l62 ASPLENIUM TRICIIOMANES. ENGLISH MAIDEN-HAIR. 



to belong to the genus which he looked upon as the true Asple- 

 nias, he accordingly classed the two together, and retained 

 the former proper name of our plant as its specific appellation. 

 This explains why the specific name in Asplcuium Trichomaucs, 

 which stands in place of an adjective, is written with a capital. 

 As a rule, of course, all specific names are written with a small 

 letter ; but this rule . suffers an exception whenever the specific 

 is a proper name, or is derived from one. 



The reason for applying the term TricJiomaucs, or soft hair, 

 to our plant, does not seem to be clearly established. Modern 

 authors find in this term an allusion to the delicate, black, 

 shining stipes (or stalks). But an old writer seems to derive it 

 from the small, hard, black, fibrous or thready roots ; and he 

 makes this all the more probable by the manner in which he 

 speaks of the True Maiden-Hair. This, he says, " has a root 

 which consists of a number of blackish-brown fibres or threads, 

 from whence springs up a small, low herb, not above a span 

 high, whose stalks are smaller, finer, redder, and more shining 

 than those of the Trichomancsr 



Asplaiium, as we have seen, is likewise an old name, and used 

 to be applied to a class of plants which were held to be specifics 

 in diseases of the spleen. In bygone times the shape of a leaf 

 was believed to indicate its usefulness. Thus a heart-shaped 

 leaf was supposed to be a curative in heart diseases ; one that 

 was kidney-shaped, in diseases of the kidneys ; and the fact that 

 the segments of the fronds of some of these ferns somewhat 

 resembled the shape of the spleen, seems to have been the only 

 reason for ascribing to them their presumed medicinal virtues. 

 A very slender foundation, no doubt ! Still, these things were 

 as firmly believed by our forefathers as other medical matters 

 are believed by ourselves, and perhaps with no more reason. 

 Dr. Prior quotes an old writer as saying that, " if the asse be 

 oppressed with melancholy, he eates of this herbe, Asplenion or 

 Miltwaste, and so eases himself of the swelling of the spleen." 

 He also quotes the Roman architect Vitruvius, who, in the 



