54 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



I should here mention the name of Conrad Gesner, of Zurich, 

 perhaps the most erudite, as he was the most amiable, of all the 

 learned men of his time. Like nearly all contemporary 

 naturalists he had studied medicine and became very celebrated 

 as a practical physician. In his spare time he published a highly 

 esteemed volume on zoology. For an elaborate illustrated work 

 on botany he collected the materials and had about 1,500 wood- 

 cuts made, wherein, for the first time, analytic details of the 

 flowers and fruits were given ; but before it could be published 

 he fell a prey to the epidemic then called the pest, in the year 

 1565. The woodcuts were scattered after his death, but about a 

 thousand of them were collected nearly 200 years afterwards by 

 Trew and Schmiedel, and many of them published under the 

 title " Conradi Gesneri Opera Botanica." 



About this period there flourished also a very eminent Italian 

 botanist, but I have no copy of any of his works. This was 

 Mattioli (150 1 to 1577), the most popular author on the 

 medicinal virtues of plants of his time ; one of his publications 

 is said to have gone through over sixty editions. The genus 

 Matthiola, the stock of our gardens, was named in his honour. 

 Of another Italian botanical writer, Colonna, Latinized Columna, 

 I am able to submit a small book entitled "Ekphrasis." 

 containing descriptions and figures of rare plants (1616). 

 When speaking of Dodonaeus, I already alluded to Clusius or 

 De I'Ecluse (1526 to 1609), a celebrated French or Dutch 

 botanist, for some years director of the botanic garden of Vienna, 

 residing otherwise in different places in Germany and Holland ; 

 he also visited England on two occasions, where he got 

 acquainted with Francis Drake, and learned from him something 

 about the natural history of the New World I can submit a 

 copy of his " Rariorum Plantarum Historia," published at 

 Antwerp in 1601 ; also his " P^xoticorum Libri Decern," which 

 treats of zoology as well as botany. In the latter you will find a 

 picture of the Cassowary, to which he a|)plies the name " Emeu." 

 A countryman and friend of the preceding was De L'Obel, or 

 Lobelius, born in 1538 in French Flanders, buc none of his 

 works are represented in our library. He studied medicine like 

 all conteniporary botanists, and travelled a great deal; also 

 visiting England, where (according to Professor Meyer) his first 

 work was published in 1570, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. 

 After residing a number of years as physician in the Netherlands 

 he finally settled in England, and received from King James I. 

 the title of " Royal Botanograjiher." His works contain 

 descriptions of more than 2,000 species of plants, with many 

 figures. He died near London in 1616. 



The next to claim our attention are the brothers Bauhin, in 

 whose honour Linnaeus named the genus Bauhinia, which is rep- 



