566 FOREST CULTURE AND 
and imperfect that if may be advisable to trace the 
early origin of such gardens, and to see likewise how 
far their legitimate functions are generally recognized 
at the present day ; furthermore, how far, as institu- 
tions framed for distinct purposes, they are able to 
exercise a vivid and powerful influence on education, 
on technology, on rural pursuits, and on the advance- 
ment of independent researches for the enlargement 
of phytologic knowledge. 
The original and ancient appellation of ‘+ botanic 
garden’ is hardly any longer applicable in the strict 
sense of the word, implying a garden for medicinal 
or otherwise useful herbs, inasmuch as the scope of 
establishments so named has become vastly extended ; 
moreover, many of the numerous local gardens pass- 
ing under this name, particularly in these colonies, 
have no claims whatever to such a designation. 
If much inconvenience was not involved by the 
lateration of the term, it would be recommendable to 
recognize tke true botanic gardens of this age as sci- 
entific gardens; while all those institutions in which 
no real phytologic researches are carried out, or in 
which the main aim does not consist in affording 
instruction, might well be called public pleasure-gar- 
dens, or perhaps recreation-grounds or parks, accord- 
ing to the design for which they are created, or in 
consonance with the requirements for which they are 
maintained. 
Let us now see how botanic gardens first originated. 
The study of plants in Europe arose with the glori- 
ous genius of ancient Greece, the earliest historic 
records in Sanskrit, or the ancient discoveries of the 
Chinese, being yet wrapped in almost complete ob-_ 
