1859.] "thorns" not '^^ thistles." 269 



summer Mr. Oxenden noted twenty-seven plants of it between 

 Charing on the west, and Walmer on the east. 



M. T. M. 



" THORNS " NOT " THISTLES." 



I find that your esteemed correspondent S. B. still clings to 

 the idea- that the 'thorns' of the parable of the Sower are 'thistles.' 

 I am sorry that he is so hard to be convinced. His original 

 authority of Turner's ' Herbal' is supported by a marginal note 

 in a Bible printed a.d. 1595. Surely, these two isolated autho- 

 rities do not outweigh the general consent of all scholars and 

 translators as regards the true interpretation of the original 

 word. Would S. B. translate dicavOai, 'thistles,' in all other 

 passages where the word occurs ? If not, he is not consistent. 

 Or, why should this passage be singled out for givdng the word' 

 an unusual translation; especially when it does, not in the slight- 

 est degree assist in simplifying the meaning ? When it is borne 

 in mind that the note to which S. B. refers in support of an 

 altered translation of the passage, saw the light just twelve years 

 before forty-seven of the most learned men in England com- 

 menced the great task of giving to the world our authorized 

 version of the Scriptures, and tliat the proposed emendation, of 

 ' thistles ' for ' thorns' was not accepted by them, we may surely 

 gather that they regarded it as of little or no value. Should 

 S. B. still uphold the translation proposed by Turner, of course 

 he is welcome to his opinion, only he must not expect many fol- 

 lowers. 



My reference to Lady Calcott's Herbal was simply to answer 

 your correspondent's query, ' Whether the Prunus spinosa grows 

 in Palestine.' I did not mean, in attempting an ansv/er, to pro- 

 nounce any opinion as to the particular species of Thorns spoken 

 of in the parable of the Sower. 



Even friendly controversy (and I trust the pages of the ' Phy- 

 tologist' is open to none other) is an awkward business. In 

 the present case it has caused me and my good friend the Editor 

 very innocently to fall foul of one another. In fact he has been 

 caught napping: "Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus." In saying 

 that " our common Whitethorn, Crataegus Oxyacantha, is perhaps 



