Dates of Elliott's Sketch 



By John Hendley Barnhart 



In 1816 Stephen Elliott began the publication of "A Sketch 

 of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia," now recognized as 

 a classic among works relating to North American botany. It 

 appeared in parts, the title-pages of the two volumes bearing only 

 the dates of their completion, 182 1 and 1824 respectively. In 

 deciding questions of priority, it is highly important to know the 

 exact date of publication of every botanical work in which new 

 names are used, and it is my intention in this contribution to col- 

 late the known facts and the probabilities relating to the actual 

 dates of the different portions of Elliott's Sketch. 



Many references to this subject are to be found in recent litera- 

 ture, but without exception these seem to be based upon two brief 

 notices by Asa Gray, which appeared in January and May, 1877, 

 in the American Journal of Science and Arts, of which Gray was 

 at that time the botanical editor. As the first of these contains 

 several inaccuracies, and the second, if carefully compared with the 

 first, corrects some of these ; and as the second note has evidently 

 been overlooked by some persons who have noticed the first, it 

 may be well here to reprint them both in full. 



The first note (Am. Journ. Sci. III. 13: 81. Ja. 1877) * s as 

 follows : 



" Date of Publication of Elliott's Botany of South Carolina and 

 Georgia. — The title-page of the first volume bears the date of 1821. 

 But it is well known that the work was issued in parts, and that 

 the publication began much earlier. The actual time of issue 

 becomes important in respect to the priority of certain generic and 

 specific names, notably those in Nuttall's Genera, published in 

 18 1 8. Contrary to the testimony of the title-pages, it is generally 

 understood that Elliott's names of Podostigma and Acerates have 

 priority over Nuttall's Stylandra and Auantherix. To avoid future 

 trouble it is desirable to put upon record such evidence upon the 

 point as is now obtainable. The only printed testimony yet me 

 with is in the Reliquiae Baldivinianae, the correspondence o 

 Dr. Wm. Baldwin (Elliott's ablest collaborator), lovingly edited 



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