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Alfred Gundersen. 
“ Zoological and botanical systems,” says a recent historian of 
biology, Miall, “ owe comparatively little to individual lawgivers; they 
have been built up piecemeal by the incessant proposal of 
amendments, and the retention of such as proved satisfactory in 
practice ..... the discoveries, even of great men, have often been 
vitiated by serious mistakes, which have subsequently been 
corrected by men of far inferior power.” The systems of the 
future, it seems inevitable, must more and more represent a 
general botanical synthesis rather than personal views. 
Effective international agreements have been reached in a 
number of sciences. The confusion due to differing opinions as to 
the atomic weights of the elements was remedied by the 
establishment of an international list, in this case issued annually. 
It is of special interest that there is one list only, not many 
conflicting ones, and that it beats the name of no individual or 
institution. In astronomy the completion of the great international 
map of the sky depended on many agreements, in particular on a 
method of dividing the subject along definite lines recognized by 
all. Slightly varying systems of co-ordinates would have rendered 
international co-operation impossible. 
Numbers as Part of Symbols for Families. 
Whatever form of classification be used, many publications in 
all parts of the world require some linear sequence of families. 
A linear sequence is expressed by numbers. Was not the persis¬ 
tence of the Linnaean system in part due to its numerical clearness ? 
“ My system is but a tread of Ariadne,” said Linnaeus, “ a natural 
system is the first and last aim of systematic botany.” Numbers 
are generally used in arranging genera and species. Dalla-Torre 
and Harms numbered genera have served in the arrangement of 
great herbaria. Numbered families have also been used in many 
publications and might have much wider uses. The somewhat 
complicated arrangement of the Naturliche PHeinzenfamilien into 
Abteilungen and Teile was much simplified in the Pftanzenreich by 
the adoption of family numbers assigned in advance, from IV-I 
Cycadacece to IV-280 Composites. In Forbes and Hemsley’s Index 
Florae Sinensis family numbers are given on every page. 
In the International Scientific Catalogue titles are classified 
by a system of numbers printed near the margin. These numbers at 
the same time co-ordinate the successive volumes. Thus articles 
on Gymnosperms are found by marginal number 6500 in any 
