plants, of parasites, of culinary herbs, and of flowering plants; he remarked upon the uses of each plant, the place where it grew, and whether it was woody or herbaceous. He had no idea of genera or species; his names were merely local, and his descriptions generally indefinite. His views upon the physiology of plants, were superior to his descriptions of them; he remarked upon their different external organs; distinguished the seed lobes (Cotyledons) from the leaves; gave just ideas upon their functions, and upon the offices of the root. He explained their anatomy as well as possible without the assistance of the microscope, which (as the science of optics was then unknown) had not been invented. Theophrastus seemed too much inclined to compare the structure of vegetables to that of animals; imagining that he found in plants, bones, veins, and arteries. A shrub which grows in the Antilles is named Theophras ta, in honour of this ancient botanist.

Dioscorides, a physician of Greek extraction, about the commencement of the Christian era, travelled over Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy, in order to observe the plants of those countries; his works were written in Greek; he divided plants into four classes, viz.: 1st, aromatic, 2d, vinous, 3d, medicinal, and 4th, alimentary, or nutritious. The labours of this botanist were of little value in after times, on account of want of method in his descriptions. He gave the names and properties of 600 plants; but having no idea of species or genera, his work was but a chaos of facts, which were so imperfectly expressed, as to render it impossible to apply them

to use.

The elder Pliny, who lived in the reign of Nero, treated of the history of plants, but he neglected nature, and derived his science from the works of his predecessors. False systems of philosophy seemed to fetter the noblest minds, and prevent their pursuing those methods of investigation which would have led to a true knowledge of nature. The genius of Pliny was vast and active; he consecrated to scientific researches and literary works, the leisure which public duties left him. His "History of the World,” which was a compilation of all the knowledge of the ancients, upon the subject of natural history, the only one of his writings which has escaped the ravages of time and barbarians, is but a small portion of his labours. He is considered faulty in recording both truth and error, often transmitting them without observation or criticism, and sometimes favouring absurd traditions; but his work is justly admired for the greatness of its plan, which embraced the whole of nature, for the elegance of its style, and for the wonderful art with which the highest considerations of practical philosophy are associated with natural history. In the year 79 after Christ, Pliny fell a sacrifice to his desire of knowledge, in an eruption of Mount Vesuvius; wishing to contemplate as near as possible so sublime a spectacle, he perished, suffocated by the sulphureous exhalations.

Galen, in the second century, wrote upon the medicinal qualities of plants, but gave no descriptions. The love of the sciences seemed, in the prosperous days of Rome, to be extinguished; "Mistress of the world," corrupted by victories, and by tyrants, she had abandoned herself to luxury. The false philosophy of the vanquished Greeks reigned in the schools of victorious Rome, chasing away every trace of true knowledge. Religious fanaticism had also its

Dioscorides-Pliny-Galen-Condition of science in the most prosperous days of

Rome.

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 literature-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-Eotanists began to discover the obstacles to the progress of science-Era of true philosophy-Improvements of German botanists,