217 



BOOK XXVII. 



A DESCRIPTION OF PLANTS, AND OF THE REMEDIES DE- 

 RIVED FROM THEM. 



CHAP. 1. (1.) RESEARCHES OP THE ANCIENTS TJPOIsr THIS 



SUBJECT. 



The farther I proceed in this work, the more I am impressed 

 with admiration of the ancients ; and the greater the number 

 of plants that remain to be described, the more I am induced 

 to venerate the zeal displayed by the men of former times in 

 their researches, and the kindly spirit manifested by them in 

 transmitting to us the results thereof. Indeed their bounteous- 

 ness in this respect would almost seem to have surpassed the 

 munificent disposition even of Nature herself, if our knowledge 

 of plants had depended solely upon man's spirit of discovery : 

 but as it is, it is evident beyond all doubt that this knowledge 

 has emanated from the gods themselves, or, at all events, has 

 been the result of divine inspiration, even in those cases where 

 man has been instrumental in communicating it to us. In 

 other words, if we must confess the truth — a marvel surpassed 

 by nothing in our daily experience — ITature herself, that 

 common parent of all things, has at once produced them, and 

 has discovered to us their properties. 



Wondrous indeed is it, that a Scythian^ plant should be 

 brought from the shores of the Palus Maeotis, and the euphor- 

 bia^ from Mount Atlas and the regions beyond the Pillars of 

 Hercules, localities where the operations of Nature have reached 

 their utmost limit ! That in another direction, the plant 

 britannica^* should be conveyed to us from isles of the 

 Ocean situate beyond the confines of the earth !^ That the 

 aethiopis* should reach us from a climate scorched by the 



^ He alludes to the GlycyrrhLza or Scythice, our Liquorice, which is 

 still found on the banks of the river Volga. See B. xxi. c. 54, B. sxii. 

 c. 11, B. XXV. c. 43, and B. xxvi. cc. 15, 87. 



2 See B. XXV. c. 38. -* See B. xxv. c. 6. 



3 "Extra tei-ras." Meaning, the continental part of tlie earth. 

 * See c. 3 of this Book. 



