GENERAL SYSTEMATIC BACTERIOLOGY 113 



B. INTERNATIONAL RULES OF BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE 



On the following pages the botanical code (or international rules) 

 as revised by the Brussels International Botanical Congress of 1910, 

 is given in detail. In some cases the discussions given in the original 

 rules under the heading of Examples, has been abbreviated, as many of 

 the examples deal with problems not faced by the bacteriologist. In 

 certain cases rules and recommendations have been omitted for the 

 same reason. A paragraph headed "Comments" is added in many 

 cases to point out certain applications in the field of bacteriology'. In 

 some cases comparisons with similar or antagonistic provisions in the 

 zoological code are made. It will be evident as one studies these rules 

 that the botanical code was drafted with the vascular plants in mind 

 and most of the illustrations in consequence have been drawn from this 

 field. However, it has been emphasized previously that a study of the 

 various provisions will show that with but few exceptions they are 

 equally applicable to the conditions which confront the bacteriologist. 



Chapter I. General considerations and leading principles 



Article 1. Natural history can make no progress without a regular system of 

 nomenclature, which is recognized and used by the great majority of naturalists 

 in all countries. 



Comment. Apparently about 900 names have been proposed by vari- 

 ous authors for genera and higher groups of bacteria up to 1924. Several 

 thousand species have been named. However, it is probable that not 

 one species in ten has been adequately described or named. It is 

 evident that unless an effort is made to follow some system that the same 

 name will be applied to many different kinds of bacteria, and many 

 names to a single kind. 



Article 2. The prescriptions which govern the exact system of botanical 

 nomenclature are divided into principles, rules and recommendations. The prin- 

 ciples (art. 1-9, 10-14 and 15-18) are the foundation of the rules and recommen- 

 dations. The rules (art. 10-58), destined to put in order the nomenclature which 

 has bequeathed to us, and to form the basis for the future, are always retroactive : 

 names or forms of nomenclature which are contrary to a rule cannot be main- 

 tained. Recommendations bear on secondary points, their object being to ensure 

 for the future a greater uniformity and clearness in nomenclature ; names or forms 

 of nomenclature contrary to a recommendation are not a model to copy, but 

 cannot be rejected. 



Article 3. The rules of nomenclature should neither be arbitrary nor imposed 

 by authority. They must be simple and founded on considerations clear and 

 forcible enough for everyone to comprehend and be disposed to accept. 



