efinition, see _Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 40; _Duodecimo_,
41; _Smaller Gram._, 18; _Alger's_, 18; _Bacon's_, 15; _Frost's_, 8,
_Ingersoll's_, 17; _A Teacher's_, 8; _Maltby's_, 14; _T. H. Miller's_, 20;
_Pond's_, 18; _S. Putnam's_, 15; _Russell's_, 11; _Merchant's Murray_, 25;
and _Worcester's Univ. and Crit. Dictionary_. Many other grammarians have
attempted to define number; with what success a few examples will show:
(1.) "Number is the distinction of one from many."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p.
40; _Merchant's School Gram._, 28; _Greenleaf's_, 22; _Nutting's_, 17;
_Picket's_, 19; _D. Adams's_, 31. (2.) "Number is the distinction of one
from more."--_Fisher's Gram._, 51; _Alden's_, 7. (3.) "Number is the
distinction of one from several or many."--_Coar's Gram._, p. 24. (4.)
"Number is the distinction of one from more than one."--_Sanborn's Gram._,
p. 24; _J. Flint's_, 27; _Wells's, 52_. (5.) "Number is the distinction of
one from more than one, or many."--_Grant's Latin Gram._, p. 7. (6.) "What
is number? Number is the Distinction of one, from two, or many."--_British
Gram._, p. 89; _Buchanan's_, 16. (7.) "You inquire, 'What is number?'
Merely this: _the distinction_ of one from two, or many. Greek substantives
have _three_ numbers."--_Bucke's Classical Gram._, p. 38. All these authors
say, that, in English, "there are _two numbers_, the singular and the
plural." According to their explanations, then, we have _two "distinctions
of one from two, several, more, or many;"_ and the Greeks, by adding a dual
number, have _three_! Which, then, of the two or three modifications or
forms, do they mean, when they say, "Number is _the distinction_" &c.? Or,
if none of them, _what else_ is meant? All these definitions had their
origin in an old Latin one, which, although it is somewhat better, makes
doubtful logic in its application: "NUMERUS est, unius et multorum
distinctio. Numeri _igitur_ sunt _duo_; Singularis et Pluralis."--
_Ruddiman's Gram._, p. 21. This means: (8.) "Number is a distinction of one
and many. The numbers _therefore_ are _two_; the Singular and the Plural."
But we have yet other examples: as, (9.) "Number is the distinction of
_objects_, as one or more."--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 39. "The _distinction_
of _objects_ as _one_," is very much like "_the consideration_ of _an
object_ as _more than one_." (10.) "Number distinguishes _objects_ as _one_
or more."--_Cooper's Murray_, p. 21; _Practical Gram._, p. 18. That is,
nu