LINN^AN REFORM IN TERMINOLOGY 313 



show what they meant, much as we have done in the fore- 

 going chapters. A good picture is certainly to be preferred 

 tO a description that is not understood; but a httle thought 

 will show that pictures, however good they may be, cannot 

 solve the whole difficulty. We cannot make a picture of a 

 species, but merely of a single individual; and our conception 

 of a species must be our idea of the features which all its 

 individuals have in common. A number of pictures of dif- 

 ferent individuals might convey more of this idea, but even 

 then peculiarities perceptible only by touch, taste, or smell 

 could be indicated only by words. Moreover, even features 

 that may be represented in a picture generally need the 

 help of words to point out what especially calls for attention; 

 and when species are compared and classified one arrives at 

 important general ideas which cannot be pictorially expressed. 

 Add to these shortcomings the greater labor and expense 

 involved in publishing pictures, and it becomes evident that 

 verbal means are needed. 



For centuries, as we know, all learned works were written 

 in Latin; consequently, it was from this language that the 

 botanical terms were primarily taken. These were often 

 common words to which a meaning was attached differing 

 from the ordinary one, more or less, in its apphcation; or, 

 sometimes new words had to be coined and this was fre- 

 quently done by latinizing words or combinations of words 

 taken from the Greek. 



As with the early attempts at forming systems of classi- 

 fication, so in the development of a botanical terminology 

 or technical vocabulary, different writers went about the 

 matter in different ways; and such independence of action 

 naturally led in this case also to a good deal of confusion. 

 From this embarrassment of riches, which threatened to be 

 a serious hindrance to further progress, Linnaeus, again, 

 found the best means of practical relief, just as he did in the 

 matter of classification and nomenclature. 



89. The Linnaean reform in terminology. Being thoroughly 

 familiar with the botanical writings of his predecessors, and 

 endowed with a fine sense of fitness in language, Linnaeus 

 was able to choose the best terms which had come into use, 



