NEHEMIAH GREW 

 1641 1712 



BY AGNES ARBER 



Ancestry and Life narrative his versatility state of Botany Grew and 

 Malpighi Crew's bona fides vindicated The Anatomy of Vegetables 

 Begun seed structure his treatise on the Root its dedication The 

 Anatomy of TrtmksThe Anatomy of Plants illustrations Crew's 

 conception of cells and tissues the plant as a textile fabric analogy 

 with the animal body medullary rays secondary thickening his un- 

 derstanding of external morphology physiological notions suggestions 

 for experiments importance of the habitat the sexes of flowers- 

 floral and seed structure estimate of his contributions to Botany. 



NEHEMIAH GREW, who, with the Italian botanist Marcello 

 Malpighi, may be considered as co-founder of the science of 

 Plant Anatomy, lived in stirring and troubled times. His life 1 

 extended from 1641 to 1712; that is to say, he was born the 

 year before King Charles I proclaimed war upon the parliamentary 

 forces, and he lived through the Protectorate, the reigns of 

 Charles II, James II, William and Mary, and the greater part 

 of the reign of Queen Anne. He came of a stock remarkable 

 for courage and independence of mind. His grandfather, Francis 

 Grew, is described as having been a layman, originally of good 

 estate, but "crush'd" by prosecutions for non-conformity in the 

 High Commission Court and Star Chamber. Francis Grew 

 had a son Obadiah, who was a student of Balliol, and entered 

 the Church. When the Civil War broke out, he sided with the 

 parliamentary party, but was by no means a blind adherent 

 of Cromwell, with whom he is said to have pleaded earnestly 

 for the life of King Charles I. In 1662 Obadiah Grew resigned 



1 Diet. Nat. Biog., edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, vol. xxm. 1890. 



