DE CANDOLLE'S PHYTOGRAPHV. 299 



dextram " is a most awkward one for denoting the riglit-about 

 change which the erratum had in view. Nevertheless the 

 correction was so made in the edition of the "Philosophia 

 Botanica " by Gleditsch in 1780, two years after the death of 

 Linnaeus, also in that of Willdenow, published ten years later. 

 But De Candolle the elder, in the " Flore Francaise," and in 

 all his writings, followed the original text, as also has the 

 present De Candolle, who cites as maintaining the same view, 

 Braun (who for a time gave way to the opposite), Bischoff, 

 Mohl, Palm, Dutrochet, Nsegeli, and even Darwin. But we 

 should say that Darwin, noting the conflict of views, had care- 

 fully evaded both, using instead the expression " with the sun, 

 and against the sun" ; yet sometimes saying " from left to 

 right," as equivalent to ^'against the sun" (as on p. 34), 

 showing that he took the external position to be the natural 

 one. 



Among those who have used the terms sinistrorse and dex- 

 trorse and defined them in the way which supposes the ob- 

 server to stand outside of the helix, are Aug. St. Hilaire, 

 Duchartre, Bentham and Hooker, Eichler ; and the present 

 writer may be added, although our author appears not to be 

 aware of it. While trusting that the younger botanists will 

 follow the example of Linnseus and the majority of authors, 

 De Candolle recommends that those who depart from it, and 

 even those who adoj^t it, shall state their point of view by 

 some convenient abbreviation, such as extus vis. or intus 

 vis. ; and thus lessen the danger of a misunderstanding. 

 This is indeed essential. 



De Candolle remarks that he can discover no reason for the 

 ah exti'a point of view except a tacit but perhaps nowhere 

 expressed assumption that it requires some effort to suppose 

 one's self in the centre of a helix or spire. He thinks a mod- 

 erate effort will accomplish this. The rej^ly may be that, in 

 the case of a stem climbing a hop-pole, or of the scales imbri- 

 cated on the axis of a pine-cone, or of a flower-bud on the 

 stage of a dissecting microscope, the contemplation of the 

 object from without calls for no effort at all. So natural does 

 this extraneous position appear to be that we found ourselves 



