THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
81 
any amount of self-esteem — that he studied plants, too. He 
gained his information, he said, from Dr. Gunn's book. These 
houses, with few exceptions, are rarely without this book, often 
the only one they have. It is considered infallible, and the 
plants are identified by the plates in the book, — with what de- 
gree of correctness one can imagine. To them a plant stands 
for a remedy for asthma, rheumatism, croup, etc. They were 
quite disgusted that the medicinal properties of plants formed 
no part of my studies, for if so, "I might be doing some good." 
In their gardens they cultivated thyme, lavender, saffron and 
many old English herbs. 
( To he concluded. ) 
SOMETHING ABOUT NAMES. 
BY DR. WM. WHITMAN BAILEY. 
r^O not tremble, gentle reader, this is not to be an article 
upon the vexed and vexing question of nomenclature. 
No, it is to string together some thoughts as to ''what's in a 
name?" If a botanical one, a good deal, sometimes in letters — 
like Mesembryanthemum^ in which there are sixteen; some- 
times in meaning, which may be wholly erroneous or indefinite, 
as Menyaanthes and many others. 
A misapplied vernacular name, like honey-suckle to azalea 
or columbine, gives one a distinct shiver. He has a milder 
tremor when he hears Maianthemum Canadense called Solo- 
mon's-seal. Surely it is forgery if not lese majeste, to misuse 
the sign manual of the wise old King — of him who could con- 
fine a genie in a beer bottle! Now, there is a significance 
really pretty in that name when applied to either species of 
Polygoiiatum. Their rhizomes, by the falling off of a shoot, 
are marked by a succession of stamp-like scars, as of the im- 
pression of a seal on wax. The smilacinas and maianths do 
not show these, or if so, in less degree. 
