Names That Mislead

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 30, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 41.

Names That Mislead.

THE Providence Journal calls attention to some curiosities of misnomer. Black lead is not lead at all, but a compound of carbon and a small quantity of iron. Brazilian grass never grew in Brazil, and is not grass; it is nothing but strips of palm-leaf. Burgundy pitch is not pitch, and does not come from Burgundy; the greater part of it is resin and palm oil. Catgut is made from the entrails of sheep. Cuttle bone is not bone, but a kind of chalk once inclosed in the fossil remains of extinct specimens of cuttle-fish. German silver was not invented in Germany, and does not contain a particle of silver. Cleopatra's Needle was not erected by the Egyptian Queen, nor in her honor. Pompey's pillar has no historical connection with Pompey in any way. Sealing wax does not contain a particle of wax, but is composed of Venice of turpentine, shellac, and cinnabar. The tube-rose is no rose, but a species of polyanthus. The strawberry is no berry, but only a succulent receptacle. Turkish baths did not originate in Turkey, and are not baths, but heated chambers. Whale-bone is not bone, and is said not to possess a single property of bone.