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genus of the oldest specific name, or, more generally, the absolute 
principle of the right of priority. In order that the nomenclature 
may be invariable and universally accepted it must rest upon fixed 
principles whose application is not subject in any way to arbitrary 
judgment; thus we should adhere without exception in the case 
of each genus or species as De Candolle had established it, to the 
name first in date, even where this name has been recognized as 
improper and in contradiction with such and such characters of 
the object or group to which it is applied. Generic or specific 
names are in fact only designations and not definitions, and if it is 
admitted that they may be changed because improper, the door is 
opened to arbitrary action, each author interpreting differently the 
propriety or impropriety of a name.” 
I have been engaged for over fourteen years, as time would 
permit, upon the bibliography and synonymy of fossil plants, and 
hope ultimately to publish a complete catalogue of all the names 
that have ever been given to the extinct vegetation of the globe, 
fully exposing the confusion referred to and adhering strictly in 
the final revision to the law of priority. 
Inasmuch as the representative character of the Botanical Club 
of the American Association has been called in question, it is of 
interest to know that some of the opponents of the Rochester 
movement formerly thought otherwise, as is seen by the following 
extract from the Proceedings of the Washington Botanical Club 
of May 7, 1892, which were published in the Botanical Gazette 
for June, 1892. These resolutions were duly signed by each mem- 
ber of the committee and are preserved in the minutes of the Club. 
“Ata meeting of the Botanical Club of Washington, held 
April 23, 1892, a committee was appointed to consider and report 
upon the questions of botanical congress and nomenclature. Ata 
special meeting called May 7, this committee presented the fol- 
lowing report, which was unanimously adopted by the Club: 
* Your committee, appointed to consider the questions of a botanical congress 
and botanical nou:enclature, held a meeting on the second of May and prepared the 
following resolutions : 
“Resolved, That, while favoring the final settlement of disputed questions by 
means of an international congress, we do not regard the present as an opportune 
time, but we recommend the reference of the question of plant nomenclature first to a 
representative body of American botanists. 
