CHANGES OF NAMES. 383 



into obli\ion. It Scivoiir.s of nialignlly to 

 make his crown a crown ot thorns, and it' the 

 aj)phcation be unjust, it is truly diabohcal. 



Before I conclude the subject of nomen- 

 clature, I beg leave to ofter a few reflections 

 on changes of estabhshed names. It is ge- 

 nerally agreed among mankind that names of 

 countries, places, or things, sanctioned by 

 general use, should be sacred ; and the study 

 of natural history is, from the nmltitude of 

 objects with which it is conversant, neces- 

 sarily so encumbered with names, that stu- 

 dents require every possible assistance to fa- 

 cilitate the attainment of those names, and 

 have a just right to complain of every need-* 

 less impediment. The grateful Hollanders 

 named the island of Mauritius after the hero 

 who had established their libertv and pro- 

 sperity ; and it ill became the French, at that 

 period dead to such feelings, to change it, 

 when in their power, to /.v/c cle France, by 

 which we have in some late botanical works 

 the barbarous Latin of Insula Franc'icc. Nor 

 is it allowable to alter such names, even for 

 the better. Americo Vespucci had no very 

 great pretensions to give his own name to u 



