influence; pretended Christians, as well as Pagans, destroyed libraries and the monuments of literature, sacred and profane. At this time the barbarians of the north and west precipitated themselves upon a country weakened by effeminate habits. Italy, ravaged by the Huns and Vandals, became successively the prey of the Heruli, of the Goths and Lombards. These people, nursed in war, abhorred the sciences and arts, and believing they enervated courage, allowed not their children to cultivate them.

The Latin ceased to be the common language, and a corrupt mixture of barbarous languages took its place. The population was greatly diminished; the country, formerly fertile and cultivated, became overgrown with forests, and inhabited by wild beasts.

In this dark period, Botany shared the fate of other sciences. The monks, strangers to the first elements of literature, and yet passing for the lights of their age, spoke in a barbarous language of the plants of Theophrastus and Pliny, commented upon writings they were incapable of comprehending, and mingled with their errors respecting facts, the most shameful superstitions

LECTURE XLIII.

HISTORY OF BOTANY, FROM THE EIGHTH CENTURY TO THE DISCOVERY OF

AMERICA.

THE state of science was thus gloomy in the empire of the West, when Charlemagne, a monarch endowed with a genius for learning and civilization, vainly endeavoured to relight the torch of human knowledge in this barbarous age. The renown of Charlemagne extended to Asia; he entered into a correspondence with the famous Calif of the Saracens, Haroun Alraschid, a man who greatly contributed towards polishing and enlightening the Arabians; and who preferred the friendship of the king of France to that of all the princes of Europe, because none, like Charlemagne, possessed a desire for intellectual greatness. After the death of Charlemagne, which took place in the year 814, Europe became involved in still greater mental darkness than before.

When the Western empire, weakened by luxury and effeminacy, had fallen an easy prey into the hands of barbarians, the empire of the East, though feeble, yet preserved the precious deposites of ancient literature; but the greater part of the learned, occupied with the subtleties of scholastic theology, made no effort to enlarge the boundaries of natural science. Religious intolerance drove from the empire many enlightened men, who, banished by the emperor Theodosius, carried among the Arabs the taste for Greek and Latin literature, and founded schools upon the shores of the Euphrates, where they taught rhetoric, languages, and medicine.

The Arabs, fond of mysteries, and led by their genius and ardent imaginations to the cultivation of poetry and works of fiction, seemed to have little taste for sciences which required assiduous application and patient investigation. Urged on by fanaticism, under Mahomet they were the conquerors and scourges of the_civilized world. Alexandria experienced their ruthless violence. This city,

Barbarians ravage Italy-Language corrupted-Botany shared the fate of other sciences-Charlemagne-Decline of learning in the Empire of the East-Literature carried among the Arabs.

by turns the asylum and tomb of letters, had witnessed under the first of the Cesars the destruction of the library collected by the Ptolemies; under Aurelian, that founded by Augustus; under Theodosius, that which Antony had given to Cleopatra; and for the fourth time in possession of an immense collection of books, acquired through her love for philosophy, this city saw her magnificent library reduced to ashes by the victorious Saracens.

This barbarous but noble race at length became imbued with the love of science; a succession of califs, (among whom was Haroun Alraschid, already spoken of as the friend of Charlemagne,) by their devotion to learning, rendered Bagdad the most enlightened city of the earth. Their learned men began to construct maps of conquered countries, and to describe objects of natural history; distant voyages extended and multiplied their commercial relations; and mathematics, medicine, and natural history, were cultivated with ardour.

When the Arabs had conquered Spain, they carried thither letters and arts, and their schools became celebrated throughout the world, In the 11th century the French, Italians, Germans, and English, went to them to learn the elements of science. The Arabians preserved their superiority in the sciences at least, if not in literature, until towards the close of the 15th century. But when this people, divested gradually of their European conquests, were at last driven from Spain into Africa, they seemed, as if by instinct, to replunge into the savage ignorance from whence they had been drawn by the efforts of a few great minds.

The Arabs had considered plants more as physicians and agriculturists, than as botanists; but although their descriptions of plants were imperfect, their labours were not useless to botanical science. They discovered many plants of Persia, India, and China, which were unknown to the ancients. They, however, fell into the error of dwelling more upon the works of Aristotle, Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny, than of observing nature; almost believing that nature herself must be wrong, when she deviated from those celebrated philosophers.

The Crusades, commencing at the close of the 11th century, and continuing until towards the middle of the 13th, prove the barbarity of the times; yet we cannot doubt that these distant and romantic expeditions were, in part, suggested by the desire of change and the vague wish to see and to know new things, and hastened the awakening of the human mind from the sleep of ages.

