ible_. "Our whole
_company, man_ by man, ventured in."--_Goldsmith_. "To examine a _book,
page_ by page; to search a _place, house_ by house."--_Ward's Gram._, p.
106. So too, perhaps, when the parts of a thing explain the whole; as,

"But those that sleep, and think not on their sins,
Pinch _them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides_, and _shins_."
--_Shak_.

OBS. 14.--To express a reciprocal action or relation, the pronominal
adjectives _each other_ and _one an other_ are employed: as, "They love
_each other_;"--"They love _one an other_." The words, separately
considered, are singular; but, taken together, they imply plurality; and
they can be properly construed only after plurals, or singulars taken
conjointly. _Each other_ is usually applied to two persons or things; and
_one an other_, to more than two. The impropriety of applying them
otherwise, is noticed elsewhere; (see, in Part II, Obs. 15th, on the
Classes of Adjectives;) so that we have here to examine only their
relations of case. The terms, though reciprocal and closely united, are
seldom or never in the same construction. If such expressions be analyzed,
_each_ and _one_ will generally appear to be in the nominative case, and
_other_ in the objective; as, "They love _each other_;" i. e. _each_ loves
_the other_. "They love _one an other_;" i. e. any or every _one_ loves any
or every _other_. _Each_ and _one_ (--if the words be taken as cases, and
not adjectively--) are properly in agreement or apposition with _they_, and
_other_ is governed by the verb. The terms, however, admit of other
constructions; as, "Be ye helpers _one_ of an _other_."--_Bible_. Here
_one_ is in apposition with _ye_, and _other_ is governed by _of_. "Ye are
_one_ an _other's_ joy."--_Ib._ Here _one_ is in apposition with _ye_, and
_other's_ is in the possessive case, being governed by _joy_. "Love will
make you _one_ an _other's_ joy." Here _one_ is in the objective case,
being in apposition with _you_, and _other's_ is governed as before.
"_Men's_ confidence in _one an other_;"--"_Their_ dependence _one_ upon _an
other_." Here the word _one_ appears to be in apposition with the
possessive going before; for it has already been shown, that words standing
in that relation _never take the possessive sign_. But if its location
after the preposition must make it objective, the whole object is the
complex term, "_one an other_." "Grudge not _one_ against _an
other_."--_Ja