the venous blood? Describe the circulation. Has each cavity of the heart the power to dilate and contract? How is the blood prevented from flowing back after it has emptied itself from one cavity into another? Why are the walls of the left ventricle thicker than the right? How long does it require for the blood to perform an entire circulation? LESSONS IN LATIN.-No. IV. By JOHN R. BEARD, D.D. NOUNS, SUBSTANTIVE AND ADJECTIVE-Continued. We now pass on to the several declensions. By declension, you know, is meant the manner of forming the cases of FIRST DECLENSION. But this is not all. To this tendonous ring, which encircles the orifice or opening between the auricle and ventricle, there is fixed the base of a valve, which in the left division of the heart is called the mitral valve, from its likeness to a bishop's mitre. This valve is brought into action at the moment in which the ventricle begins to contract. noun. As the contracting walls of the ventricle press on the blood, the valve is pressed up by it towards the opening between the two cavities of the auricle and the ventricle, and completely closes it. Or, if possible, to put it in yet simpler words, the flaps of the valve, which are completely thrown back during the rush of blood from the auricle to the ventricle, are now drawn into a position to allow the blood to get behind them and bring them together, so as completely to close the passage. The walls of the left ventricle are considerably thicker than those of the right, and their power of contraction is greater. This difference, which is as three to one, is required by the force necessary to drive the blood into the aorta, and through this large artery into every part of the body. It requires but little force to send the blood into the pulmonary vessels. We have seen that the heart has four distinct cavities. Now each of these cavities is nearly equal in capacity-each of them in the full-sized heart holding about two ounces of fluid. This, therefore, is the quantity of blood which is sent forth at each successive contraction of the ventricles. The whole quantity of blood seems to be about one-fifth of the entire weight of the body. Suppose a man to weigh one hundred and Cases. Singular. Sign AE in the Genitive Singular Cases. Plural. LATIN. Nom. ENGLISH. Nom. -āe ENGLISH (subject) Gen. Dat. Acc. Here you may remark that in the singular two case-endings are the same-namely, those of the nominative and the vocative, both being a; and that in the plural taken with the singular, four case-endings are the same-namely, in the plural those of the nominative and the vocative; in the singular, the genitive and the dative. This undoubtedly is a defect in the language. By practice only can you learn in reading to ascertain which, in any particular instance, the writer intended; the difficulty, however, is not so great as you might imagine. |