WAYSIDE WEEDS 205 



his plant. The odds seemed very heavy against me, 

 so I said to Mrs. G. in German (too many people 

 know French) : " If you can't make the plant out, call 

 any Latin name you like, and I'll swear that it's 

 correct : the man knows nothing about Botany." Mrs. 

 G. was shocked, as a lady ought to be, at this 

 unscrupulous suggestion. " Ich hatte eine bessere 

 Meinung von Ihnen, Herr Professor ! " she answered 

 reproachfully. " Surely," I said, " a gentleman may 

 perjure himself to save a lady's botanical reputation." 

 " And his own vasculum ! " she rejoined. 



Meanwhile the geologist had picked his plant. 

 When I saw what he was bringing, I knew that my 

 vasculum was safe ; opposite leaves, square stem, 

 swollen nodes, spinous calyx : Mrs. G. will never miss 

 those tangible characters. And so it was ; as soon as 

 her fingers touched the plant, she said, " Galeopsis 

 Tetrahit ! " The members of the Natural History 

 Society were surprised and delighted ; but Mr. G. took 

 it as a matter of course, for he regarded his wife as a 

 sort of sorceress who could perform almost any 

 miracle. If she had taken her shadow off the 



ground and proceeded 

 to fold it up, he would 

 simply have felt in his 

 pocket for a piece of 

 string to tie round 

 the parcel. As for 

 that geological hammer, 

 is it not used in our 

 house for breaking 

 coal, even unto this 



VASCULUM AND HAMMER. 