The 12th and 13th centuries witnessed in Italy the revival of a taste for letters and the fine arts. The commerce of that country was flourishing, the people made long voyages by sea, and in the accounts which they published, spoke of the vegetable productions of the countries they had visited, in such a manner as excited the curiosity of the nations of Europe.

About this period, it is supposed, herbariums, or collections of dried plants, began to be preserved. This was an important era in botanical science; for nature is ever true and incapable of leading into error, while descriptions, or even drawings, may often give false views of natural objects.

The science of Botany was not enriched by a single work of any merit, from the fall of the Roman empire, a period which marked

Destruction of the Alexandrian Library-Bagdad famous for learning-Schools of Arabs in Spain-Remarks upon the Arabian botanists-The Crusades-Revival of lit crature-Herbariums made.

the decay of literature, until the 15th century. Those, in the dark ages, who pretended to any knowledge of plants, only quoted from the Greek and Roman writers, but they were ignorant even of the languages in which their works were written. In the 15th century, Italy was governed by wise princes, who were influenced by a desire to promote knowledge among their people. They invited to their country learned men from Greece, from whom they might learn the language of Homer and Aristotle.

At this time the Turks threatened Constantinople, and that capital of the empire of the East at length fell into their hands. The literature of Greece now took refuge in Italy; the ancient languages were revived, and at this time, translations of ancient writers, with learned commentaries, were given. But these labours, although exercising an important influence upon literature, were not equally fortunate with respect to the progress of natural history. The learned writings of antiquity were accurately studied, but, blinded by the brilliancy of great names, men of learning looked not upon nature; they had yet to learn, that without examining and comparing real objects, there can be no solid foundation in natural history.

At the period of which we are now speaking, a physician of Germany published some indifferent descriptions of plants, accompanied by a few engravings. This connexion of drawing and botany, although the whole was badly executed, was considered as an important improvement in the science.

While Italy was thus a second time enriched with the literary treasures of Greece, Spain and Portugal were becoming enlightened by intercourse with foreign nations. The Portuguese extended their voyages to the western coasts of Africa and the Cape de Verd islands; the Cape of Good Hope was at length discovered, and Vasco de Gama, sailing around it, reached the East Indies. It was at this period that Christopher Columbus discovered the NEW WORLd.

This event, so important to the old world, is to us who inhabit this pleasant and favoured country, one of deep interest. Ages passed on after the creation of the world, and America remained, with regard to the eastern continent, as though she existed not. The lofty Andes raised their snowy heads to the clouds, the majestic Amazon rolled onward to the Atlantic, our lakes spread out their vast expanse of waters, our Hudson and Connecticut received their tributary streams, and bore them to the ocean ;-but to what people were these grandeurs presented, and what were the changes in the moral world, while nature thus moved on in her unchanging course ?-History is silent! But while in the old world empires had been rising, continuing for centuries stationary, and then decaying, succeeded, and succeeded by others pursuing the same track; were no moral changes going on in the American continent? Have no mighty nations ever existed here; have no arts or letters been cultivated; was the savage Indian for thousands of years sole lord of one half of the world? And when, and how, did the first inhabitants of this continent come from Asia, where man was placed at his creation? These are inquiries which naturally arise, on tracing the historic page through so long a period of time; until suddenly this new world bursts upon our vision! But, though many speculations have from time to time appeared, respecting the probable history of America, before its discovery by Columbus, the subject is still shrouded in darkness and obscurity.

Constantinople taken by the Turks, and the literature of Greece transferred to Italy-New world discovered-What was the history of America before this period?

LECTURE XLIV.

HISTORY OF BOTANY FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO THE TIME OF LINNÆUS.

We have now traced the progress of botanical knowledge, from the earliest periods of the world, to the discovery of America. About this time, botanic gardens began to be cultivated; these afforded new opportunities for investigation, by comprehending the vegetables of all countries within such limits as enabled the botanist to compare them, and to watch their growth and different stages of development.

From the days of Theophrastus until the beginning of the 16th century, Botany, instead of becoming more perfect, had been rendered more obscure. This was not owing to want of attention or labour, but to the false rules of philosophy which had so long prevailed.

