NEHEMIAH GREW AND THE STUDY 

 OF PLANT ANATOMY 



By AGNES ROBERTSON, D.Sc. 



Fellow of University College, London 



The condition of any branch of science at the present moment 

 can hardly be understood without a consideration of its history 

 and a reference to the work of those inquirers to whom it owes 

 its origin. I think we may fairly say that the pioneers in each 

 subject are to-day held in due honour, but still the fact remains 

 that for the most part they are left unread ! This is much to 

 be regretted, since their work is often most suggestive, and not 

 infrequently exhibits a breadth of outlook for which we seek in 

 vain in the writings of modern specialists. And in any case 

 it cannot fail to be of value to workers of the present day to 

 thoroughly understand what aims and expectations were in the 

 minds of the founders of their subject when they first broke 

 the ground. The subject of plant anatomy has made gigantic 

 strides of late years, and it may perhaps be of some interest, in 

 view of the records of recent progress in the subject which 

 will appear in this journal, to turn for a moment to that 

 classic of botanical literature, Nehemiah Grew's Anatomy of 

 Plants. This work, which is the first in the English language 

 dealing seriously with the subject, is a large and leisurely folio 

 published in 1682, and dedicated by the author (who was M.D. 

 of Leyden, Fellow of the Royal Society and of the College of 

 Physicians) to " His most sacred Majesty Charles II." In view 

 of the lengthiness and comparative inaccessibility of the volume, 

 which practically comprises the author's collected botanical 

 works, it may be useful to place on record some slight sketch 

 of its contents. " Your Majesty will find," says Nehemiah Grew 

 in his dedication, "that there are Terrse Incognitas in Philosophy 

 as well as Geography. And for so much, as lies here, it come 

 to pass, I know not how, even in this Inquisitive Age, That I am 

 the first, who have given a Map of the Country. ... In sum, 



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