434 ' AizoiDES. [May, 



Theodore Gaza translated the Greek aei^wov, four centuries ago, 

 is as exact a rendering of the original as can possibly be given. 

 The English term everliving, or everlasting, is also a sufficient 

 equivalent of either aei^oiov or aizoon or sempey^vivum. Biller- 

 beck, in his 'Flora Classica/ p. 114, writes thus, in reference to 

 Aizoon : — aei^wov is derived (leitet man) from aei,da\e<i tcov 

 ^vWcov, wherefore (wesshalb Gaza es durch) Gaza named it Sem- 

 pervivum. With deference to these learned men, it is hereby 

 submitted that aizoon is rather formed or derived from aet, sem- 

 per or always, and ^wo?, ^wa, ^coov, living ; or, in Latin, vivus, viva, 

 vivum; and the adjectives are in these languages respectively 

 derivations of ^aoa or ^w, I live, and Latin, vivo, I live. This 

 derivation is preferred, because more expressive of a distinguish- 

 ing characteristic of the plant. Many plants are evergreen, 

 which is the proper rendering of aetdake'^, but few plants are 

 gifted with such tenacity of life as is common in the plants 

 called Sedum, Crassula, and Sempervivum ; for aizoon has been 

 applied to some species belonging to all these genera. Thus 

 far J. B.^s presumption coincides with the view as above stated. 

 His next question is, " But is it nothing more than a singular 

 coincidence that the only two plants to which this specific 

 (name) is given, so far as I am aware, viz. Draha aizoides and 

 Saxifraga' aizoides, have both yellow petals ? " This question is 

 not quite so easily solved as the first one, about which there 

 cannot be the slightest difference of opinion among etymolo- 

 gists, though they may have but a smattering of this rather 

 obscure science. The term aizoides means ' like an Aizoon,' and 

 consequently we should first ascertain what Aizoon is, in order 

 that we may have some apprehension of Aizoon-like plants, or 

 plants resembling the Aizoon. In the first place, it may be 

 taken for granted, — that is, a fact which may be assumed, — that 

 there is no plant mentioned in the writings of the most ancient 

 botanists more easily identified than this plant, called Aizoon by 

 Pliny, aeiil^coov by Theophrastus and Dioscorides, and Kpivavde- 

 fjLov €771 ra>v ocKcov (^vofievov by Hippocrates. This assumption 

 Avill be readily conceded by those who are best acquainted with 

 the history of plants from the earlier ages, down through the 

 Latin period of rule, through the middle ages, and the centuries 

 that have elapsed since the revival of both letters and science; 

 that is the literature and science of the ancients. It is the House- 



