MISNOMER, an instance of erroneous or erratic nomenclature, often proceeding on the lucus a. non lacendo principle, as in the case of the so-called " German silver," which is not silver, was not invented or discovered by a German, and was in use in China'ages ago. Among the large number of expressions which may be called misnomers the fol lowins. are in tommon'Tise The EngliSh language: Black-lead, WhiOlt is compounded of carbon and iron; blind-wormS, WhICh are net bliml; Biaiillan erass, which is not grass, but strips of palm-loaf, and comes from Cuba and not Brazil; Burgundy pitch is not pitch, but is prepared from frankincense and comes from Hamburg; catgut is the gut of sheep, instead of cats; china, applied to porcelain, whether English, French, or of other countries; cuttle-bone, which is not bone, but a chalky deposit contained in a sac occurring in the body of the cuttic-fish; Cleopatra's needle, which was erected by Mimeses the great, and had no reference to Cleopatra; Dutch clocks, made in Germany instead of Holland; galvanized iron is not galvanized, but coated with zinc in a bath of mu•iatic acid; Gothic architecture was not the architecture of the Goths, but originated in England and France at a period prior to the renaissance; Indians (North American), applied to the aborigines of America by the early voyagers, who supposed that country to be a part of India; Irish stew, a dish unknown in Ireland; lacquer, which is made not from lac, but from a resin obtained from a nut-tree (anaeardiaeat); kid gloves, which are made of land), sheep, or rat skins; lunar caustic (nitrate of silver), so called because silver is the astrological symbol of the moon; meerschaum (foam of the sea), which is a compound of silica, magnesia, and water; pen, from the Latin penna, a wing, referring to the quill, becomes inappropriate when applied to a fabrication of steel or gold; Pompey's pillar was not erected by or in honor of Pompey; rice-paper, which is made not from rice, but from the pith of a Chinese plant of totally different character; salt, which is not chemically a salt; scuttle, applied to opening a hole in a ship, really means to close or bar; sealing-wax, which is not wax, but is composed of shellac, tur pentine, and cinnabar; slave, which originated in a word (slavi) meaning illustrious, noble; tube rose, which is not a rose; turkeys, which did not originate in Turkey, but in North America; whalebone, which is not a bone.