20 CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. [January, 



liis remains to the tomb. His eloquence has been abeady allu- 

 ded to. He was a great lover of his country^ and twice freed the 

 state from tyranny. He was most affectionate, prudent, and 

 most laborious. 



It is reported of him that in his orations and lections he care- 

 fully studied and practised every position and gesture of body and 

 countenance, employed every motion and modulation of tone, in 

 order that he might enforce his arguments or render his oratory 

 more persuasive and efficient. 



After his decease, he bequeathed his garden, and all the sur- 

 rounding buildings, to the citizens of Athens for ever, and ap- 

 pointed ten men as trustees, and whose names are preserved in 

 Diogenes. These were to take care that this his intention should 

 be strictly carried into effect. 



His works were very numerous ; Diogenes preserves the names 

 of 227. Of all these the only books remaining are the nine books, 

 and a fragment of the tenth, of the ' History of Plants ; ' and six 

 books De Causis Plantarum. With the exception of the ' Cha- 

 racters,^ all the rest of the works of this philosopher and natu- 

 ralist are to be reckoned in operibus perditis — " lost labours " 

 — books no longer extant. 



Sprengel, whose remarks form the groundwork of the above, 

 further writes, in reference to this earliest ' History of Plants :' 

 " Theophrastus, in the description of plants enumerated by him, 

 does not treat of them in that systematic order of arrangement 

 and description practised in our times. He follows no method, 

 except it be the juxtaposition of plants which agree in economi- 

 cal uses, native country, locality and habit. Aquatic plants, pa- 

 rasitical plants, pot - herbs, trees, cereals, vegetables wild and 

 cultivated, are treated in separate sections, or in distinct chap- 

 ters. His work abounds in repetitions, the same object being 

 frequently repeated, although new characters and uses may be as- 

 cribed to it.^^ Thus far Sprengel, 



The following is a brief analysis of the contents of this most 

 ancient treatise on plants, from the Oxford edition of Stackhouse, 

 the most convenient within reach. 



Theophrastus divides or classifies all vegetation into three divi- 

 sions, — trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants ; and in this he is fol- 

 lowed by almost all botanists down to the seventeenth century. 

 The father of English botany, the illustrious Hay, adopted the 

 same classification in his Synopsis of the British Flora. 



