Page 41 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

40 THIRD BOOK OF
RAR1EFIED, pt., subtilised or made thin. L. rar ctus, om rarus, thin, andfacio, I make.
CoNVUL1SION n., irregular violent motions. F. convulsions, from vello, L., to tear, to twitch.
PuTREFAC1TION, n., rottenness. F. putr action, om putris, L., rotten. G. putho, I cause to rot.
ELECTRI 1 ITY, n., a species of attraction and violent repulsion. F. electricite, om electron, G., amber.
lM'MINENT, a., threatening. F. imminent, om minere, L., to hang over, ready to ll upon.
CARAVAN', n., a body of merchants or pilgrims as they travel in the East. F. Ca a ane. Per. and Tur. caravansera (kervan, and sarai, a house), a house at which caravans sojourn.
lNHos'PITABLE, a., a ording no re eshment nor shelter. F. and S. inhospitable, om iwspes, L., a host, a stranger.
1. BI is equently visited by the terrible si­ moom, called by the natives s amiel, or the wind of Syria, under whose pestilential in uence all nature seems to languish and expire. This current prevails chie y on the ontiers, and more rarely in the in­ terior. It is in the arid plains about Bussora, Bag-. dad, Aleppo, and in the environs of lecca, that it is most dreaded; and only during the intense heats of the summer. The Arabs, being accustomed to an atmosphere of great purity, are said to perceive its approach by its sulphureous odour, and by an unu­ sual redness in the quarter whence it comes. The sky, at other times serene and cloudless, appears lurid and heavy; the sun loses its splendour, and ap­ pears of a violet colour. The air, saturated with particles of the nest sand, becomes thick, ery, and
un t r respiration. The coldest substances change their natural qualities; marble, iron, and water, are hot, and deceive the hand that touches them. Every kind of moisture is absorbed; the skin •is parched and shrivelled; paper cracks as if it were in the mouth of an oven.
2. When inhaled by men or animals, the simoom produces a painful eling, as of su ocation. The