in grammar, a regular distribution of the several inflexions of verbs in their different voices, moods, tenses, numbers and persons, so as to distinguish them from one another.

The Latins have four conjugations, distinguished by the terminations of the infinitive āre, ēre, ēre, and īre.

VOL. II. No. 41.

USES OF CONIC SECTIONS IN THE SOLUTION OF GEOMETRICAL PROBLEMS.

Many problems can be solved by conic sections that cannot be solved by right lines and circles. The following theorems, which follow from the simpler properties of the sections, will give a specimen of this.

A point equally distant from a given point and a given line, is situated in a given parabola.

A point, the sum of whose distances from two given points is given, is situated in a given ellipse.

A point, the difference of whose distances from two given points is given, is situated in a given hyperbola.

The English have scarce any natural inflexions, deriving all their variations from additional particles, pronouns, &c. whence there is scarce any such thing as strict conjugations in that language.