The modifications of the external aspects of organic nature produced by man's interference / by George Rolleston.

  • George Rolleston
Date:
1880
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The modifications of the external aspects of organic nature produced by man's interference / by George Rolleston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    I must not leave the subject of the Scotch fir without rectify- ing an error relating to it which various writers,* from the time of Cmsar’s Greek translator down to those of Evelyn and of myself inclusively, have fallen into when writing about it. Julius Cmsar, in an olten-quoted and as often mistranslated passage,f says of Britain, ‘‘Materia cujusque generis, ut in Gallia, est prseter fagum atque ahieteniand these ^vords are ordinarily taken to mean, “ There is wood of all kinds to be found in Britain, as in Gaul, except the beech and the fir.” Poor old Planudes of course blundered, as a Constantinople monk of the fourteenth century was sure to blunder, “ reaping,” as Mr. Philip Smith has remarked apropos of his edition of the Anthology, “ the reward which often crowns the labours of bad editors who undertake great works;” and the words of Julius appear, 1. c., in the following Greek dress: irdv el8o<i Be BevBpov Trap’ avrol<;, a}<i ev rfj VaXarla nfXgv (prj'yov re koX '7revK7]<;, cfiverai. Evelyn, speaking of the fir (p. 139, 1. c.), uses the following words: “ which with this so common tree (the beech) the great Caesar denies to be found in Britain; .... but certainly from a grand mistake, or rather, for that he had not travelled much up into the country.” Hasted (Z. c.), in 1771, translates the words thus: “ This island has every kind of tree the same as Gaul except the fir and the beech. Some scholars hold still that this is the right way of translating the words. But my friend Mr. J. P. Muirhead, the author of the Life of James Watt, pointed out to me that prseter, in the language of Julius, does by no means always mean except, but means sometimes simply besides. Eor example, when $ Ariovistus stipulates that Caesar and he should meet and confer on horseback, each bringing ten assessors with him, Caesar’s words run thus; “ Ariovistus, ut ex equis colloquerentur, et prseter se, denos ut * Planudes fl. 1327 a.d. See p. 46 of Appendix to Cambridge edition of Csesar’s Works, 1706. Evelyn, ‘ Silva, a Discourse of Forest Trees delivered in tho Royal Society, Oct. 19, 1662,’ Ed. Hunter, 1776, p. 139. Hasted, ‘Phil. Trans.,’ vol. Ixi., for year 1771, pt. 2, 1772, p. 166. De Candolle, ‘ Geogr. Botanique,’ pp. 154, 689. 1855. Johns, ‘ Forest Trees of Great Britain,’ p. 42. Rolleston in ‘ British Barrows,’ p. 72*^724. To do myself justice, I did not err so widely as my companions in this matter. I was as ignorant of Latin as they; but I accused Julius of only one blunder, while they accused him of two. If I had really believed that “ Caesar doth not wrong but with good cause ” it woidd have been better for me. As it was I made a poorish “explanation” for Julius as regarded the ahies, but confessed that I felt some doubt as to tho accm’acy of his statement as to the beech. t De Bello Gallico, v. 12. X Ib., i. 43.
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