298 E. LEVIER [april 



to announce the publication of a fourth volume of the Revisio. With 

 an alluring title-page for readers eager for scandal, this puff is seasoned 

 with some of the tastiest specimens of the last nomenclatural creation of 

 Kuntze, aiming no longer at plants, but at botanists. The new nomen- 

 clature is codified, very simply as we shall see. There are only two 

 Articles : — 



§ 1. All those who accept the botanical names of Doctor 0. K., or 

 who accept 70 per cent of them, are honest men. 



§ 2. All those who are against the botanical names of Doctor 0. K. 

 are " ignoramuses," " pettifoggers," " confusionists," " liars " 

 (Liigner), " infamous forgers," " downright idiots " (" senile " 

 and soft-headed), "Jesuits," " sheepsheads," that is to say 

 " imbeciles," " idiots " ; better than that, " jugglers," " harle- 

 quins," " swindlers," " pickpockets," " dangerous quacks," 

 " bullies," and above all " anarchists." 



All these qualifications between commas are culled 2 )a ssiin, from 

 the four volumes of the Revisio. There are some more spicy still, 

 but I pass on. 



What a relief to the camp of the " executed," and what a rid- 

 dance ! A man of science who gives his reasons and defends them, 

 even with vivacity, one takes seriously. One admits, occasionally, 

 a stronger word, provided it does not smack of the gutter. One 

 inoculates oneself, if need be, with the anti-rabic views of Pasteur, 

 before fighting a demoniac hydrophobe. But how can a man pro- 

 tect himself against the non-sentient eruptions of a mud - volcano ? 

 Let the mud fall down again naturally on the mouth of the 

 crater ! This is the way of mockers, and, in such cases, of wise men. 

 As regards naturalists, curious by temperament and charitable by duty, 

 they examine the pathological side of a case, and discover therein 

 reasons for indulgence. 



For some time, the dictatorial manner of the volcanic doctor, 

 his magniloquence, his vicious habit of conducting himself like a 

 " grande puissance traitant de pair a pair avec l'universalite des 

 autres botanistes " (Spitzer), his explosive susceptibility, have appeared 

 alarming signs. The suspicion that he had a bee in his bonnet was 

 supported by another symptom, nearly always the concomitant of ideas 

 of grandeur : the fixed idea of persecution. In fact, in several notes 

 in his book, of which one is entitled Falsum wfamans Aschersonii, 

 Kuntze relates how Paul Ascherson has been persecuting him (verfolgt) 

 from time immemorial. Here are the facts {Rev. g. pi. iii. note 84) : 

 At a flower show, got up by twenty botanists of Brandenburg, a com- 

 petition was held as to who could find the most novelties. But the 

 victor's palm, instead of falling to Kuntze, was " insidiously " disputed 

 by Ascherson. This little story goes back to 1865. Kuntze adds 

 that he was by no means ambitious for the victor's palm. It is on 



