INTRODUCTION. 
Vll 
Any opposite opinions that exist as to the relative value of ver- 
nacular and scientific names seem to arise out of a misconception of 
the use of both. There is not, and there cannot he, any real antag- 
onism between them ; and it Avould be quite impossible to substitute 
one for the other. Science is cosmopolitan, and must have a universal 
language, intelligible to the scientific students of all countries, hence 
the necessity of the systematic Latin nomenclature that has been 
agreed upon and adopted. To try to substitute a system of English 
nomenclature for English students is impossible. We have only to 
turn to the Index of Latin ETames with their English equivalents 
that is attached to this Dictionary to be quite sure of this. Under 
Caltlia ixdustris, for instance, we find recorded about fifty different 
English names that are, or have been, in use in various counties. 
The names vary even in different parts of the same county, some- 
times in neighbouring parishes ; and frequently the plant is absolutel}'- 
known by two or three names in the same place. Under Lychnis 
diurna we have recorded twenty-nine or thirty names ; and it is 
the same with hundreds of other plants;' indeed, it is quite the 
exception for plants to have only one English name; so it may readily 
be conceived how extremely difficult the sole use of English names 
becomes ; because any one of the vernacular names may convey 
but a very vague notion of the plant intended, or no notion at all, 
to the inhabitants of the next county, — sometimes even of the 
next parish. 
Again, if we turn to the pages of the Dictionary itself, we shall 
find that the converse takes place, and that the same English name 
is often given to a considerable number of different plants. The 
name Cuckoo-Jioiver, for instance, is given, in different counties, to at 
least ten plants, many of which are of the most opposite characters, 
habits, and aspect, but all perhaps agreeing in one respect, namely, 
that they make their appearance about the time when we first hear 
the notes of the Cuckoo in the spring. Even the familiar name 
Cowslip is by no means confined to one species ; but a reference to 
the dictionary will show that it is applied to eight or nine different 
plants ; besides all the various kinds of Cowslip that are also men- 
tioned. Uo less than twenty-one species rejoice in the name of 
