THE PRINCIPLES OP BOTANY. 
615 
classic walnut, to which Mr. R. Thompson, in the e Treasury 
of Botany, 5 refers as follows:—“ It was said that in the 
golden age, when men lived upon acorns, the gods lived upon 
walnuts, and hence the name of Juglans , Jams glans , or 
Jupiter’s nuts. The Romans called the walnut Nux persica, 
Nux regia , Nux rubcea, Jovis glans , Dijuglans , Juglans. 
Greek authors mention it under the names of Cary a , Carya 
persica , and Carya basiliki, or Royal Nut. We are not aware 
that the common English name of walnut has been satisfac¬ 
torily explained. On the contrary, we think an erroneous 
derivation has been given. Walnut, they say, is from Gaul- 
nut, presuming at the same time that the tree had been in¬ 
troduced from France into this country. But our learned 
ancestors, in their ordinary language, did not, nor did the 
common people, use the classic names of Gaul in their desig¬ 
nation of things introduced from France in comparatively 
modern times. Walnut is doubtless of German derivation. 
In that language we find it sometimes written TValnuss , 
sometimes TValschenuss ; the latter appears to have been the 
original. 
“Walsch simply means foreign; hence Walschenuss, a 
foreign nut, properly applied to the walnut, as regarded Ger¬ 
many, as well as the rest of the Continent of Europe. In 
Dutch it is called I Valnoot, and its English, Danish, and 
Swedish names are modifications of this and the original 
German term.” 
As we have before stated, the walnut grows to a noble 
tree even in Britain, though an adopted home, as many living 
examples testify in almost every English county; but there 
is reason to think that many of our best trees fell a sacrifice 
during our wars with France, on account of the high price 
commanded by the wood, which is light, while it is tough, 
and withal takes a fine polish, and therefore it has always 
been a favourite in the construction of gun-stocks. 
It is highly esteemed in cabinet work, and though, per¬ 
haps, the introduction of mahogany has tended to put walnut 
wood somewhat in the shade, it is still very highly valued as 
one of our most useful and ornamental kinds of wood. The 
fruits or nuts, in the green state, are in great repute for 
pickles and sauces, and the ripe fruit is everywhere relished 
as an addition to the dessert. With us, however, the dried 
fruits are not so much in use as on the Continent, where 
they are dried with great care; and at the Exhibition 
of 1862 some hundreds of samples of dried walnuts were 
sent from different countries, especially from Turkey and 
Greece. 
XLV. 
42 
