AND CLASSIFICATION. 17 
can appreciate better the application of this no- 
menclature, because we have something corre- 
sponding to it in the vernacular. We have, for 
instance, one name for all the Oaks, but we call 
the different kinds Swamp Oak, Red Oak, White 
Oak, Chestnut Oak, ete. So Linneus, in his 
botanical nomenclature, called all the Oaks by 
the generic name Quercus, (characterizing them 
by their fruit, the acorn, common to all,) and 
qualified them as Quercus bicolor, Quercus 
yubra, Quercus alba, Quercus castanea, etc., 
etc. His nomenclature, being so easy of ap- 
plication, became at once exceedingly popular, 
and made him the great scientific legislator of 
his century. He insisted on Latin names, be- 
cause, if every naturalist shoud use his own 
language, it must lead to great confusion, and 
this Latin nomenclature of double significance 
was adopted by all. Another advantage of this 
binominal Latin nomenclature consists in pre- 
venting the confusion frequently arising from 
the use of the same name to designate different 
animals in different parts of the world, —as, for 
instance, the name of Robin, used in America to 
designate a bird of the Thrush family, which is en- 
tirely different from the Robin of the Old World, 
one of the warblers,— or of different names for 
the same animal, as Perch or Chogset or Burgall 
for our Cunner. Nothing is more to be depre- 
B 
