The Berlin Protest, 



Two months ago I heard that a manifesto from the Berlin 

 botaiiists, against tlie principles of Dr. Kuntze's "Eevisio 

 Generam " had reached America. No copy of this paper has 

 yet arrived in California, notwithstanding that it was in this 

 remote part of America that the present movement for priority 

 in nomenclature took its rise, as far as America is concerned. 

 The circular, whatever its title may be, would not have 

 obtained any signatures in this quarter to be sure ; but we 

 were entitled to the sight of a copy of it, on general principles. 

 Through the enterprise of the London Journal of Botany, a 

 part, and presumably the most important part, of this docu- 

 ment, haa been given to English speaking botanists in a 

 reprint. This reached our table just after the closing of the 

 last issue of Ptttonia; otherwise we should have given it 

 immediate attention. The protest, so far as we have it, con- 

 sists of four Articles, each supplemented by an explanatory 



Note. 



The first Article defines as starting-points tor generic jind 

 specific nomenclature, respectively, the years 1762 and 1753 ; 

 that is, the fifth edition of the "Genera" and the first edition 

 of the "Species" of Linnseus. Upon this proposition we 

 have no comment to make beyond this, that 1752 is another 

 choice of an arbitrary point of reckoning for generic priorities. 

 But in the Note upon this Article I remark a surprising con- 

 cession ; namely, that '' before 1752 the scientific position of 

 Linnaeus is not "superior to that of Tournefort, Piivinus, and 

 many other botanists, who had often described and segre- 

 gated genera more exactly tlian he did." It hardly seema 

 necessary to call attention to the wording of this, as being of 



Vol. II, Part 12. 



Issued Sept. 20, 1692. 



