INTRODUCTION 1 9 



intimate with Lettsom, who began his medical 

 work under Fothergill, and like him, spent many- 

 pleasant hours in writing to Humphry Marshall 

 and John Bartram in Pennsylvania. Lettsom 

 had a genus (Lettsomia) named after him. I 

 had the good fortune to find in Whitechapel 

 High Street, London, a little druggist's shop 

 where " Lettsom's Pills " are still sold, and the 

 proprietor gave me one of the original advertise- 

 ments, which he had found on a street vendor's 

 barrow one Saturday night, also allowing me to 

 get a picture of Lettsom's house near London 

 from an old engraving hanging in his back 

 parlor. 



The English names at this time crowd fast, and 

 folios of retrospective writing would not do them 

 justice; so, leaving the pioneers, I pass on to a 

 curious field of inquiry — the personal nomen- 

 clature of plants. 



Distinct epochs of thought concerning the pre- 

 eminence of tutelar gods, the merits of sovereigns 

 and saints and scientists in the mind of botanists, 

 can be traced in plant nomenclature. Narcissus 

 and Hyacinth are dear and familiar. Of Nar- 

 cissus, son of Cephissus and Lirope of Boeotia, 

 it was foretold that he should live happily until 

 he saw his own face. One day, heated with hunt- 

 ing, he came to drink at a stream and saw his own 

 reflection. After this he pined away and was 



