432 



NATURE 



[June 2, 192 1 



landfalls believed they had reached India; those 

 who stayed at home sometimes mistook West 

 Indian for East Indian products. The "gallo- 

 pavo" [Meleagris gallopavo) came to Europe in 

 1541. Its French popular names— " dindon " and 

 " dinde " — leave open the question of origin ; the 

 English popular name "turkey-cock" indicates a 

 belief that the bird came from the East. The 

 French do not, however, claim greater perspicacity 

 because of this ; when " maize " (Zea Mays) first 

 appeared they termed this cereal "ble de 

 Turquie " ; we, with fortuitous caution, used the 

 non-committal name "Indian corn." 



One undoubtedly western introduction attributed 

 to Chang-kien is " hwan Ian" {Carthamus tinc- 

 iorius). The biography of the general and the 

 annals of the Han contain nothing to this effect, 

 and this introduction cannot antedate Tsin times 

 (200—400 A.D.). This plant, which was unknown 

 to classical writers, is the Arabic " kurtum " ; its 

 dried flowers, the Arabic " usfur," came to medieval 

 Europe under the Italian trade-names "asfiore" 

 and "saffiore," our "saflflower." The Chinese 

 confused this product with "yii-kin," our 

 "saffron," the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus ; 

 the two were colloquially termed "hun hwa " 

 ( = red flower). One of the uses of the dried 

 flowers of "hwan Ian" provided the plant with 

 the alternative name "yen-chi," and thus led to 

 its confusion with an indigenous "yen-chi" 

 (Basella rubra), tinctorial in all its parts. Matters 

 were further complicated by the existence of 

 Mt. Yenchi and by the homophony of the Chinese 

 name "yen-chi" ( = cosmetic) with the Hiun-nu 

 word "yen-chi" ( = royal consort). It is scarcely 

 surprising that Chinese disquisitions on "yen- 

 chi " are more remarkable for their graceful style 

 than for their historical accuracy. 



The natural history of European economic 

 products supplies problems equally compli- 

 cated. The Greeks gave (TKopTriovpov, th- 

 inflorescence of which is circinal, the alterna- 

 tive name i7XioTpo7r«oi' because it ^ flowers at 

 the summer solstice. They distinguished two 

 sorts of i7XioTpo7rioi' — TO ixeya, found in dry situa- 

 tions, and TO fiiKpov, confined to damp places. 

 No Greek text asserts that the blossoms of 

 o-KopTTiovpov o]:)en only in brii^ht sunshine or follow 

 the sun from morn until eve. In spite of this 

 some Latin authors regard Heliotropium as one 

 of the "helioscopia," while others include it 

 among the "solsequia." The Aramaic equivalent 

 of rjXLOTpoiTLov is either " .<?omar yauma " (^day 

 turning) or " smar yauma" ( = day-turned), 

 so that in Syria the plant identified with 



that of the Greeks was one which the 

 Romans, at least, would have included among 

 their "solsequia." Arab naturalists identified 

 "somar yauma" with the "tharanchul" of Anda- 

 lusia. This Spanish "tornesol" [Chrozophora 

 tinctoria) was in 1554 identified by Amatus Lusi- 

 tanus with T^AtoTpoTrio;/ to p-iya-; in 1557 Clusius 

 decided that it was ^AioTpoTriov to fiiKpov. 



While our earliest records of Chrozophora tinc- 

 toria thus happen to be Iberian, Languedoc is the 

 only region in which the economic product of the 

 plant was ever systematically exploited. The 

 Spanish name "tornesol" may therefore be, as 

 we know the French name " tournesol " certainly 

 is, only a local variant of the Provencal word 

 "tornesola." Tournefort tells us that what we 

 now know as Chrozophora tinctoria is the plant 

 ex qua paratur Tournesol gallorum ( = litmus) as 

 contrasted with "Tournesol lusitanorum " 

 ( = cochineal). Pomet informs us that of the three 

 distinct kinds of " French tournesol " known to 

 commerce in the seventeenth century, only that 

 termed "tournesol en drapeau " was prepared 

 from this plant. The French te.rm "tournesol," 

 like the Chinese term "yen-chi," is therefore 

 primarily the name of a commercial article collo- 

 quially transferred to the plant which yields it. 

 I he identification of "tornesol" with ^XioTpoTriov, 

 propounded by two distinguished scholar- 

 naturalists, teaches us that scholarship may prove 

 as imperfect an instrument in solving problems 

 connected with the history of cultivated plants 

 and products as Laufer has found botany to be. 

 Though both names are capable of conveying the 

 same meaning, historical research shows that here 

 " tournesol " involves a poetic comparison of the 

 colour-change of an alterable dye with the hues of 

 dawn and sunset, while T^XioTpoTrtov supplies a 

 prosaic intimation as to the season of the year at 

 which a particular plant blossoms. 



The difficulties which beset the conscientious 

 study of European cultivated plants justify the 

 remark made by T. Johnson in 1633 that "those 

 that vulgarly impose names upon plants have little 

 either judgment or knowledge of them." If the 

 task of the historian of Chinese plants and pro- 

 ducts be less troublesome, this should lend support 

 to the conclusion of Laufer in 1919 that "the 

 Chinese were thinking, sensible and broad-minded 

 people." However this may be, economic botanists 

 of all nationalities will join to the penitence they 

 feel for those shortcomings on their part which 

 Laufer so unsparingly condemns a lively grati- 

 tude for the fund of information supplied by him 

 in " Sino-iranica." 



Obituary. 



Prof. E. J. Mills, F.R.S. 

 T\R. EDMUND JAMES MILLS, formerly pro- 

 -L^ fessor of technical chemistry in the West of 

 Scotland Technical College, Glasgow, who died 

 on April 21, was born in London on December 8, 

 1840. He received his early education at the 

 NO. 2692, VOL. 107] 



Grammar School, Cheltenham, and later at the 

 Royal School of Mines, London. The chemical 

 instruction for students at the School of Mines 

 was in those days given at the Royal College of 

 Chemistry in Oxford Street, and there Mills 

 worked during the later 'fifties, having as a fellow 



