42 



A TEXTBOOK OF THEORETICAL BOTANY 



Fig. 22. — Portrait of Kaspar Bauhin. 



(1501-66), Dodoens (1517-85) and Clusius (1526-1609). The " Herbals " pro- 

 duced by these men were notable for 

 their freshness of outlook, and especi- 

 ally for their accuracy of description 

 and fidelity of illustration. Among them 

 we should also rank William Turner 

 (1515-68), who was the first to publish 

 a herbal in English with references to 

 British plants. He was closely followed 

 by John Gerard (Fig. 21) (1545- 161 2), 

 whose " Great Herbal " remained for 

 generations the most popular book of 

 Botany in these islands. 



Herbals have an interest for others 

 besides botanists. In the early days 

 of printing they were the only fully 

 illustrated books, and thus they are 

 the most important documents in the 

 history of the art of illustration. They 

 also provide a mine of material for de- 

 signers, and it is a fact that many of the 

 traditional floral designs used in the Arts can be traced back to the herbals 

 of Dioscorides (Matthiolus' 

 edition, 1583), Fuchs and 

 Dodoens. 



Although these later 

 herbalists were not primarily 

 interested in classification 

 they were led towards it in- 

 escapably through their 

 labours of description. The 

 idea of affinity made itself 

 unconsciously felt, and broad 

 classes such as Fungi, Mosses, 

 Conifers, etc., began to ap- 

 pear, though not based upon 

 any philosophical concept. 



Cesalpino was soon fol- 

 lowed by other authors, not- 

 ably Kaspar Bauhin (1560- 

 1624) (Fig- 22), who wrote 

 several books of plant de- 

 scription in which he at- 

 tempted a classification by 

 natural affinities rather than 

 by logical reasoning, a notable step towards a truly natural system. He also 



Fig. 23. — Portrait of John Ray. 



il 



