The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-05-23
On Translation.

What is required for translating well?
/ answer, four things Ability to write
the language into which, and to inter
pref that from which, the translation is
to be made; an understanding of the
subject discussed and fourthly, to
know how to translate The possibility
of translation in any adequate manner
varies in different cases, by this general
rule: Anything whose substance-i. e.,
whose thoughts the important part
of it, can be adequately translated, sup
posing the two languages concerned to
be equally cultivated. But in proper
ton as the form in which the thoughts
are conveyed is more and more import
ant, Just so much is adequate transla-
ton impossible, unless between lam
guages of the same characteristics. BY
this rule, we may expect perfectly sat
isfactory translations of all the litera-
ture of reasoning and narrative, such as
theology, history, biography, mathe-
matics. law and medicine. natural
science, travels, criticism and art. So
we may of much historical fiction. But
where novel depends on dialect, it
cannot be translated so as to be equiv
aient to the original in its new dress.
stance can absolutely not be translated
hdrased. Almost impracticable it
puns into English or the contrary.
Take the old joke about the old man
who said he had shot thirty-three hares
that morning, on which somebody ex-
claimed "Thirty-three hares you must
have been firing at wig" Now trans
late this into French, with lapin and
perruque; you get the following:
Thirty-three rabbits you must have
been firing at peruke (which is not
my, and called by the Arabic-souDding
name of Zopissa, is a species of paint,
varnish or glue, OF rather a substance
combining the special qualities of each
of these bodies with others peculiar to
itself. 1t can be employed with the
facility of paint. 1t is as preservative
of surface and of luster as the most
successful varnish 1t holds with
tenacity equal to that of the best ma
rine glue, not only wood, paper and
cloth, but stone, glass and iron. 1t is
bnneByio4Rs bngn Byy 4re to TTafer Is i'm 1t i Is lnc9m6gs
non-conductor of heat While qualities
y
high commercial value to a chemical
product, the cost of production is said
to be very low. We have not space to
enter into the interesting details of the
manner in which Col Szerelmy was led
to the discovery of this important ma
terial. He believes that it is the very
secret that has impaired so imperish-
able durability to the sarcophagi, the
Il
of the ancient Egyptians. There is, it
is certain, wonderfully Egyptian look
about the panels and cloths and piles
and beams and sleepers prepared by
this process. Some of them have been
for years under water. Some of them
have been exposed to jets of flaming
gas. They appear to have been little
affected by either. Human life is not
of adequate length to apply the tests
to which the inventor proposes TO sub
NIT the timbers he has prepared. But
when we say that not only very large
proportion of the newspaper press of
the country has called attention TO the
results of experiment, but that DIR.
Faraday and Sir Roderick Murchison,
in an official report which the House of
Commons ordered TO be printed on the
10Th of May, 1860, bear testimony to
the efficiency of zopissa for arresting
the decay of stone, it will be seen we
have reason for expressing surprise
that the material has not been brought
into universal use. Its value for mari
time and military purposes appears to
be extraordinary. Opticians and opera
goers know the worth of the new metal,
aluminium, owing to it's two qualities
of non-oxidation and great hghtness. A
double opera-glass might be made of
zopissa paper, so light that the glass
would be the heaviest part, so strong as
to be proof against any but intentional
injury, and at q cost which would leave
aluminium nowhere. Again, for cis-
terms, pipes, or reservoirs of water; not
only can these bemade of this material
at third of the price of iron, but the
chemical action that is always going on
in metal containing water would be OBJ
waited, and the great trouble of the
winter frost in London and other large
towns, the fracture of the water-pipes,
would be rendered n thing of the past
owing not so much to the great strength
as to the non-conducting quality of
pipes made of this cheap material.
Space would fail us to tell the objects
to which it might be satisfactorily ap-
piled. For vessels it may be made to
combine the lightness of timber with
the resistance of iron armor. For
shoes it is at once light and durable.
For cartridge cases it presents to the
of small arms, and, in
deed, to the artillerist in any branch,
exactly that of which he is in search.
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