200 REVIEWS. 



That is to say, the evil of a redundancy of botanical names is 

 to be overcome by making more, some of them avowedly need- 

 less ; and innocent names are to suffer, lest bad ones should 

 become notorious by being discarded without company. For 

 it apj)ears that the diabolical names to be sent to their own 

 place in this reform are not discarded because they are 

 cacophonous, although that is the common charge, but because 

 they are immoral. Of the two evils to be dealt with, the first 

 is simply a superfluity of Latin names ; the second, and the 

 worse, a superfluity of naughtiness. As Mr. Ruskin forcibly 

 puts it : — 



" The second, and a much more serious one, is of the devil's 

 own contriving (and, remember, I am always quite serious 

 when I speak of the devil), namely, — that the most current 

 and authoritative names are apt to be founded on some un- 

 clean or debasing association, so that to interpret them is to 

 defile the reader's mind." 



This reminds us of the fine lady who thanked Dr. Johnson 

 for omitting indelicate words from his dictionary, to whom the 

 blunt moralist rejoined : " I perceive, madam, that you have 

 been looking for them." Now, if the case be really as it is 

 represented, the sound practical axiom, " Quieta non movere," 

 would seem to suggest the proper treatment ; for his purposes, 

 one would think the Latin and Greek names might be left 

 untranslated ; and the reform might begin, and end, with the 

 popular English names, — almost the only ones the author 

 may need to use, — some of which are coarse and vulgar 

 enough. Indeed, as to botanical generic names, far from find- 

 ing any confirmation of Mr. Ruskin's sweeping charges, we 

 can recall barely one or two the translation or etymology of 

 which would be embarrassing at the parlor-table. Moreover, 

 if the following passages really refer to " nomenclature " 

 (though terminology seems to be meant), our author, upon his 

 own showing, need not waste his time in the endeavor to 

 reform it : — 



" The mass of useless nomenclature, now mistaken for sci- 

 ence, will fall away, as the husk of a poppy falls from th(^ 

 bursting flower. . . . When the science becomes approxi- 



