﻿NOTICES OF BOOKS. 

 Picvisio (hnunuii Pfantarum secundum lows nomenelatnrw Inter- 

 nationales cuii^eiiHiih ration, phtntti ruui e.eotieantm. Pars III 1 . 

 Mit Erlauterungen (Texte en part Francais; partly English 

 text). Von Dr. Otto Kuntze. Leipzig : Arthur Felix, &c. 

 Pp. [clvi] -ccccxx. Verzeichniss der Autoren, 2 pp. 

 On the completion of his former work, which was reviewed in 

 this Journal (1892, pp. 57-62), the author started for South 

 America. A journey lasting fourteen months has yielded him at 

 least as much material as his former one, and the results are to be 

 given in a third volume. His first care, however, on returning 

 home, has been to collect all the notices of his previous publication, 

 and to republish them with a running commentary in this, the first 

 portion of the third volume, which has tbe peculiarity of being 

 paged as a continuation of the introduction to the first. 



The plan adopted by the author is somewhat bewildering, the 

 reviews being sometimes printed in double columns, with the notes 

 in larger type below, and in the language, whether German, 

 French, English, or Latin, which was used by the critic. It is 

 manifestly convenient to have all the criticisms in a handy volume, 

 whether for or against the author's views ; and it also brings into 

 prominence the wide differences of opinion prevalent amongst the 

 revolutionary party as to nomenclature, thereby demonstrating the 

 wisdom of not accepting offhand the latest novelties in that 

 department. A few of the more impetuous spirits in North 

 America were prompt to embrace Dr. Kuntze's principles; the 

 idea of making a fresh start being very alluring, though it may ulti- 

 mately involve as much after-difficulty as the brand-new calendar 

 of the French Republic did in its own way. From the calamitous 

 effects of this hasty action, the shrewdness of the majority of the 

 American botanists has preserved them, by the virtual adoption of 

 the sensible date of 1753, as the practical beginning of modern 

 nomenclature. This view was put forth in the summary of Dr. 

 Kuntze's work in these pages, nearly two years ago. 



The fundamental error of many writers on nomenclature is, 

 that it is an end in itself, instead of a means. How often must it 

 be repeated that its place is secondary, its only function to recall 

 with certainty any particular organism ? Further, as its subjects 

 are specially liable to vary, the limits of both species and genera in 

 numerous cases being hard to define, and the variability of human 

 judgment being added thereto, an absolutely unanimous consensus 

 of opinion is impossible. The personal equation will ever be a 

 factor in the future, as it has been in the past. 



One of Dr. Kuntze's objects is to draw up a code which shall be 

 comprehensive, and binding on all. He made a feature of this in 

 his earlier volumes, and it now takes shape in a suggested code of 

 "laws" drawn up in German, English, and French at the end of 

 this part. He also urges that an international congress be sum- 

 moned specially with this view, and defines the qualifications of 



