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restored Nelumbium, and has had a large following. The rea- 
sons which he gave for his action were, that Cyamus had been 
applied to a genus of animals, and that Nelumbium was the old- 
est of the names propounded for these plants since the establish- 
ment of the Linnean nomenclature. This last assertion will not 
hold; and, what is somewhat puzzling is, that he even cites the 
refutation of his statement, in the synonymy of the genus, where 
we read “ Nelumbo, Adans.” Would he be understood as class- 
ing Adanson with pre-Linnzan authors? He was a contem- 
porary of Linné, indeed, but the Familles des Plantes, contain- 
ing his definitions and names of genera, did not appear until 
1763, ten years subsequent to the full promulgation of the Lin- 
nzan nomenclature; and this gives to his We/wmbo, as a post- 
Linnzan name, a priority of thirty-six years over Willdenow’s 
Nelumbium. 
I do not know in what esteem the work of Adanson, as a 
systematic botanist, has been held by later generations, or even 
by his contemporaries. In my reading I have come upon very 
little in the line of discussion of his merits. I can think it possi- 
ble that his marked originality, and his incisive and sometimes a 
little unjust criticisms of Linné, should have made him singular 
among the botanists of his time, who, almost with one consent, 
paid homage to the Swedish luminary, while he withheld it. 
Then, again, his curious tabulated placing of generic characters, 
which were, after all, short and imperfect; and also his too free 
adoption of Oriental and otherwise objectionable names, all may 
have conspired to overshadow merits which, I think, were very 
considerable. Perhaps so late as the year 1821 a strongly pre- 
vailing prejudice against this author may have influenced even 
De Candolle in his practical ignoring of Nelumbo; and it has 
been left to an eminent authority of our own time, Prof. Baillon, 
to make the needful restitution. : 
Nelumbo is Ceylonese, and, for aught we know, may be older 
than even the Greek Cyamus. Its earliest appearing in Occi- 
dental scientific literature was made in 1698, in Paul Hermann’s 
beautiful work entitled Paradisus Batavus, which, although re- 
printed in 1705, is now a rare book. But this author, judging it 
to be a species of Nymphea, only cited Nelumbo as the aboriginal 
