418 General Notices. 



and other branches of natural history may be made a valuable part of a 

 villager's education ; but, if that is to happen, natural history must wear an 

 English dress. If it be of no importance to any one beyond the unlearned 

 tliat plants should have English names, it is to theji ; and for them, at least, 

 the battle is worth fighting. 



Some perception of this necessity has evidently been felt, though uncon- 

 sciously, even by those among whom are to be found the most uncompro- 

 mising opponents of an English terminology. Dkotyhdones, ExogeiifP, 

 Cri/ptogamcE, have already settled down as Dicotyledons, Exogens and 

 Cryptogams, just as Mollusca, Pachydtrmata and Mammalia, have become 

 Mollusks, Pachyderms, and Mammals. Men now talk of Conifers instead 

 of ComfercE, and of Orchids instead of OrclddacccR or Orchidere. It is clear, 

 therefore, that the current of opinion is setting steadily in a better direction ; 

 and there is no reason why it should move so slowly. 



The view of this question taken by " Nomenclator," p. 421, will probably 

 prove to be the most generally acceptable. In the main he agrees with our- 

 selves, but he pushes his fear of translated names nmch further. Conced- 

 ing, as Ave fully do, that to translate into English the technical names of 

 genera is upon tlie whole inexpedient as a rule, and to be avoided where 

 possible, we cannot admit tliat the objection to it rests upon any other 

 ground than that of inconvenience. English compound names are as fit for 

 scientific purposes as Greek and Latin ones ; but they cannot form part of 

 that universal language which the convenience of science? requires ; and 

 therefore they are inadmissible when foreigners have to be communicated 

 with ; and moreover, as we have already stated, they entail upon men of 

 science the necessity of remembering two names instead of one, which is 

 inconvenient when some hundred thousand such names have to be recol- 

 lected. These are weighty reasons, and we admit their force ; but we 

 recognize no other reason. " Nomenclator's" translation of Moth-face is 

 surely as agreeable a name as Phalanopsis, although Moth-orchis would 

 have been before ; and Ave see little force in Mr. Owen's objections, if rest- 

 ing upon no bettor ground than a bungling ?m's- translation of Dendrodus 

 into Shrub-tooth. We may laugh at the absurdity, just as Ave should at 

 translating Oncidium cacum into Blind Hookey, as a facetious friend sug- 

 gests ; but such follies can form no part of a serious argument. We repeat, 

 then, that Ave give up the translation of scientific proper names, because of 

 the inconvenience, and for no other reason. 



That is, howcA-er, no reason why Ave should not employ pure English 

 names Avherever Ave can Avithout incurring tliat inconvenience ; and Ave 

 decline to acknowledge the propriety of" calling a Qiiercus or a Fagus by 

 any other name than those of Oak and Beech. BtlUs must be Daisy, Del- 

 plnniwn Larkspur, Aconitum Monkshood, Ranunculus CroAvfoot, JugJans 

 Walnut, Canja Hickory, and Taraxacum Dandelion, as long as the English 

 tongue endures ; and foreigners must learn the meaning of such Avords just as 

 they learn the meaning of other Avords. It is quite as reasonable for us to 

 say to a foreigner, " you, for our convenience, must learn tliat WilloAv is the 

 English for Salix," as for him to say that Ave must know Salix to be the 



