HISTORY OF BOTANY. 4l 



duction in his work on plants did much for the advancement 

 of a rational s^'stem of classification. He proposed a system 

 of classification according to the nature of the flower, fruit, 

 and seeds, thus initiating a new era in the Science. His 

 herbarium is preserved in the Museum of Florence. The 

 genus Csesalpinia was named in his honour by Plumier. 



Fabius Columna, or Fabio Collonna, a learned Italian, 

 was born at Naples about the year 1567, and died there 

 1650 ; he belonged to the ancient Roman family of the same 

 name. Columna's accomplishments were very extensive ; 

 he was skilled in languages, mathematics, music, designing, 

 painting, botany, &c., and wrote treatises on many subjects. 

 His 'History of Plants'* was published at Naples in 159:2 ; 

 and his ' Ecphrasis ' (full account) was first published at 

 Rome, 1606. and another edition appeared in 1616. 



Joachim Camerarius was born at Nuremburg, 1534, and 

 died there 1598. He was a physician and botanist who in 

 many ways forwarded his favourite Science. He founded a 

 botanical garden at Nuremberg, for which he obtained many 

 rare plants, and published a Herbal in German, at Frank- 

 fort, 1590. This really fine volume professes to be a 

 translation of Matthiolus, but has all the merit of an original 

 work; the illustrations are for the most part new, and 

 though artistically they are scarcely equal to the beautiful 

 prints in Matthiolus, the}^ have some advantages of their 

 own. Thus separate pictures are given of the various 

 flowers and fruits, both entire and dissected, which are 

 absent from Matthiolus. Much of Matthiolus is also 

 omitted in this work that has no connection with a Herbal, 

 as, for instance, all the minerals and animals, with the 

 solitary exception of the Civet, and why that is retained it is 

 difficult to understand : much letterpress foreign to his object 

 is also omitted by Camerarius, and fresh matter is introduced. 



•= ' Phytobasanos, sive Plantarum aliquot Historia.' 