At length the cause of the evil seemed to be discovered. Many writers protested against the erroneous opinions of their times; they said, our blind respect for the ancients is an insurmountable obstacle to the progress of Botany. We expect to find everywhere the plants of Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny; whereas they did not know one hundredth part of the plants which cover the globe. The first of them never went out of Greece; the second left only unconnected notes, treating without order upon the medicinal qualities of plants; and Pliny copied these notes without comment or criticism. We cannot apply to the plants of Germany or France, the names under which the ancients described those of Italy, Greece, and Asia; before studying the plants of foreign countries, we ought to know those of our own. Of what use are disputes about the nature and qualities of species, when we are not able to distinguish one from another? The true method of doing this, is to explore the plains, valleys, and mountains, to examine and compare the plants of our own and foreign countries. Libraries alone are insufficient to make botanists."

These reflections led to a happy revolution, not only in this science, but in all others; it may be called the era of true philosophy.* Yet the principles which were now discovered, were not much applied to science until the time of Bacon, Newton, Linnæus, and Locke; and it remained for the late Dr. Thomas Brown, of Edinburgh, to show that the human mind itself is subject to the same general laws of inquiry which now regulate investigations in the physical sciences.

Up to the period of which we are now speaking, plants had only been described in alphabetical order; about this time, some German botanists attempted a collection of individual plants into species; this improvement was received with much approbation.

* Lord Bacon is generally considered as having first taught the proper method of studying the sciences, viz.: by ascending from facts to principles; this is called the method of induction. It has recently been asserted by an able writer in one of our first American periodicals, that Bacon was not the author of the inductive philosophy, but that he borrowed his rules of philosophizing from Aristotle, whose real principles had for ages been misunderstood. It is to be hoped that men of talents will not so far depart from the true rules of philosophizing, as to devote that time in contending about their author, which might be profitably applied in the application of these rules to the investigation of truth and nature.

Botanic gardens first cultivated-Botanists began to discover the obstacles to the progress of science-Era of true philosophy-Improvements of German botanists.

These species were arranged according to certain general resemblances, or natural relations; thus we see that natural methods were prior to any attempts at an artificial system.

In the beginning of the 16th century, we find the names of many who were engaged in investigating the vegetable kingdom. Some are commemorated by the names of plants; Leonard Fuschs of Germany, by the plant Fuschsia; Lobelius, physician to James I., by the Lobelia; and Lonicer, by the Lonicera.

Lobelius distinguished the cotyledons of seeds, divided monocotyledonous from dicotyledonous plants, and attempted to form families by grouping species according to their natural relations. Zaluzian of Bohemia laboured to perfect the natural groups of former botanists; he is the first of the moderns who positively affirmed the existence of stamens and pistils in all species of plants, and suggested the necessity of these organs.

But, notwithstanding the labours of many learned men, little real improvement would have been made in the science of Botany, had there not, at that time, existed some minds of superior genius, who turned their attention to tracing some proper method of classification. These were Gesner, Clusius, Casalpinus, and Bauhin; of the latter name were two brothers, both of whom are deservedly celebrated.

Gesner, called the Pliny of Germany, born in 1516, was of an obscure and humble origin, but possessed of a powerful and penetrating mind. He attempted to make a general collection of the objects of natural history; he explored the Alps, and discovered many plants until then unknown. He is distinguished from those who had gone before him, in his suggestions that there existed in the vegetable kingdom, groups, or genera, each one composed of many species, united by similar characters of the flowers and fruit. Soon after the publication of this opinion, botanists began to understand that the different families of plants have among themselves natural relations, founded upon resemblances and affinities, and that the most obvious are not always the most important. These are fundamental truths; and the distinction of species, the establishment of genera, and of natural families, seemed to follow of course, after these principles were once established. The Tulipa gesneriana, and genus Gesneria, have been dedicated to this botanist.

Clusius was born in 1526; his parents had destined him for the profession of law, but his decided taste for Botany induced him to abandon this profession. He was learned in the ancient and modern languages, but his enthusiasm for natural history induced him to lay aside every other pursuit. He travelled over almost all the west of Europe, in order to make discoveries in the vegetable kingdom; and soon excelled all the botanists of the age in the knowledge of both native plants and exotics. He had the direction of the imperial garden at Vienna, and afterward was public professor of Botany at Leyden. His enthusiasm for this science terminated only with his life. Before his time, the art of describing plants with precision and accuracy was unknown; but, unlike the descriptions of his predecessors, his were neither faulty from superfluous terms, nor from the omission of important circumstances.

Cæsalpinus, a native of Florence, who was contemporary with Clusius, proposed to form species into classes. The characters which

Botanists of the 16th century-Lobelius-Zaluzian-Gesner-How distinguished from his predecessors ?—Clusius, the first who proposed to divide plants into classes -Cæsalpinus.