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BOOK NOTICES. 



Our author is even more unfortunate with the less evident etymologies. On 

 the first page under Acanthium we read, ' Lat., acanthus, the name of a thorny 

 Egyptian plant. Onoperdon acanthium is probably named after it, on account of 

 the prickles on the leaves.' In which three lines we have three distinct errors, and 

 the meaning or derivation of Acanthium (from acus, a needle) is not even attempted! 

 The same, on page 6, with regard to Aconitum — we are told it is from the 

 S Greek akoniton, a ranunculaceous plant, greatly used in medical practice, and 

 very poisonous,' without any indication of the probable etymology, which is 

 classical, according to Pliny deduced from Acone, a district in Pontus famous for 

 poisonous herbs — 'loco ubi nascitur'; whilst other old writers have suggested that 

 it is essentially the same word as Conium, a variant of it preceded by the alpha. 

 Again, on page 7, we have the painful shuffle-off instead of an explanation — 

 ' Aizoides {i-zei-dees) — oidcs in all words = like; resembling aiz,' i.e., resembling 

 ' always ' — a muddle for which ' amateurs ' would be no better even if they looked 

 for the meaning of an 'ait' in their Greek dictionary ! Will it be news useful for 

 a 2nd edition (?) if we point out that the specific name aizoides is that of a Draba 

 as well as a Saxifrage, and was bestowed upon the former because of its compactly 

 rosetted tufts of ciliated hard-margined leaves, resembling those of Saxifraga 

 Aizoon ; whilst both it and the Saxifrage with the same specific name derive that 

 appellation — essentially a contracted form of aizoon-oides — from Aizoon, the Greek 

 term for the evergreen Houseleek (a genus of the Ficoidese has the same name, and is 

 also evergreen), the word being compounded of del., always, and faou alive, such as 

 we have it in zoology, the rosette even of the Draba, along with the leaves of both 

 Saxifrages, persisting throughout the winter. Again, to tell us that Lemna — the 

 Duckweed inseparably associated with ponds, is 'probably connected with the 

 island Lemnos,' when on the opposite page the Greek limne — of which it is a 

 variant, the substitution of ' e ' for ' i ' occurring in many other words of old Greek— is 

 correctly given as meaning a pond (as in Limnaa a pond'snail) is wild work 

 indeed ; but to pass over the very curious and interesting derivation of Lapsana, 

 or more correctly Lampsana, the Nipplewort, as if the fact of its being ' of 

 Grecian origin ' was quite enough to know, is inexcusable except on one not very 

 flattering supposition. 



The method tried of expressing pronunciation is, perhaps, less faulty, although 

 somewhat grotesque, and in a few instances either insufficient or wrong. We have 

 examples of both mistakes in the direction to pronounce Rhynchospora, ' rhine-co- 

 spor-rah ' ; Ranunculus, ' ray-nun-q-lus ' ; Serotina, ' se-ro-ti-nah ' {not, by-the-bye, 

 from ' sero, I scatter,' as we are actually told, but simply the Latin word for late — 

 i.e., late-blooming, as in Bartsia serotina, the autumn-flowering form) ; ustulati, 

 ' us-teu-lay-ti ' (should be ustulata) ; truly, from Latin ustulatus, burnt — e.g., Carex 

 ustulata, the glumes of which are of a burnt-brown hue, and Orchis ustulata, the 

 perianth of which has a similarly brown colour as if scorched, but not at all, as we 

 are informed, on account of ' having a hot, burning taste ' ! Nor are the names 

 Aquilina, Aster, Aristolochia, Bufonius, Ochroleucum, Rosa, Trolhus (fancifully 

 named by Linnaeus after the wicked yellow-haired Scanian trolls or gnomes, 

 supposed to haunt the water-sides and cascades by which it loves to grow) 

 pronounced ' aquel-ly-nah,' 4 astir,' ' a-riste-loc-ke-ah,' ' boo-foe-ne-us,' 'ok-crow- 

 lew-cum,' 'roe-sah,' ' trole-le-us,' respectively! More than all, we are told 

 that the specific name torminalis of an austere-fruited, wild sort of Pear (Pyrus) 

 derives its name from ' tormina, dysentery, for which illness ' the tree ' was thought 

 to be a remedy,' whereas the meaning of torminalis given in our Latin dictionaries 

 as 'causing the gripes,' points at once to the origin of the application to the colic 

 producing fruit, without the necessity for any fanciful or false supposition at all. 

 A still more ridiculous theory is under Centunculus — a name anciently connected 

 with the Cudweeds, Gnaphalium {vide Turner, etc., 1548) — twisted into having an 

 applicability to the minute Primulaceous Chaffweed whose inconspicuous ' crimson 

 blossoms ' are declared to make ' the little plant look like a piece of patch-work ' : 

 fancy could no further go, but a poet, whatever the strength of his imagination, 

 clearly misses his vocation in the scientific role of an expounder of etymology. 



The foregoing samples are not odd errors picked out of this little book for the 

 purpose of conveying an unwarrantable impression — they are but selections at 

 random almost from many dozens that could be cited ; indeed we do not remember 

 having ever seen in a work of its size so many astounding postulates so c onfidently 

 advanced as ascertained truths. Naturalist 



3 AUG 1886 



