xxiv LETTERS OP WILLIAM GRIFPlTtl 



Xanthochymus not being Guttiferous. The other arguments are 



sound,. is like all the rest, withholds information if a friend 



or acquaintance is severely handled ; the remark will delight all 

 working Botanists as it does me. If similar remarks were more fre- 

 quent, the disease would be remedied. Jenkins tired of Indian names 



of plants, has at last got, ....to promise, I have warned him not to 



be too sanguine, and not to place too much reliance on his names. 

 The mania for naming, appears to me curious : philosophical Zoolo- 

 gists have come to the conclusion that no object ought to be named 

 without its character being given at the same time, and not only 

 this, that its true station in its circle, is to be demonstrated. 

 Now a Botanist will look over his herbary and then name : there 

 will be no cogitation etc. a dash of the pen will do it. Captain Jenkins 

 is a staunch friend, and I owe him much, but he must be quite aware 

 of the impossibility of a young Indian Botanist being sure as to 

 what has been described, or what has not. 



P. S Cabul, July 24 ! I arrived here on the 5th, I am nearly as 



strong as ever, but had no idea I should have been so long regain- 

 ing my strength, I leave for the Hindoo Koosli in 2 or 3 days. 

 The climate is delightful, I am now in a fine orchard, under the 

 shade of apple trees loaded with fruit. The thermometer in a tent 

 rises from 54^^ to 84<^ Fahr., what a contrast with India. Nothing 

 new in the Botanical line, but I was here almost at the same sea- 

 son last year, my illness has thrown me back much, and the neglect 

 of my servants sent to collect, still more. 



Meerut: March 30, 1841. 



On my arrival here in progress to Calcutta, I found yours of the 

 2Ut Dec Your printed paper and letter, and my diploma as mem- 

 ber of the Imperial Academy Naturae Curiosorum. I have read 

 the Cucurbitaceae paper over attentively. I cannot refer to my own 

 notes on the order ; but I am quite sure that your idea never occured 

 to me. The laws of carpellary formation are so constant, that I am 

 unwilling to believe any real contradiction : those laws are the most 

 palpiible of all botancial laws. My own idea is, that Cucurbitaceous 

 fruits are formed somewhat as Arnott describes. I have been studying 



