A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



ject of botanical nomenclature. The old method of 

 using a number of Latin words to describe each differ- 

 ent plant is obviously too cumbersome, and several 

 attempts had been made prior to the time of Linnaeus 

 to substitute simpler methods. Linnaeus himself made 

 several unsatisfactory attempts before he finally hit 

 upon his system of " trivial names," which was devel- 

 oped in his Species plantarum, and which, with some 

 minor alterations, remains in use to this day. The 

 essence of the system is the introduction of binomial 

 nomenclature that is to say, the use of two names 

 and no more to designate any single species of animal 

 or plant. The principle is quite the same as that ac- 

 cording to which in modern society a man has two 

 names, let us say, John Doe, the one designating his 

 family, the other being individual. Similarly each 

 species of animal or plant, according to the Linnaean 

 system, received a specific or " trivial" name; while 

 various species, associated according to their seeming 

 natural affinities into groups called genera, were given 

 the same generic name. Thus the generic name given 

 all members of the cat tribe being Felis, the name 

 Felis leo designates the lion ; Felis pardus, the leopard ; 

 Felis domestica, the house cat, and so on. This seems 

 perfectly simple and natural now, but to understand 

 how great a reform the binomial nomenclature in- 

 troduced we have but to consult the work of Linnaeus 's 

 predecessors. A single illustration will suffice. There 

 is, for example, a kind of grass, in referring to which 

 the naturalist anterior to Linnaeus, if he would be 

 absolutely unambiguous, was obliged to use the fol- 

 lowing descriptive formula: 



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