COMMENTARY. 71 



tajt^ljes,, ca(tp,logueSj and dictionaries arranged according to 

 alphabeibi^al order. It is very inconvenient, for instancCj 

 that several generic names beginning by E should have been 

 altered into He, on account of a hard accent in Greek. 

 Such names must be looked for in two different partft 

 of the tables. Greek accents varying with the dialectj 

 we do not see why we should be more rigorous than the 

 Greeks themselves. Changing names that are well known 

 under a certaia autograph offers inconvenience likewise. 

 At the Botanical Congress held in London in 1866, it was 

 proposed to mo^dify the name of Cinchona on the ground 

 that the genus , had been dedicated to Countess Chinchon, 

 but the majority of the botanists present were of opinion 

 that the already established custom was to be maintained. 

 Gundelia is very far from Gundelsheimer ; but as ancient 

 botanists have allowed themselves this licence, which is now 

 consecrated by a hundred years' habitual use, why change 

 it ? Purists have only to forget Gundelsheimer, and to ac- 

 cept the name of GwndeUa for an arbitrary one. In these 

 kinds of questions, it must be borne in mind, first, that the 

 fixity, of names is of superior importance ; secondly, that a 

 botanist has the right to construct a name in any way he 

 pleases, something in the form of a man's name, for in- 

 stance. 



Vulgar names, above all in barbarous tongues, are fre- 

 quently uncertain, and the manner of spelling them is often- 

 tim.es doubtful. When turned into scientific names, no- 

 thing can be easier than to subject them to alteration under 

 pretence of rigorous precision. Coffea, for instance, might 

 become Oovea, . Oavea, Caufea, etc., according to the idea 

 you may have of the spelling of the Arab word. It fre- 

 quently happens that the same property exists- in several 

 nearly allied species, whence the same name has been given 

 to them by different tribes. A botanist attributes the name 

 to one of those species ; no matter, else we might be per- 

 petually contending and changing. 



67. It is desirable that the use of Latin should be main- 

 tained in botany for descriptions, and more especially for 



