PRONGUNCINGS DLCTION AR Y 
OY THE 
ORDINAL, GENERIC, AND SPECIFIC NAMES GIVEN IN 
TES WORK: 
By the Rev. PHRCY W. MYLES, B.A. T.C.D., 
Senior Moderator and Gold Medallist of the University of Dublin, Se. 
HE pronunciation of the scientific names of plants is, at present, in the same chaotic 
state in which their synonymy was until many specialists (such as Messrs. B. Daydon 
Jackson, J. Britten, and others) undertook to reduce it to some kind of order. 
Synonymy has been brought under settled rules; but pronunciation is still quite 
anarchic; ‘‘every man does that which is right in his own eyes.” ‘Take, for example, 
the two common garden genera, Gladiolus and Clematis; the name of each is_pro- 
nounced in three quite different ways: in neither case is there any doubt whatever 
about the true pronunciation, and yet those who adopt it are in a very small minority 
indeed. The way in which many gardeners make havoc of the names of plants has 
been a frequent subject of satire with philologists and other writers: Dr. Peile, the new 
Master of Christ’s College, Cambridge, gives some amusing instances of this in his works 
on Philology. But the gardeners have not been altogether to blame in this matter; they 
have had no accessible authority to consult, and accordigly have been free to exercise 
their own individual ingenuity (or eccentricity) im each case. 
In the Pronouncing Dictionary now offered to the public an attempt has been made 
to supply some such standard of reference as is urgently needed. As it is the first 
“essay” in the English language (and, as far as we know, in any language) to fully 
examine the whole question on first principles, and afford information on all points 
Vol. IV. 2N 
