Page 149 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

148 THIRD BOOK OF
mark, or indication of name or pro ssion. Such may have belonged to pagans, as it is highly proba­ ble that these cavities were used as burial places, be re, as well as dring, the age of persecutions. It is impossible to range over these vast repositories of the dead, these walks of horror and desolation, with­ out sentiments of awe, veneration, and almost of horror. Ve seemed on entering to descend into the regions of the departed, wrapped up in the impene­ trable gloom of the grave. Independent. of these imaginary terrors, the damp air and tid exhalations warn the curious traveller to abridge his stay, and hasten to the precincts of d .
Eus E.
LESSON XVIII.
T E PAPYRUS.
TRIANG1ULAR, a., having three angles, and there re three sides. F. triangulaire, om (L.) tres,-tria, three, and angulus, an angle. See " Rectangular," p. 65.
FrL1AMENTS, n., threads or strings. F. laments, om lum, L., a thread.
PA1PE&, n., the substance upon which writing and printing are ex· ecuted; now made of rags; anciently from the papyrus, a species of reed growing on the banks of the Nile;-and sti later of leaves. F. p ier, om papyrus, L.,-papyros, G., a plant, &c.
KEEL, n., the bottom of a ship, so called on account of its hollowness. Keel here means the timber that extends at the bottom om end to end, that is, from the prow to the stern. Ger. keel,· D. kiel; G. koile, om koilos, hollow.
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Lrn'ATURE, ., anything bound round another bandage; a band. F. ligature, from ligo, L., I bind.
PEL1LICLE, n., a small or thin skin: sometimes it is used r the lm which gathers upon liquors impregnated with salts or other sub­ stances, and evaporated by heat. L. pellicula, om pellis, the skin.
RIBAND or RIBBON (both pr. rib'-bin), n., a band or llet of silk or satin, worn r ornament. F. ruban, from rubens, L., red,-because the more beautiful ribbons were niadc of that colour.