68 THE MAMMALS OF BRITAIN 



of calling the Ibises ' Gannets/ had I not gone to the pond, I might 

 have written this day that Gannets are found in the interior of the 

 woods in the Floridas, that they alight on trees, &c., which, if once 

 published, would, in all probability, have gone down to future 

 times, through the medium of compilers, and all, perhaps, without 

 acknowledgement." — Orn. Biogr., vol. iii., p. 132. With a view to 

 prove that names once given should not be altered, it has been said 

 that " the use of names is, in fact, nothing more than a kind of 

 memoria technica (artificial memory), by means of which, in writing 

 or speaking, the idea of an object is suggested, without the inconve- 

 nience of a lengthened descrijition." And this is the very reason 

 why names should be as perfect as possible ; otherwise they will 

 not be "■ artificial helps'^ to the memory, but artificial hindrances to 

 the naturalist. The practice of changing names without sufficient 

 reason, ought certainly to be avoided and condemned, for the very 

 same reason that the doctrine adduced by some persons, that there 

 should be no change, should also be denounced, as alike calculated 

 to retard the progress of science. The blind opposition which has 

 been manifested by some on this subject, will be found, in the end, 

 to defeat its own object ; and the anti-reformers will find out, when 

 too late, that they have been but instruments in accelerating, in- 

 stead of retarding, the great cause of imj)rovement. 



The nomenclature of Mammalogy is formed on the same princi- 

 ples as that of Ornithology, and indeed the same code will hold 

 throughout the animal kingdom. Every new discovery either con- 

 firms or displaces some of the names, specific, generic, sectional, or 

 even family, in connection with the newly-discovered object ; and 

 till all the objects in nature are known, and their affinities under- 

 stood, there can never be a perfect system of nomenclature. No- 

 menclature will progress in proportion as our knowledge progresses ; 

 and man might as well attempt to prevent the earth from revolving 

 in its appointed course, as try to stop either the one or the other. 



It has been said that it would be impossible to find vernacular 

 names for every object in ornithology, to say nothing of other 

 classes of nature. This is tantamount to admitting the English 

 language to be infinitely inferior to the Latin in terms ; for, if a 

 certain number of names can be found in the one, why should not 

 the other be capable of yielding their equivalents. However, 

 " where there is a will there is a way ;" let the opposers acquire 

 the former, and I will pledge myself they shall not be deficient in 

 the latter. 



The arrangement adopted in the list of Mammals will be on the 



