METHODS FOR PROVING ORIGIN OF SPECIES.^ 23 







that of Nemnich, published in 1793. 1 I have another in 

 manuscript which is yet more complete, drawn up in 

 our library by an old pupil of mine, Moritzi, by means of 

 floras and of several books of travel written by botanists. 

 There are, besides, dictionaries of the names of the species 

 in given countries or in some special language. This kind 

 of glossary does not often contain explanations of etymo- 

 logy ; but in spite of what Hehn 2 may say, a naturalist 

 possessed of an ordinary general education can recognize 

 the connection or the fundamental diiferences between 

 certain names in different languages, and need not con- 

 found modern with ancient languages. It is not necessary 

 to be initiated into the mysteries of suffixes or affixes, 

 of dentals and labials. No doubt the researches of a 

 philologist into etymologies are more profound and valu- 

 able, but this is rarely necessary when our researches 

 have to do with cultivated plants. Other sciences are 

 more useful, especially that of botany ; and philologists 

 are more often deficient in these than naturalists are 

 deficient in philology, for the very evident reason that 

 more place is given to languages than to natural history 

 in general education. It appears to me, moreover, that 

 philologists, notably those who are occupied with San- 

 skrit, are always too eager to find the etymology of 

 every name. They do not allow sufficiently for human 

 stupidity, which has in all time given rise to absurd 

 words, without any real basis, and derived only from 

 error or superstition. 



The filiation of modern European tongues is known 

 to every one. That of ancient languages has, for more 

 than half a century, been the object of important labours. 

 Of these I cannot here give even a brief notice. It is 

 sufficient to recall that all modern European languages 

 are derived from the speech of the Western Aryans, who 

 came from Asia, with the exception of Basque (derived 

 from the Iberian language), Finnish, Turkish, and Hun- 



1 Nemnich, Allgemeines polyglotten-Lexicon der Naturgeschichte, 2 vols 

 in 4to. 



2 Hehn, Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihren Uebergang aus Asien, 

 in 8vo, 3rd edit. 1877. 



