vi Preface. 



not exactly regard as a misfortune, and in the interests of 

 the reader it is rather an advantage ; for, in accordance 

 with the objects of the 'General History of the Sciences/ 

 this History of Botany is not intended for professional 

 persons only, but for a wider circle of readers, and to 

 these perhaps even the details presented in it may here 

 and there seem wearisome. 



The style of the narrative might have been freer, and 

 greater space might have been allotted to reflections on the 

 inner connection of the whole subject, if I had had before 

 me better preliminary studies in the history of botany ; 

 but as things are, I have found myself especially occupied 

 in ascertaining questions of historical fact, in distinguish- 

 ing true merit from undeserved reputation, in searching 

 out the first beginnings of fruitful thoughts and observing 

 their development, and in more than one case in pro- 

 ducing lengthy refutations of wide-spread errors. These 

 things could not be done within the allotted space without 

 a certain dryness of style and manner, and I have often 

 been obliged to content myself with passing allusions 

 where detailed explanation might have been desired. 



As regards the choice of topics, I have given promin- 

 ence to discoveries of facts only when they could be 

 shown to have promoted the development of the science ; 

 on the other hand, I have made it my chief object to dis- 

 cover the first dawning of scientific ideas and to follow 

 them as they developed into comprehensive theories, for 

 in this lies, to my mind, the true history of a science. 

 But the task of the historian of Botany, as thus conceived, 

 is a very difficult one, for it is only with great labour 

 that he succeeds in picking the real thread of scientific 

 thought out of an incredible chaos of empirical material. 



