LINN AN REFORM IN TERMINOLOGY © 313 
show what they meant, much as we have done in the fore- 
going chapters. A good picture is certainly to be preferred 
to a description that is not understood; but a little thought 
will show that pictures, however good they may be, cannot 
solve the whole difficulty. We cannot make a picture of a 
species, but merely of a single individual; and our conception 
of a species must be our idea of the features which all its 
individuals have in common. A number of pictures of dif- 
ferent individuals might convey more of this idea, but even 
then peculiarities perceptible only by touch, taste, or smell 
could be indicated only by words. Moreover, even features 
that may be represented in a picture generally need the 
help of words to point out what especially calls for attention; 
and when species are compared and classified one arrives at 
important general ideas which cannot be pictorially expressed. 
Add to these shortcomings the greater labor and expense 
involved in publishing pictures, and it becomes evident that 
verbal means are needed. 
For centuries, as we know, all learned works were written 
in Latin; consequently, it was from this language that the 
botanical terms were primarily taken. These were often 
common words to which a meaning was attached differing 
from the ordinary one, more or less, in its application; or, 
sometimes new words had to be coined and this was fre- 
quently done by latinizing words or combinations of words 
taken from the Greek. 
As with the early attempts at forming systems of classi- 
fication, so in the development of a botanical terminology 
or technical vocabulary, different writers went about the 
matter in different ways; and such independence of action 
naturally led in this case also to a good deal of confusion. 
From this embarrassment of riches, which threatened to be 
a serious hindrance to further progress, Linneus, again, 
found the best means of practical relief, just as he did in the 
matter of classification and nomenclature. 
89. The Linnzan reform in terminology. Being thoroughly © 
familiar with the botanical writings of his predecessors, and 
endowed with a fine sense of fitness in language, Linnzeus 
was able to choose the best terms which had come into use, 
