LTNNBAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 29 



student of nature are evenly balanced. The zealous ' keeper ' 

 destroys what he regards as vermin with as nnicli assiduity as he 

 protects what he looks upon as game. 



It is in the botanical account between the two that the natural 

 historian stands more deeply indebted to the guardian of the 

 royal waste, to whose policy and practice we owe the preservation 

 of native plants whose existence now stands in jeopardy every 

 hour. In the past we have been under a similar obligation to the 

 woodward of tlie old ' free forest,' who restrained the enthusiasm 

 of the mediaeval logger and faggoter ; in this case our science 

 has repaid her debt by supplying inspiration and much of its 

 technique to modern forestry. Nor should we forget those 

 spiritual considerations that, outside the limits of Jewry and 

 Christendom, have protected and sometimes still protect the 

 contents of the sacred woods that man has left unfelled. In 

 this particular case new needs have revived an old custom. 

 Facilities for access to mountains and addiction to nature study 

 have incidentally made it desirable to set aside sanctuaries for rare 

 animals and plants. Our new and ratiier belated virtue would 

 have had little scope for its exercise but for the effective if uncon- 

 scious assistance of the raugers and woodwards of former days. 



Until admonished by the result of some unwitting experiment, 

 early man was liable to confuse noxious herbs and fruits with 

 such as may be eaten with impunity. This risk has always been 

 instant. The case of ' death in the pot' with which the prophet 

 had to deal was not the first of its kind. The results of 

 incautious patriotism which attracted attention a year ago, showed 

 that it was not to be the last. 



If proverbial philosophy be reliable, ' knowledge is power.' 

 Whether this dictum be ever true of all knowledge, or always 

 true of some, we need not consider here. From an early stage of 

 man's progress it has certainly been true of knowledge of the 

 natural history of hurtful things. Proficiency in this study 

 formed part of the equipment of the ' medicine man ' of his 

 tribe. It was the material basis of the respect he inspired and of 

 the influence, unassisted by physical prowess or political sagacity, 

 that he was able to wield. The adept kept this knowledge for 

 personal use or gradually imparted it to a ' sacred college ' of 

 trusted disciples, who profited, as a guild, by the exploitation 

 of the dread and credulity of their neighbours and handed on to 

 later neophytes the peculiar information they possessed. 



Sometimes from this unpromising substratum higher truths 

 evolved. But even in the natural sphere, with which we are 

 chiefly concerned, important developments occurred. The laity 

 came to recognize the principles and to suspect the practices of 

 this privileged class. The ' witch-doctor ' might still be feared ; 

 he ceased to be held in high regard. Tlie name (pap/uciKevs became 

 to the Greek a term of reproach, connoting a sorcerer or a 

 poisoner with the implication that he who was the one must also 



