R help - Jun 2004 - par specification inside formula vs. outside function call

The other day I asked a question about changing the size of axis labels
in a dotchart.  Chuck Cleland provided the answer, which was to specify

par(cex.axis = .8)
outside the call to dotchart

I had tried this inside the formula, and it did nothing (nor did it
produce an error).  

I was wondering when it is necessary to specify things outside versus.
inside a call to a function

Thanks

Peter

Peter L. Flom, PhD
Assistant Director, Statistics and Data Analysis Core
Center for Drug Use and HIV Research
National Development and Research Institutes
71 W. 23rd St
www.peterflom.com
New York, NY 10010
(212) 845-4485 (voice)
(917) 438-0894 (fax)