122 SCIENTIFIC NAMES FORM. 



piecemeal, and it is in this pai-t of the work that help will be most 

 needed. We must begin with a little elementary information. 



In inflectional languages most of the words consist of two parts, (1) 

 that which contains the root-idea or ideas, which is called the stem, and 

 may itself be composed of more than one part, and (2) a termination, 

 which has generally no meaning apart from the stem to which it is 

 affixed. The termination may consist of one or more letters or syllables. 

 An important rule is, that in all cases the stem of all the derivatives 

 from any word should contain the true root of that word, which is some- 

 times not obvious. To illustrate what is meant, we wiU take the word 

 chroma, the nominative case of a Greek word meaning " colour." The 

 true root of this word is cliromat-, the f having boon di-opi^ed from the 

 nominative case, and when the Greeks -cashed to form a derivative from 

 it, they would always nse the true root as a stem ; bo they obtained 

 chromai-icos, " relating to colour," from which we get chromatic, and we have 

 also achromatism and chromato(jraphy. These are correctly formed, but 

 when Yauquelin, in 1797, discovered a new metal, the compounds of 

 which were remarkable for their varied colours, ho called it chrovuuvi 

 instead of chromatium, as it should bo. Moi-e recently the coloured 

 envelope of the sun has been called the chromosphere; it otight to be 

 chromatosphere, and the reader may recoUecttho outcry which was raised 

 against the word on this account at its first introduction. The generic 

 name, Stromatopora, fi-om stroma, is an instance of correct formation in a 

 similar case. In the two instances just given the misformed words are 

 firmly established, and a change is not only improbable, but perhaps not 

 even desirable. But this is by no means a reason for forming fresh words 

 incorrectly, and there are cases where two modes of spelling exist, when 

 it becomes a question which should be prefei'red. Thus, there is a 

 botanical genus Poi-tulaca ; of this word Portulac- is the stem, and -acea 

 is the termination used to denote the whole assemblage of plants of 

 which Portulaca is the type, consequently this Natural Order should be 

 called Portulac-ace83. In Balfour and the London catalogue this is done, 

 but Bcntham and Babington give the title as Portulacete, the second ac 

 having been dropped. There is another genus Dipsaciis, of which Dipsac- 

 is the stem ; its Natural Order should, therefore, be Dipsac-aceos, and it 

 is so given by Balfour and Babington, but the other two authorities unite 

 in writing it Dipsacero. I am aware that there exists a possible explana- 

 tion of this anomaly, in supposing the termination in these cases to be 

 only -ece, but it ought certainly to be -acctp, and the explanation ■will not 

 apply to the following case. The Natural Order cftntaiuiug Berberia 

 should be named Berberid-acea3, because the stem of the fonuer word ia 

 Berbcrid-, as is seen in the analogous oases of Orchidacero from Orchis, 

 Iridaceaa from Iris, and many others. Here Balfour, Babington, and 

 Bentham agrco in using the true stem, but the London catalogue gives 

 Borberaceai. It is a case of " doctors disagi'eciug," but a knowledge of 

 the principles undorljdng these instances will enable the student to 

 " decide" which doctor it would be bettor to follow. The tendency ia 

 evidently to drop syllables which seem to be supoi-fluous. There is a 

 cui-iouB instance of this in a branch of science, in which brevity of nomon- 



