vinal COMMON MISTAKES IN NATURAL HISTORY 381 



Over one-third of the pupils in our schools when using the term 

 "flower" are thinking of a "a flowering plant." Such plants are 

 ordinarily grown for their blossoms. The first four answers show 

 such a use. Early English writers made a similar use. Shakes- 

 peare, 1593, in Lucrece (p. 870) mentioned that "unwholesome 

 weeds take root with precious flowers" and Milton in Paradise 

 Lost (XI, p. 273) wrote, "O flours that never will in other climate 

 grow." In a popular way when we mention flowers we think of 

 the colored (not green) parts and do not say flower when the 

 petals are absent as in the pussy willow. A corolla and calyx 

 are not necessary. Botanically we should think of the flower as 

 a means for reproduction. The children should be taught that 

 garden vegetables, weeds, and grass are flowering plants. They 

 should think of the flower as a "seed-maker" and not as an orna- 

 ment just meant for us. 



Where do Plants Occur? 



Plants do not merely sprout from the ground. They may be 



found in the ocean breakers, on the backs of shell-fish, in clear 



ponds and on rocky cliffs, on the roofs of all houses and in every 



room below, on the leaves of trees and on their roots in the ground. 



Use the Words Sitting, Setting, Laying and Lying in 

 Reference to a Hen. 



Many will no doubt sympathize with the farmer who told the 

 Boston School teacher that he didn't give a darn whether the hen 

 was sitting or setting but when she cackled he wanted to know 

 whether she was laying or lying. To set means to cause to sit. 

 It is correct to say that he is setting the sitting hen on a sitting of 

 eggs. Setting hen or a setting of eggs is incorrect. There is 

 such an animal as a setting dog. To lay means to cause to lie. 

 Hens lay eggs. 



What is an Animal? 



The meaning of the word animal has had rather a checkered 

 career. Bishop Gawin Gouglas in his translation of Virgil's 

 Aeneid (1513) wrote "Undyr animal beyn contenyt allmankynd, 

 beist, byrd, fowel, fisch, serpent, and all other sik thingis." The 

 word itself originates from the Latin meaning breath of life or 

 anything living. It was hardly in the English before the end of 

 the 16th Century. It was not used in the Bible in 1611. In 

 1875, Helps, Animals and Masters (iii, 53) says that "When I 



