30 Rhodora [Marcu 
With the expansion of the subject the difficulty of agreement on 
these exceptions has increased and some recent writers have been 
disposed at times to criticise rather harshly the earlier botanists for 
making any exceptions whatever. It should be noticed, however, 
that even the more strenuous of these reformers themselves admit 
certain exceptions. ‘They have found it necessary, for instance, to 
fix initial dates, and to rule out certain names as too vague in their 
definition or too uncouth in their form to be accepted. 
Ideas as to the best mode of establishing rules or reaching a general 
agreement regarding the necessary exceptions to the bald principle 
of priority have differed widely and given rise to lively controversy. 
To some it has seemed best to devise an ideal system and then, with- 
out much reference to the wishes or convenience of their colleagues, 
to apply it in local publication. The idea of such writers has been, 
if we understand it rightly, that a system of rules if devised with 
sufficient care would ultimately gain adherence and be recognized 
as worthy of general adoption. . 
'To the vast majority, however, it has been clear that the subject 
was a broad one involving much mutual sacrifice before the now 
divergent usages at different botanical centres could be brought into 
harmony. It was also decidedly an international question. If our 
Latin botanical nomenclature has any real significance it is that 
botanists of remote regions and different nations may have a common 
technical language. It was therefore evident that rules devised in 
one country stood exceedingly little chance of adoption in others and 
that the whole question could be settled only by a patient effort at 
international understanding. 
In this way uniformity can be attained gradually. In the first 
place it should be possible to reach agreement on some of the more 
obvious rules, upon such in fact as are sufficiently evident in the pres- 
ent state of botanical classification to make not only their need of 
settlement but the particular way in which they should be decided, 
clear to the majority of systematists of different nations. If such 
general principles can be decided and the majority of botanists con- 
vinced of their fairness, much will have been accomplished. Atten- 
tion can then be turned to minor details on which opinions are still 
widely divergent, and, as each successive matter reaches such clear- 
ness as to make its solution possible by international agreement, it 
can then be taken up and decided by subsequent international gather- 
ings. 
