[VOL. 2 



190 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



partly founded on old tradition, increased with the importa- 

 tion of strange drugs, 1 and partly no doubt invented by the 



herbalists and drug-sellers to prevent any infringement of 

 their monopoly in plants of real or supposed medicinal virtue, 

 and to frighten the ignorant from attempting to collect the 

 plants for themselves. 



The faint resemblance of the mandrake root to the human 

 form, for instance, probably suggested its use as a remedy 

 for sterility; it is still sold to-day in Egypt as a charm. 

 Its use may have led to the discovery of its anaesthetic 

 qualities since it was used in ancient times for this purpose, 

 and the legends which abounded as to the danger of death to 

 those who gathered the root may have been circulated in 

 order to try to prevent its use for criminal purposes. 



It was largely owing to the need of protecting the doctor 

 and apothecary against the drug-sellers that the growing of 

 "simples" in recognized gardens had its origin. As the 

 seats of the medical profession were established in the uni- 

 versities and monasteries, these institutions set apart definite 

 enclosures for the cultivation of medicinal herbs, the "sim- 

 plicia" or "simples" from which the "remedia composita" 

 were prepared by the apothecaries. 



Since the universities and monasteries were generally 

 situated in towns, their physic gardens were usually small, 

 and on the continent of Europe we still see these ancient 

 gardens, which have been gradually transformed into the 

 botanic gardens of the universities. 



In connection with the growth of learning and increase of 

 observation which is noticeable in the arts and sciences at 

 this time of renaissance, it is strange that biology was still so 

 largely under the thrall of superstition and curious invention. 

 Reference to the early herbals, such as the 'Bucli der Natur* 

 (1475), the 'Herbal of Apuleius' (1484), and the 'Grant Her- 

 bier' (1526), shows both as regards text and illustration a per- 

 sistent state of ignorance of facts, which could easily have 

 been remedied by observation, and possibly does not represent 



1 Medicinal plants were imported from the Continent in a dry state, hence the 

 English word "drug," which is part of the Anglo-Saxon verh "drigan," to dry. 



