"TAKING A LUNAR."

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3751, 27 July 1869, Page 6

"TAKING A LUNAR."

To the Editor of the Daily Southern Cross. Sir, — Under the above heading your con* temporary haa taken you to task, in what he evidently supposes to be a very funny manner, / for the remarks inserted in your paper relative to the eclipse of the moon on Saturday morning last. lam not going to talk astronomy as glibly as the writer of the article referred to, but, when he makes the statement that " perhaps the laws of optics have gone out a while with English grammar," he reminds me of the proverb ab«ut those who live in glass-houses. Curiously enough there are numbers of mistakes in your contemporary's valuable (?) article, one or two of which he may perhaps foiat upon the compositor. "Philogieal" may be of these, but I doubt it: as also may be "breath of words," and "illiterata pretensions." "A recurring phenomena " is, however, too much, seeing that the same mistake occurs later, viz., "the phenomena is remarkable." What also can be said about "the meaning of words have changed," or " to this, favour no doubt our contemporary was indebted to the man in the moon," or again, " there was one contact occurred." Surely, air, I may venture to hope that your contemporary's English grammar "may return some day," and that too yery soon. I refrain from analysing the composition of the sentences, as the task would be too difficult, the simplicity and elegance of the whole being very manifest. There is, however, one point to which I will refer, because I hold that the error, though to be found more or less in all colonial newspapers, is one which should be ayoided by every writer aa jauob, aa possible.

The improper use of " will" and " shall is fro quently to be found, but seldom does it aPP^F moro iudicrous than in the following: 'We will learn the next time that a solar eclipse occurs that our contemporary shall have been knocked down." There are other instances ol this same use of "will" and "would" in the article, but that one is sufficient.— l have, &c, Delta.