The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-08-06

not be equally 70 foe the .sx Bat over ens part q the
river bed smother the waters win sways have forcs
sufioient waah for Themselves channel threus
which to descsnd to the and In doing vii insure
depth sufficient during the greatsss depression oil
sS Ton ns ns ~ 81 nch serssd aud
shallow by their fall, there often Ia II sucn
bat barely sufficient water in VIII ch TO make sne
PASSAGE but as these spread waters farther saoads
they concentrate in the most depressed port tons
OF their bed thefsby acquiring sufcsnt fsrce py sa
accumulation to wash for tbenfeive snaans
make their way. The lover that the river potioocAy
falls the deeper does it reduce the low wAsr onannea
thereby akcz for the passage OF the rAny
waters II the eusutnx winter and sprisg which, aesa,
when at their highest stsges mere or less MI up snsse
low water pAsss With sand and mud IS beforsthus
Alternately obatructng ard removing distractions By
urging this impeding matter EDWARDS to where the force
the current nsni cient for the time, Tor ss fur
Their sporta,ion such il the general rule q thia
river far 1T affects navigation, at leAs from its
JUNCTION with the OHIO river 10 the bar 1T its mouth
This increasing quantity Of solid matter with which tbs
Of this river charged with the transport To
the although opposing serious obstacle ~ river
navigation must necessarily be very much otherwise IT
the rivers ENTHUSIASTICALLY It thus prog essvsy
to be deposited it's banks BY this annually over
flowing 1t high stages when the force of the
waters urging much Of this solid matter along,
there must NECESSARILY excessive deposit In the
most depressed portions Of the bar channel because OF
the still waters Of the gulf impeding the force OF the our
rents by which this det matter Ii atsed and urged
forward. thus making shallow the channels through
which ships conducted and rendering duhouis their
times 70 amount to very serious obstsoe 20 the free
OF the commercial marine With the CITY OF New
Orleans and valley Of the Mississippi, against which
there is no certain remedy-for so iosg a. tho
waters of the river charged With the transport OF 90
much solid matter to the ocean, 90 surely viii tsey Lot
such amount of 1t fall the low bar - viii u times
OF high water at least, seriously block up the free
ssge for large shps Ths evil Is progressively in
vhch 'is the sIost Oonsusa Il:
waters and mud by the steamers and ships In making
the passage up the bar channel is not at all times
oountersctve Of the deposition Of this solid matter
But their evident effects in this particular are suff
cient to indicate this sgitatiog process ~ the most
s,a S ps ss
ton for by It the current will have such effect upon
the solid matter thus kept In suspenson - stii to
viii be made pass forward into deep water Therefore,
II the usual operations the bar ut any time insult
Gent for the removal Of any excess Of deposit practical
OF such character constructed for tho pose
may be bene6ciay applied at no very considerable sx
penss. 1t may be well to remark here, in conclusion.
time required she transportation and deposit BY the
Mississippi river Of the quantity Of matter required for
the formation of its delta our cacuatons were founded
strictly the quantity Of sediment collected from thu
waters during the period Of and may - -
have above seem the much Quantity OF solid
matter transported by the river to what there Was
in former times have besn sideraby lssgsr in the
formation OF that delta than that calculation makes 1t
to have been. ANDREW BROWN, Natshez, Miss.
OF THE POWER OF GREEK 2, By
HALDEMAN, OF COLUMBIA, PA.
This is the first chronological paper, the only one,
and very good, which was mentioned in Monday 8
HERALD -
Those who attempt to investigate the powers Of
the Greek and Latin alphabetc characters with the
aid of the ancient grammarians are met by diff
Guilty in some places, which at first seems insur-
mountable- the different readings Of the
kA
to maintain the most opposite views. This may be
attributed to the fact that when in the course of
the gradual changes to which language is subject,
some Of the letters would acquire powers, or be
characters became naturally associated in the mind.
would the descriptions Of the ancients seem obscure
when treating Of character thus perverted. Let
there be, for example coocation of the English
and let this double sound be represented BY the sim
gle character q, writing ezras, but pronouncing
esdras- Let the same character be gradually ass0-
ciated with the power of English dz, % it is in TIA
liam, and to such an extent that Greek words will be
naturally read like Italian ones-the later Italian
scholar, in reading that the Greek 2 was double
letter. composed Of and d, would be likely to cor
rupt the text under the idea of correcting it, to make
the follow the d.; and this is just the condition in
which we find the history of Greek 2. Important
characteristics often lie in the combinations of the
vocal elements, and as we cannot have philosophi
cal view q, lar guage unless its exact condition be
known, we must endeavOr to solve question OF this
kind with the collateral aid of the mechanical sruc
ture Of the language, depending upon the physical
action of the vocal organs-an aid which GRAMMAR
ans are not inclined to make use OF. Some moderns,
including the Greeks doubt the fact of having been
double letter, although the ancient gramm arians
are explicit upon this point These Greeks contend
that the comparing of to and merely meant
English :; as it, to give Somersetshre man (who
prorouncess as English y an idea OF the Kissing
power of s. we were to tell him that it is composed
Of bis perverson English y and t. This argument,
which deserves attention. has not been placed in its
strongest light by its advocates. As and 3 cannot
be represented except by new letter or an exped-
lent, as I'd and p6. So if had its English sound,
and was to be explained by other letters, and )
would answer the purpose very WELL because English
: being vocal S, this character would answer if a
vocal letter like were added to indicate this qua
lily. Prof. E. A. Sophocles argues that was not a
double letter. because the Ionians used it, although
they separated the other double letters, writing
as for {, and ss for y. But as is KS and not KS,
it would have been to it for the last da
lectic variation. Let US illustrate by modern ey-
ample. In dialectic variations, the German word
n,ehts 'oses the {, making nichs (Which would be
equivalent to Beotian form, as If uYs); or, simu
atng Doric form, it would be niks, as II uxs and
it is evident that whilst the use of the character
would be of doubtful propriety in the former itwoud
be proper in the latter But the best reason for not
writing the clements Of z separately even when rs
and are thus represented, was the npossblity OF
doing So from the fact that 1t was not composed OF
any two letters OF the alphabet, except in the Dorc
and E0lc, where it was separated into and D. not
and s. Here the may be presumed to have had
its pure Kissing sound, except when initial, as
was then used. But the initial element OF normal
not pure 5, but English and French q for which
there separate character in Greek and Latin,
there is not in Italian and Spanish. In modern
Greek the part Of having been lost, the charac-
ter remains with its English and French power,
which is some evidence in favor OF this power having
been part of its original sound This explains ano-
ther difficulty upon which the modern Greeks insist
namely, that il Y had been (pure) SD, the Romans
could thus have represented it. Batwe are told that
the sound was unknown to Latn-that is to say, the
portion represented by English-French :. Neverthe
less in giving some idea OF its double power. the an
sient grammarians made the nearest approximation
afforded ny their alphabet Were Zcomposed OF Latin
Ds, it would be likely to be very common as final
in Greek, where S is the commonest final consonant,
occurring detached, and in and y. Surd elements
are more readily produced than sonant Ones and in
languages where both phases are present, surd
combination may b expected with its corresponding
sntlv II l. Wa gnnuld ha