EUCALYPTUS TREES. 569 
was formed during the reign of Mithridates Eupater, 
of Pontus (186-63 years before Christ), while the pa- 
tronage of these sovereigns was enjoyed by the two 
most celebrated rhizotomists of that time, Kratenas 
and the physician and linguist Nikander of Colophon, 
Dioskorides, at the beginning of the Christian era, 
extended much these early researches, more particu- 
larly in regard to medicinal plants ; and his work and 
that of Plinius continued for nearly seventeen centu- 
ries the codex of medico-botanic science, it being rich 
in observations gathered by the former while surgeon 
to the Roman legions, and it is consulted yet as an 
authority in the Orient. Dioskorides’ work, as well 
as the writings of Aristoteles and Theophrastos, con- 
tributed much to the Historia Naturalis of the elder 
Plinius, who was so famed as an admiral, statesman 
and philosopher (28-79 A. D.). Plinius mentions that 
Antonius Castor, under King Dejotorus of Armenia, 
possessed a botanic garden at the time of Julius Ce- 
sar. 
From the famed surgeon Galenus of Pergamos, who 
much recommended the study of native medicinal 
plants, we have to pass through a long interval of 
comparative scientific darkness, in which phytology 
particularly shared. Useful plants were, however, in 
many instances cultivated by the monks, The med- 
ical knowledge of the Arabs was carried through the 
crusades to the Occident, and thereby new informa- 
tion of many plants was secured. The Benedictines, 
in 1309, formed, with the medical school of Salerno, 
also a medical garden. In 1333, the botanic garden 
of Venice was established as an institution accessible 
to the public. Lucas Ghini formed successively the 
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