260 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



However, at last De Laet, who was a man of much learning and 

 ability, completed his task 11 in spite of two additional heavy handicaps. 

 The first was that he was not skilled in natural science, the second that 

 Marcgrave's notes were arranged in no order whatever, those on each 

 animal occupying a separate sheet. The greatest trouble, however, was 

 had with the notes on plants, since Marcgrave had not been able to de- 

 scribe at one time and on one sheet the plant in leaf, in flower and in 

 fruit. These notes, it must be understood, Marcgrave had written in 

 the field and in Mauritia, and it is plain that he intended to edit them 

 to make a homogeneous whole after his return to Holland. 



How well De Laet did this work those know who are acquainted 

 with the " Historia Naturalis Brasilia? " published at Leyden and 

 Amsterdam in 1648 with the following dedication to Count Maurice: 



The Natural History of Brasil, prepared under the supervision and by the 

 kindness of the illustrious Johann Moritz, Count of Nassau, supreme commander 

 of the province and of the high seas; in which not only plants and animals but 

 also the diseases of the country, the character and customs are described and 

 illustrated with more than 500 pictures. 



The first section of the volume is composed of Piso's " De Medicina 

 Brasiliensi " comprising four books : I. on Air, Water and Places ; II. 

 on Endemic Diseases ; III. on Poisons and Their Antidotes ; IV. on the 

 Use of Simples (herbs as remedies). This, which is dedicated to Will- 

 iam of Auriacum, covers in all 132 folio pages and is illustrated with 

 104 figures limited to books III. and IY. Of these, three illustrate 

 mandioea and sugar-making, nine are of animals (five snakes, one 

 scolopendra, one sea cucumber, one toad-fish, one frog) and 92 are of 

 plants. 



The second section, Marcgrave's "Historic Eerum Naturalium 

 Brasilia?," is dedicated to the Count in the following eloquent terms. 



To Johann Maurice, Count of Nassau, great chief of the lands and seas of 

 Brazil, George Marcgrave of Liebstadt, a German of Saxony, dedicates these 

 things, which during his travels through Brazil, he with indefatigable zeal in- 

 quired into, described accurately, and made figures of from life, sought out their 

 names among the natives, and so far as he was able when opportunity offered, 

 investigated their uses, and in this history has arranged them for the use of all 

 students and admirers of natural science, in due acknowledgment and as a sign 

 of gratitude for the greatest kindnesses received from him. 12 



This work comprised 303 folio pages, consisting of eight books and 

 an appendix, and is illustrated by 429 figures. It is divided as follows : 

 Book I., in which are described 149 herbs with 86 figures; Book II. 

 contains descriptions of 48 shrubs and fruit-bearing plants with 39 il- 



11 It should be noted in passing that De Laet adds more than one hundred 

 annotations to Marcgrave's descriptions of plants and animals. These largely 

 consist of data drawn from Ximenes 's accounts of the plants and animals of 

 New Spain. 



12 This dedication was written in Mauritia (Manget), and seemingly in 

 anticipation of the untimely result of his journey to Africa. 



