May — Daisy. 1 6 5 



the close connection between tender human feeling and 

 this flower, which has somehow mysteriously established 

 itself. Science, of course, ignores all such associa- 

 tions, but it would be a pity, surely, to lose and forget 

 them altogether. The writer of a lively and fanciful 

 little volume, called ' La Vie des Fleurs,' is indignant 

 against men of science for their barbarity ; yet even the 

 men. of science, hard as their hearts may be, do some- 

 times wrap up a little kernel of poetry in the rough and 

 repulsive covering of their Greek erudition. They will 

 not call a pansy a pansy, but they call it viola tricolor ; 

 and some of them have fancied that viola came from 

 tov, and Xov from the heifer Io, which fed on flowers of 

 this kind. So difficult is it to shut out poetry alto- 

 gether from language, even from the language of stern 

 Science herself ! 



There are some exceptions, but the rule is that the 

 popular names for plants are either charming for some 

 sweet rustic association, or else from a direct reference 

 to the deep feelings of the human heart. I showed how 

 prettily Chaucer introduced etymology into his verse 

 with reference to ' the daisie, or els the eye of the day ; ' 

 and the rustic name 'buttercup/ which explains itself 

 without analysis, is redolent of the dairy and the farm. 

 The common French name, bonton d y or, has reference 

 to the flower in the bud ; the English one, to the flower 

 full-blown. And now think of the learned name, Ra- 

 nunculus acris ; how disagreeably it grates upon the ear! 

 The popular name hits at once upon what is agreeable 

 in the plant, — its pretty yellow color; the scientific one 



