flowers, S.
979, 984, 985, under the general name of Humifusa, and to distinguish them
by a third epithet, which I allow myself when in difficulties, thus:

V. Humifusa, caerulea, the beautiful blue one, which resembles
Spicata.
V. Humifusa, officinalis, and,
V. Humifusa, hirsuta: the last seems to me extremely interesting, and I
hope to find it and study it carefully.

By this arrangement we shall have only twenty-one species to remember: the
one which chiefly decorates the ground again dividing into the above three.

6. These matters being set right, I pass to the business in hand, which is
to define as far as possible the subtle relations between the Veronicas and
Draconidae, and again between these and the tribe at present called labiate.
In my classification above, vol. i, p. 200, the Draconidae include the
Nightshades; but this was an oversight. Atropa belongs properly to the
following class, Moiridae; and my Draconids are intended to include only the
two great families of Personate and Ringent flowers, which in some degree
resemble the head of an animal: the representative one being what we call
'snapdragon,' but the French, careless of its snapping power, 'calf's
muzzle'--"Muflier, muflande, or muffle de Veau."--Rousseau, 'Lettres,' p.
19.

7. As I examine his careful and sensible plates of it, I chance also on a
bit of his text, which, extremely wise and generally useful, I translate
forthwith:--

"I understand, my dear, that one is vexed to take so much trouble without
learning the names of the plants one examines; but I confess to you in good
faith that it never entered into my plan to spare you this little chagrin.
One pretends that Botany is nothing but a science of words, which only
exercises the memory, and only teaches how to give plants names. For me, I
know _no_ rational study which is only a science of words: and to which of
the two, I pray you, shall I grant the name of botanist,--to him who knows
how to spit out a name or a phrase at the sight of a plant, without knowing
anything of its structure, or to him who, knowing that structure very well,
is ignorant nevertheless of the very arbitrary name that one gives to the
plant in such and such a country? If we only gave to your children an
amusing occupation, we should miss the best half of our purpose, which is,
in amusing them, to exercise their intelligence and accustom them to
attention. Before teaching them to name what th