PHILOLOGICAL INQUIRIES. 507 



huge, winged, fiery ferpent. Its names are : Gt. jfw", G, 

 drac/j, Yi.draak, S.draie, Vr. dragon, K. dracon^W. draii^y 

 &c. ]a.J}rio; Qh. lum ; which all mean fire. Its figure 

 was alio adopted on armorials and military ftandards — both 

 render its exiftence probable.* Amphibious animals of 

 inland waters muft difappear with thefe : thus tribes of 

 waterlhakes and lizards may be gone ; and the dreadful 



crocodile will alfo depart Large land quadrupeds de- 



creafe faft as men increafe, becaufe they cannot hide frora 

 them nor find fufficient food. In new countries, us great 

 parts of America, extindions may be recent ; and confc- 

 quently many undecayed reliques may be found. 



Old names for woods difcover their former extent, and 

 the progrefs of human fettlements.-f- Names that fignify 

 fpecies of trees, fhrubs, and plants, Ihow the former places 

 of fuch. Vegetables of remarkable properties were gene- 

 rally named accordingly at an early period : in fome cafes 

 the knowledge of fuch is loft ; but may be recovered by 

 exploring the names. Refleding from this principle on 

 the many plants in feveral languages that imply qualities 

 both for preferring and reftoring health, I often with with 

 a figh, that fanatical and inhuman medical theorifts would 

 confiilt fimple country people, nay favages ! for my part 

 I infinitely prefer the Indian fcver-bujlo to the arfenic ague 

 dropy and all the chemiftry of corrofive minerals. 



It was a general and very ancient cuflom to diftinguifh 



the feafons by their influence on animals and vegetables j 



3 U 2 comparifon 



* See Duhalde on the Chinefe modes The Roman enllgns were called 



drucnnarlt from bearing the fer-ventes dracones Keifler has in his travels 



I. vol. p. 32, copied a recorded flight of a monftrous dragon over Lucerne 

 in Svvizerland in May 1499: draco igneut imtnan'ifpecie, patulis aurilus, craffi- 

 dudhie vilu/i, loii^'itut'ine oclo cuhitorum. 



f Europe was a wildemels not long ago : Csfar defcribes the vaft Ardu- 

 enna in the north of Gaul, and the Hcrcmian foreft that covered great part 



of Germany Camden records that the Andiefnjualdm England had been 



1 30 miles long, and 30 wide Within 600 years the north and fouth- 



diftrids of Sweden were called nordan-mid Junnan-Jlog ; a proof that land and 

 wood were almoft die fame — G. 'ujald, a wood : Hu.fold, land : Pole (wlicnce 

 Poland) denotes many things, as hunting grounds. 



