itive common to the two genders is used in preference to the modern
one limited to the neuter, and irregularly formed.

The following instances are the latest specimens of its use:

"The apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy. I have read the
cause of _his_ effects in Galen; _it_ is a kind of deafness."--_2 Henry
IV._ i. 2.

"If the salt have lost _his_ savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
_It_ is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men
cast _it_ out."--_Luke_ xiv. 35.

"Some affirm that every plant has _his_ particular fly or caterpillar,
which it breeds and feeds."--WALTON'S _Angler_.

"This rule is not so general, but that _it_ admitteth of _his_
exceptions."--CAREW.

* * * * *

CHAPTER VII.

ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WORD SELF.

s. 446. The undoubted constructions of the word _self_, in the present
state of the cultivated English, are threefold.

1. _Government._--In _my-self_, _thy-self_, _our-selves_, and
_your-selves_, the construction is that of a common substantive with an
adjective or genitive case. _My-self_ = _my individuality_, and is
similarly construed--_mea individualitas_ (or _persona_), or _mei
individualitas_ (or _persona_).

2. _Apposition._--In _him-self_ and _them-selves_, when accusative, the
construction is that of a substantive in apposition with a pronoun.
_Himself_ = _him_, _the individual_.

3. _Composition._--It is only, however, when _himself_ and _themselves_,
are in the _accusative_ case, that the construction is appositional. When
they are used as _nominatives_, it must be explained on another principle.
In phrases like

_He himself_ was present
_They themselves_ were present,

there is neither apposition nor government; _him_ and _them_, being neither
related to _my_ and _thy_, so as to be governed, nor yet to _he_ and
_they_, so as to form an apposition. In order to come under one of these
conditions, the phrases should be either _he his self_ (_they their
selves_), or else _he he self_ (_they they selves_). In this difficulty,
the only logical view that can be taken of the matter, is to consider the
words _himself_ and _themselves_, not as two words, but as a single word
compounded; and even then, the compound will be of an irregular kind;
inasmuch as the inflectional element -m is dealt with as part and parcel of
the root.

s. 447. _Her-self_.--The construct