Reviews.  289 
of  Prof.  H.  H.  Rusby,  in  the  Alumni  Journal,  some  years  ago,  on  the  "Re- 
sults of  Following  the  Rule  of  Priority  in  Plant  Names."  He  says  it  is  "  not 
true,  as  invariably  stated  by  the  disputants  upon  the  other  side,  that  the  object 
or  result  of  observing  priority  is  to  increase  synonymy.  Upon  the  other  hand, 
the  first  object  in  view  by  most  of  those  who  advocate  it,  is  to  prevent  such  in- 
crease, and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  but  for  this  object  the  proposition  would  find 
but  a  small  following.  Present  synonymy  is,  as  stated  by  the  above  writer, 
'appalling,'  resulting  in  their  now  being  some  700,000  names  for  200,000 
plants,  but  it  has  nearly  all  resulted  from  a  failure  to  observe  the  rule  of  pri- 
ority. If  such  a  result  has  occurred  in  the  past,  a  continuance  of  the  cause 
will  continue  to  augment  the  result.  The  enforcement  of  the  rule  of  priority, 
while  it  will  undoubtedly  result  in  a  sharp  increase  in  the  number  of  synonyms 
for  the  immediate  present,  will  almost  entirely  cut  short  their  multiplication 
in  the  future.  For  this  conclusion  we  are  not  obliged  to  depend  upon  specula- 
tion, as  we  have  a  perfect  precedent  in  the  experience  of  the  zoologists.  The 
success  attained  in  this  direction  by  the  workers  in  that  branch  of  science  is 
one  of  the  most  frequent  and  powerful  arguments  used  by  those  who  favor 
priority,  yet  we  do  not  remember  to  have  ever  seen  any  reference  made  to  it  by 
those  who  argue  upon  the  other  side. 
"But  this  is  not  the  only,  nor  the  most  important  result  hoped  for  from  the 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  rule  of  priority.  If,  for  example,  the  '  Index  Kew- 
ensis  '  had  been  based  upon  such  a  rule  it  would  unquestionably  have  paved 
the  way  for  the  intelligent  use  of  plant  names,  without  the  necessity  of  ap- 
pending the  name  of  the  author,  a  practice  which  in  the  present  state  of  af- 
fairs would  make  botanical  writings  in  this  department  largely  unintelligible. 
It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  ever  annihilate  a  synonym  once  made.  It  must 
continue  to  be  in  existence  as  long  as  it  remains  in  print.  But  there  is  a  way 
to  practically  annihilate  it  by  rendering  it  inoperative.  If,  therefore,  the 
ideas  of  the  advocates  of  priority  are  to  be  fairly  interpreted  it  must  be  said, 
not  that  they  aim  to  add  fifty  thousand,  or  any  other  number  of  synonyms  to 
encumber  the  ground,  but  that  they  hope  to  remove  therefrom  all  synonyms, 
and  to  leave  each  plant  with  but  one  recognized  name.  For  the  statement 
quoted  above,  this  should  be  substituted  :  '  They  would  remove  500,000 
synonyms.  '  It  is  because  it  is  believed  that  this  result  can  never  come  from 
any  half-way  measures  that  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the  rules  is  insisted  upon. 
That  the  most  rigid  following  of  the  rule  of  priority  is  to  prevail  in  the  United 
States  there  appears  not  the  least  doubt,  and  we  fully  expect  to  see  our  botani- 
cal names  written  in  the  near  future  without  the  use  of  the  author's  name, 
reference  being  made  to  the  list  officially  printed  as  indicating  the  sense  in 
which  such  names  are  used.". 
This  subject  is  one  fraught  with  interest  and  one  upon  which  all  botanists 
are  seriously  thinking.  We  hope  to  give  more  personal  consideration  to  the 
matter  at  some  future  time. 
REVIEWS  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICES. 
A  Manual  of  Organic  Materia  Medica,  being  a  guide  to  materia  medica 
of  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  for  the  use  of  students,  druggists  and 
physicians.     By  John  M.  Maisch,  Ph.M.,  Ph.D.,  late  Professor  of  Materia 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  18!'9. 
