THE YIEXXA CODE 233 



THE VIENNA CODE. 



[In the course of a review (Torreya, 1919, 214-6; 1919) of 

 Hitchcock and Standley's Flora of Columbia, Dr. Britton attacks 

 the constitution of the Vienna Botanical Congress, at which " the 

 so-called International Code " of botanic nomenclature was adopted. 

 In a footnote to the account of the Cray Herbarium Expedition to 

 Nova Scotia (1920) which Mr. M. L. Fernald is publishing in 

 Bhodora (May, pp. 10b'-7), he defends the constitution of the 

 Congress against Dr. Britton's attack ; the analysis which he gives 

 seems of sufficient interest to justify reprinting, especially as, so far 

 as we know, no similar analysis has hitherto been published. — Ed. 



JOUKN. BOT.] 



" Dr. Britton . . . refers to the International Rules of Botanical 

 Nomenclature as ' forced down the throats of the Vienna Botanical 

 Congress by a German majority, and further manipulated by the 

 same majority at the Brussels Congress,' while the American Code 

 ' cuts out autocracy. 1 



" Such remarks from one of the original Commissioners who 

 organized the Vienna Congress, but who has treated the rulings of its 

 tremendous international majority as ' a scrap of paper,' must seem 

 like a huge joke to anyone familiar with the methods by which the 

 American Code originated. The Nomenclatorial Congress at Vienna 

 was presided over by Flahaut, of Montpellier (although Dr. Britton 

 had nominated von VVettstein), with Briquet, of Geneva, as rapporteur 

 general (certainly neither of them Germans). There were 39 Com- 

 missioners : 4 of them from Germany, 3 from Austria and 2 from 

 Hungary ; while the remaining 30 were from non-German countries 

 (1 from Uruguay, 2 from Belgium, 1 from Spain and Portugal, 

 4 from the United States, 4 from France, 4 from the British Empire, 

 2 from Holland, 3 from Italy, 4 from Russia, 1 from Sweden, and 

 4 from Switzerland) ; surely not a German majority. Nineteen 

 authors of formally proposed motions were present, each with a single 

 vote : 7 of them from Germany, Austria and Hungary, the remaining 

 12 from the United States, Switzerland, Russia, Norway, Italy, Great 

 Britain and France; again not a German majority. Forty-five 

 botanical institutions, each with a single vote, were represented : 

 (3 German, 5 Austrian, 2 Hungarian (total 13) ; while the remaining 

 32 votes came from the following countries : Belgium 1, Denmark 1, 

 United States 10, F ranee 3, Great Britain 2, Holland 2, Italy 5, 

 Norway 1, Russia 1, Sweden 3, and Switzerland 3 (total 32, opposed 

 to 13); again not a German majority ! Seventy-two societies and 

 academies had delegates with a total of 135 votes distributed as 

 follows : Oermany 23, Austria 9, Hungary 3 (total 35 out of 135), 

 not an overwhelming German majority ; Belgium 3, Denmark 3, 

 Spain 4, United States 18, France 29 (more than Germany !), Great 

 Britain 12, Holland 9, Italy 4, Norway 1, Russia 6, Sweden 2, and 

 Switzerland 9 (total 100). 



" Article 20 of the International Rules, recognizing noinina con- 

 servatida (Art. 1 7fer of the Texte Synoptique voted upon at Vienna l, 

 the Article so offensive to certain Americans, was adopted at Vienna 



