INTRODUCTION. CI 



result. The organised vocabulary is a 

 work of art in aid of science, as trulv as 

 a telescope or a microscope is. It extends 

 the reach of man's powers beyond their 

 natural compass. No such labour has been 

 devoted to the vernacular names ; nay, 

 the very attention g-iven to a central list 

 has drawn off from their share and tended 

 to depress them. The central list has been 

 nourished at their expense. As the im- 

 memorial oak attains its gigantic size not 

 without sacrifice of the humbler under- 

 growth, so the universal plant-list has 

 taken tribute and toll from native lists and 

 thereby suppressed their vigour. 



And besides these there is yet a third 

 manner in which the native plant-lists 

 have been deteriorated by the growth of 

 a central nomenclature. Tiie above causes 

 were in the nature of things inevitable, and 

 therefore the more to be acquiesced in ; 

 this one seems less so, and therefore is the 

 more tantalising. I speak of the gratuitous 

 rejection of good native names in favour 

 of some Latin name, through mere contempt 

 for homely things and affectation of 



