,S.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1902. 
Correspondence, 
303 
tannic  acid  are  weaker,  but  occur  along  the  same  lines.  The  greatest 
differences  are  seen  in  their  action  on  proteids  and  on  certain 
alkaloids,  whereas  other  alkaloids  and  most  metallic  salts  are  pre- 
cipitated almost  equally  well  by  both.  An  exception  is  formed  by 
mercuric  chloride,  which  is  partly  precipitated  by  tea,  not  at  all  by 
coffee.  J.  W.  England. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
botanical  nomenclature. 
May  i,  1902. 
Dear  Sir  : — Replying  to  your  request  of  April  23d,  asking  me  for 
my  views  on  "  Botanical  Nomenclature,"  I  take  pleasure  in  giving 
them.  As  is  well  known  to  readers  of  my  publication,  "  Mycologi- 
cal  Notes,"  my  views  on  the  subject  are  very  radical.  I  advocate 
strongly  the  discontinuance  in  current  literature  of  the  use  of  per- 
sonal names  after  the  names  of  plants.  I  believe  that  the  custom 
of  citing  personal  names  is  conducive  to  more  harm,  more  confusion, 
more  synonyms,  more  invalid  "  new  species,"  more  changing  of  old 
names,  than  all  other  agencies  combined.  It  is  not  denied  by  any 
one  that  the  various  names  we  have  for  a  plant,  synonyms,  are  both 
•a  great  weight  and  a  great  hindrance  to  the  science.  Botanists 
meet  and  pass  rules  for  the  naming  of  plants,  but  they  cannot  agree 
on  any  set  of  rules,  and  never  will  as  long  as  the  members  are 
vitally  interested  in  the  particular  rules  that  perpetuate  their  own 
names  and  the  plant  names  that  have  been  proposed  by  themselves. 
Botanical  nomenclature  is,  theoretically  at  least,  a  language,  and 
-should  reach  stability  by  custom  and  good  usage,  and  by  that 
alone  it  will  do  so.  Can  we  expect  stability,  when  we  offer  a  stand- 
ing reward  by  which  the  man  who  wishes  a  change  in  a  plant's 
name  has  his  own  name  cited  thereafter  in  connection  with  it  ?  If 
this  be  not  the  cause  of  much  name  changing,  it  is  no  less  a  fact  that 
under  such  a  system,  synonyms  have  reached  their  present  unwieldy 
bulk  and  are  growing  every  day,  and  I  believe  will  increase  to  the 
end  of  all  time,  under  present  methods. 
As  long  as  a  new  combination,  some  "  prior  "  generic  name,  some 
M  prior "  specific  name,  some  slight  variation  in  shape  of  leaf  or 
bract  or  even  color  of  anther,  stands  as  a  reward  by  which  some 
snen  can  cite  their  own  names  as  authority  for  a  new  species,  instead 
