XI. GENEALOGY. 197 



And on their poetical associations, — as the ' Star 

 of Bethlehem ' from its imagined resemblance to 

 the light of that seen by the Magi. 



3. Now, this variety of grounds for nomencla- 

 ture might patiently, and even with advantage, be 

 permitted, provided the grounds themselves were 

 separately firm, and the inconsistency of method 

 advisedly allowed, and, in each case, justified. If 

 the histories of King Gentius and Dr. Funk are 

 indeed important branches of human knowledge ; 

 — if the Scrophulariaceae do indeed cure King's 

 Evil ; — if pinks be best described in their likeness 

 to nuts ; — and the Star of Bethlehem verily remind 

 us of Christ's Nativity, — by all means let these 

 and other such names be evermore retained. But if 

 Dr. Funk be not a person in any special manner 

 needing either stellification or florification ; if neither 

 herb nor flower can avail, more than the touch 

 of monarchs, against hereditary pain ; if it be no 

 better account of a pink to say it is nut-leaved, 

 than of a nut to say it is pink-leaved ; and if the 

 modern mind, incurious respecting the journeys of 

 wise men, has already confused, in its Bradshaw's 

 Bible, the station of Bethlehem with that of 

 Bethel* it is certainly time to take some order 

 with the partly false, partly useless, and partly 



* See Sowerby's nomenclature of the flower, vol. ix., plate 1703. 



