The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-01-13
erries with them in outrageous woods from

berries with them in outrageous woods from
morn till deWy eve, and not professor
shocked in the whole Faculty; but we must
not sit down with them to an intellectual
dinner of herbs and listen, in their company
to the pedantic terms and childish classified.
tions of botany in which kindred properties
are ignored. Only the male student must be
told in public that fox-glove is Digitois
purpureG in the improved nomenclature of
science. and the crow-foot is Ranunculus
sceleratus, and the buckbean is Menydntbes
triloliata, and the mugwort is Artemesia it,
dacia; and having lost the properties of hys-
sop, know to Solomon, we regain our superb
ority over that learned Hebrew by christen-
ing it Gratiela o6tcinaSs. The sexes must
not be taught In one room to discard such
ugly and inexpensive terms as snow-drop,
meadow-sweet, fevertew, hearts ease. cowslip,
ct c., and learn to know the cowslip as Veris
by class, pentdndriG mOn0gynla; and the
buuttercup as Acris, p0lydndrtd nlOnOgynid;
snowdrop as Galanthus nioGtiS, Hecdndrid
non0qunia; and the meadow-sweet as Una
ria; the hearts ease as Viola tricolOr; and
the daisy as Bells perennaS, Syngenesid
supereua."
"Well," said Wizard, 81 think the individ-
ual names can only hurt the jaws and other
organs of speech. But the classications
the natural disposition of young women to-
ward polyandria monogynia? Is trigamy to
be identified in their sweet souls with floral
innocence, and their victims sitting by?'
"Such classifications are puerile and fanci-
full" said Miss Gale; "but for that very Iea-
son they don't infect animals with trigamy
Novels are much more likely to do that
Especially ladies' novels" suggested Viz
ard, meekly.
"Some," suggested the accurate Rhoda.
"But the sexes will never lose either morals
or dellcacy through courses of botany endured
together. 1t will not hurt young ladies bit
to tell them in the presence of young gentle
men that cabbage is a thalamiforal exogen,
aud its stamens are tetradvnamous, nor that
the mushroom, PsGllidtG cdmpestris, and the
toad-stool, My@nd Canapestris, are confound-
ed by this science in one class, CrgptOganaid.
1t will not even hurt them to be told that the
properties of the drum maculatum are little
known, but that the males are crowded
round the center of the spadix, and the
females seated at the base"
Said Wizard, pompously, "The pulpit and
the tea table are centers of similar phenom-
ena. Now think of it, the pulpit is a very
fair calyx, but the tea table is sadly squat"
eyes, Sir. But more than that: not one
of these pedants who growled at promiscuous
botany has once objected to promiscuous
dancing, not even with the gentleman's arm
round the ladies' wasts-which the custom
of centuries cannot render decent. Yet the
professors of deicacy conhive, and the Moth
er Geese sit smirking at the wall Oh, world
of hypocrites and humbugs!'
81 am afraid you are an upsetter generap'
said Wizard. "But you are abominably sin.
cere, and all this is curious chapter of hui.
man nature. Pray proceed"
Miss Gale nodded gravely, and resumed;
so much public ridicule fell on the union
for this and the blind funkyism which could
believe the Queen had meddled in the detail
that the professors melted under it, and
threw open botany and natural history to us
with other collateral sciences.
Then came the great fight which is not
ended yet"
TO BE Continued