43 
His own opinion is in favour of a very carefully considered 
Catalogue, which should contain all the names of all the 
plants either wild or in cultivation in this country, the first 
name being in good English, and the second in the usual 
Latin or Greek. If this were accomplished there would at 
once be a recognized standard to which reference: could 
always be made in cases of uncertainty ; and which might 
be consulted by buyers and sellers, with whom the difficulty 
of exchanging Latin names for English ones is found in 
practice to be very great. Among Nurserymen it is almost 
invariably the custom to sell plants by their Latin names, 
because such names are settled, and precise, and moreover 
because such plants are almost always asked for by those 
names; and it is doubtful whether it would be possible ta 
buy the Comarostaphylis arbutoides by its English name of 
Arbutus-like Gritberry. But this difficulty would be at once 
overcome by such a catalogue as is here suggested. 
It may be said that the object is already attained by 
Catalogues like those of Loudon, Sweet, &c. But the 
slightest examination of such works shows that they do not 
meet the difficulty in any considerable degree; for example 
at p. 48 of Loudon’s Hortus Britannicus, Exacum is trans- 
lated Exacum, Contoubea Contoubea, Microcale Microcale, 
Pladera Pladera, Mitrasacme Mitrasacme, and so on; Penæa 
marginata is called the marginated Penæa, Manéttia Lygistum 
is Englished by the Lygistum Manettia. Such instances, 
and all our so-called English catalogues are filled with them, 
are so absurd, that the unwillingness of the public to adopt 
them is a proof of the public good sense. Not that transla- 
tion is either necessary or desirable in all cases. Many 
Latin names have, from custom, been adopted into the 
English language, and no wisdom would be shewn in attempt- 
ing to alter such words as Dahlia, Crocus, Ixia, or even 
Orchis. Others again are so easily sounded, and so much in 
harmony with the English tongue, that nothing could possibly 
be gained by interfering with them ; such as Penæa, Hugonia, 
Parkia, Mimosa, Arbutus, &c. And, finally, there is a large 
class of scientific words which are best Englished by an altera- 
tion of their foreign terminations ; for example, Melanthium 
might be changed to Melanth; Desmanthus to Desmanth ; 
Lecythis to Lecyth; Myrospermum to Myrosperm ; and such 
an alteration would at once possess the great advantage of 
rendering English plural terminations possible ; Melanthiums, 
