LINDLEYS VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
305 
end of writing is to be understood, and a sys- 
tem to be generally useful must be plain and 
intelligible to the mass, as well as to those 
who deeply study. The Linncean system, up 
to a certain point, would be understood by 
most people, but even botanists themselves 
found great difficulty in referring many novel- 
ties to a distinct class and order. The Natural 
System will hardly be learned in a lifetime ; 
but Mrs. Loudon's notions on this subject 
were excellent. It was that lady's plan of 
teaching to study one order only, and to con- 
tinue studying that one in all its bearings, 
until we became master of it, and then proceed 
to another, so that indifferent persons, instead 
of being disheartened by the apparent quantity 
of study required to obtain even a superficial 
knowledge of all, might be delighted with 
their search alter plants of the order they 
were studying, and become well acquainted 
with the subject they had in hand, so that in 
studying the natural orders, persons totally 
unacquainted with botany would be encouraged 
by this single-handed study to proceed. The 
worst thing a young student has to encounter 
is the jargon of botanical names, and Professor 
Lindley has really done good service by suggest- 
ing improvement in these matters. He says : — 
" No one who has had experience in the 
progress of Botany, as a science, can doubt 
that it has been more impeded in this country 
by the repulsive appearance of the names 
which it employs, than by any other cause 
whatever ; and that, in fact, this circumstance 
has proved an invincible obstacle to its be- 
coming the serious occupation of those who 
are unacquainted with the learned languages, 
or who, being acquainted with them, are 
fastidious about euphony, and Greek or Latin 
purity. So strongly has the Author become 
impressed with the truth of this view, that on 
several occasions he has endeavoured to sub- 
stitute English names for the Latin or Greek 
compounds by which the genera of plants are 
distinguished. Upon turning over the late 
volumes of the Botanical Register many such 
instances will be found, in imitation of the 
well-known and usual English words, Hounds- 
tongue, Loosestrife, Bugloss, Soapwort, Hare- 
bell, &c. He cannot, however, boast of any 
success in these feeble attempts at reforming 
a great evil ; nor, perhaps, ought he to have 
expected it. If such English names are not 
universally adopted, it is to be suspected that 
the circumstance i3 traceable to the indifference 
of the public to partial and inconsiderable 
changes, which are unseen in the ocean of 
Botanical nomenclature. That they are im- 
portant must be admitted ; that the person 
most careless as to the difficulties of articula- 
tion would prefer to speak of a Fringe-Myrtle 
rather than of a Chameclaucium, or of aGrit- 
47 
berry than of a Comarostaphylis, will probably 
be allowed on all hands ; and therefore xhe 
Author does not confess discouragement at 
failure ; but would rather invite suggestions 
as to more probable means of success. Mere 
translation is neither necessary nor desirable 
in all cases. Many Latin names have, from 
custom, been adopted into the English language, 
and no wisdom would be shown in attempting 
to alter such words as Dahlia, Crocus, Ixia, 
or even Orchis. Others again are so easily 
sounded, and so much in harmony with the 
English tongue, that nothing could be gained 
by interfering with them ; such as Pemea, 
Hugonia, Parkia, Mimosa, Arbutus, &c. And, 
finally, there is a large class of scientific words 
which are best Englished by an alteration of 
their foreign terminations ; for example, Me- 
lanthium may be changed to Melanth; Des- 
manthus to Uesmanth ; Lecythis to Lecyth ; 
Myrospermum to Myrosperm ; and such an 
alteration would at once possess the great 
advantage of rendering English plural termi- 
nations possible. Melanthiums, Desmanthuses, 
Lecythises, &c, sound offensively to classical 
ears ; Melanthia, Desmanthi, Leeythides, are, 
if not pedantic, at least beyond the skill of 
uneducated readers ; but Desmanths, Melanths, 
and Lecyths, are formed by the ordinary 
ringlish plural termination without difficulty." 
There can be no question but that the more 
points we can bring to guide us, in the classi- 
fication of plants, the more likely we are to be 
correct ; and we can trace the advantage of 
the Natural System, in observing the most 
ignorant gardener guessing at the family of a 
new plant not in flower. Not that he may be 
right ; but we, nevertheless, see him turning 
over the leaf, examining the stem, noticing 
every point, and, in some cases deciding, at 
least in his own mind, that it is like, or unlike, 
what he has seen before. He may be right in 
the family to which he assigns it, if his memory 
be good, or the plant indicates strongly by its 
habit to which it belongs ; whereas, if he 
depended entirely on the flower, he must wait 
until he obtains that evidence, and would not 
trouble himself to look at the foliage or stem. 
The very man who is, perhaps, thus practically 
showing the advantage of a well-arranged 
Natural System, would, if he were asked, re- 
pudiate it altogether ; though he shows, by 
his own acts, that he is in want of it. The 
more points, then, that we are acquainted with 
the better ; and the more we are taught to 
apply the most trilling features in the con- 
struction of a plant, to judge of its family, the 
less dependent are we upon the seasons, or the 
state of the subject we examine. Let us then 
consider in what manner we are to appropriate 
our knowledge of the organs of a plant, and 
its habit and peculiarities. In judging of the 
