44 JOHN GOODYER 



What new benefits to mankind might they not be made to 

 yield ? Many of them growing at Droxford under his own 

 eye were either not described or were imperfectly described 

 in Gerard's Herbal; there was room for a new edition, 

 or at any rate for a Supplement. The new plants might 

 not be hardy enough to survive the next winter, and Boel 

 might never be able to procure the same seed again. 

 Whatever the reasons may have been, Goodyer's enthusiasm 

 certainly reached a red-heat this summer. 



It was the enthusiasm that every true naturalist feels 

 when he is conscious of being the first to obtain an insight 

 into unknown processes and phenomena. What plans for 

 publication he may have had we know not. nor do we know 

 what hindrances arose, but there followed a hiatus and 

 these notes of Goodyer's were laid aside for twelve years, 

 and then a selection of them were freely placed at the 

 disposal of Dr. Johnson for the new edition of Gerard. 



The descriptions conform rigidly to the style in vogue 

 at the period. The habit of the plant, its stalks, branches, 

 leaves, flowers, seed, root, duration are all considered in 

 order, and in man)- cases notes are added on the season, 

 hardiness, and locality. The technical words such as 

 ' footstalk ' in the sense of petiole, ' knee ' = node, 'bosome' = 

 axil (of a leaf), ' pointell ' = pistil, ' cheives ' = stamens, and 

 umbell in the modern sense are in the language of Gerard. 

 Occasionally the descriptions are brightened by refreshing 

 comparisons. The flower of Monotropa ' resembleth ye 

 suck-bottle which children use to suck their drinke out of ; 



* seed no bigger than a flea ' ; ' clammie as Bird-lime ' ; 



* woollie like Spiders webbs ' ; a colour is ' orange tawnie 

 velvett ' ; a herb ' heateth and burneth the mouth ' ; the 

 distribution of the pollen of the Yew is thus described, 

 ' if you shall beate on them stones into this tree about the 

 end of February, there will proceed and fly from the 

 flowers an aboundance of dustie smoke '. 



Moreover, at this period of his scientific life he might 

 have written as Ray did in June 1667 that he had been 



