194 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXVI, 191;^ 



cal remedies which we used during the middle ages and until the 

 present day to the Arabians, besides the origin of the pharmacies. 

 One of the Arabian doctors who used the berries from the bar- 

 berry bush as medicine was Rhazes. He was born in Persia 850 and 

 died 923. He was the life doctor for the Kalifif in Bagdad. Nikolaos 

 Myrepaus, doctor in Alexandria from 1270 to 1290 was another. 

 Their books were translated into Latin and became well known in 

 Europe during the middle ages. Constantinus Africanus was the 

 first man to bring the knowledge of the barberry plant to Europe. He 

 was born in Carthage during the eleventh century and traveled for 

 many years through Babylon, India, Egypt, and northern Africa 

 for the purpose of studying the medical art of the Arabians. He 

 was finally made manager of the medical school in Salerno. Because 

 of his ability this was the most noted institution in Europe for doc- 

 tors, during several centuries. Constantinus Africanus died in 

 1087. His books were translated into many languages. The first 

 Danish botany was written by King Erik Plovpenning's doctor, 

 Henrik Harpestraeng, who died 1244. This is a translation from 

 Constantinus Africanus' works. 



"Because Henrik Harpestraeng speaks of the barberry bush, 

 several people considered it a proof that the plant existed in the 

 north before the book was published. This is surely a false con- 

 clusion. But there is reason to believe that the knowledge of the 

 bush and the recommendation it received in the books has led 

 man to obtain samples of it and cultivate it just as the other plants 

 that were used at that time, since each physician's or each monk's 

 medical power lay in the herbs he cultivated in his garden. The 

 transplanting of the bushes into the gardens surely took place* a 

 long time after the publication of the books concerning it, but there 

 is reason to believe that the transplanting followed the same course 

 as the knowledge of it; namely, from southern Asia across Egypt 

 and Barbary to southern Europe ; from there northward along two 

 lines, one from Italy by those who visited the school of Salerno, the 

 other by the Arabs tO Spain and France. 



"It is worth noticing that Constantinus Africanus used the name 

 barberry which truly did not distinguish the bush but its berries, just 

 as- we use the names gooseberries, currants and strawberries for 

 the eatable berries, and so name the bushes accordingly ; as goose- 

 berry bushes, etc. This name is found unchanged in many languages ; 

 for example, in Italian, berbero ; in English barberry; in German, 

 berbersbeere, berberitzen, etc. ; in Danish, Norse, Sweden and Latin, 

 berberis, in Polish, bervcrvs ; onlv in France has it a different name 



