28o INDEX I. 



competitive examination that the main element 

 of Milk is Milkine, and of Cheese, Cheesine. 

 But for the practical purposes of life, all that 

 I think it necessary for the pupil to know is 

 that in order to get either milk or cheese, he 

 must address himself to a Cow, and not to a 

 Pump; and that what a chemist can produce 

 for him out of dandelions or cocoanuts, however 

 milky or cheesy it may look, may more safely be 

 called by some name of its own. 



This distinctness of language becomes every 

 day more desirable, in the face of the refinements 

 of chemical art which now enable the ingenious 

 confectioner to meet the demands of an unscien- 

 tific person for (suppose,) a lemon drop, with a 

 mixture of nitric acid, sulphur, and stewed bones. 

 It is better, whatever the chemical identity of 

 the products may be, that each should receive 

 a distinctive epithet, and be asked for and 

 supplied, in vulgar English, and vulgar probity, 

 either as essence of lemons, or skeletons. 



I intend, therefore, — and believe that the prac- 

 tice will be found both wise and convenient, — to 

 separate in all my works on natural history 

 the terms used for vegetable products from those 

 used for animal or mineral ones, whatever may 

 be their chemical identity, or resemblance in 



