HISTOEY OF BOTANY. 9 



amongst the most valuable productions of antiquity: — *' The 

 work of Pliny," says he, " is one of the most precious monu- 

 ments that have come down to us from ancient times, and 

 affords proof of an astonishing amount of erudition in one 

 who was a warrior and a statesman." 



To a modern reader the first impression on taking up the 

 * History of the World ' would probably be one of surprise 

 at the astounding superstition of the time and the credulity 

 of the writer, but further study would cause him to feel that 

 these blemishes are quite lost in the general grandeur of the 

 work. Pliny died a martyr to the cause of science. On the 

 occasion of that great eruption of Mount Vesuvius which 

 destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii, he was at Misenum, 

 where he commanded the fleet, and being surprised at the 

 sudden appearance of a cloud of dust and ashes, of which 

 he did not know the reason, he immediately set sail in a 

 small vessel for the mountain, which he found to be in a 

 state of eruption. The inhabitants had fled, but Pliny's 

 curiosity induced him to remain all night to make observa- 

 tions, amidst the tremendous and horrible confusion of 

 earthquake, fire, and continual showers of pumice stones 

 and ashes. On the following day, when endeavouring to 

 escape, he sunk down suffocated by the thick sulphurous 

 vapours that surrounded him, a.d. 78. His attendants 

 escaped, and his body was found three days afterwards. 



Pliny was first printed in 1468, since which time there 

 have been several editions. An English translation by 

 Philemon Holland was published in the latter part of the 

 reign of Elizabeth, and we have a more recent one by Dr. 

 Bostock and Mr. Kiley, B.A., in Bohn's Classical Library 

 (6 vols., 1855), which is copiously illustrated by notes, 

 references, and comments. 



