50 Country Rambles. 



fuchsia, laburnum, camellia, geranium, iris, verbena, 

 rhododendron, so that it is not a question of language 

 after all. To be consistent, these names should be left 

 to the professional man, and "English" ones be manufac- 

 tured in their place; it is clear, however, that they can 

 quite easily be learned and spoken, Latin though they 

 are, and if some can be mastered and found simple 

 enough, of course others can. Besides, what would it 

 advantage us to substitute really English names for them? 

 Nothing would be gained except a synonym, by saying, 

 as we might, "crimson-drop" instead of fuchsia, or 

 " golden-rain" instead of laburnum; while very much 

 would' be lost in precision by using a name of obscure 

 and uncertain origin, and upon which even one's own 

 neighbours might not be agreed, instead of a term fixed 

 by the great leaders in the science of botany, whose 

 judgment all respect, and which is accepted by every 

 nation of the civilised world. It is quite as necessary to 

 call plants by determinate scientific names as to call a 

 certain constellation Orion, and a certain island Spitz- 

 bergen. Botanists do not call plants by Latin names 

 simply out of pedantry, or to make their science difficult, 

 but for the sake of clearness and uniformity. None of the 

 botanical names are so hard as it is fancied; the Lan- 

 cashire botanists in humble life have no trouble with them; 

 the real difficulty is in not caring anything about the ob- 

 jects they are applied to. We do not find those who make 

 so much outcry about the Latin names particularly anxious 

 to learn the English ones either. The English names are 



