230 Britain's Heritage of Science 



and one cannot, perhaps, give a better description of what 

 a herbal was than by quoting the title-page of Lyte's (1529- 

 1607) Herbal, which was mainly a translation from the 

 French of De L'Ecluse, which was itself a translation from 

 the " Cruijdeboeck " of Dodoens. 



" A niewe Herball, or Historic of Plants, wherein is 

 contayned the whole discourse and perfect description 

 of all sortes of Herbes and Plantes ; their divers and 

 sindry kindes; their straunge Figures, Fashions, and 

 Shapes ; their Names, Natures, Operations, and Vertues ; 

 and that not only of those which are here growing in 

 this our countrie of Englande, but of all others also of 

 foragne Realmes, commonly used in Physicke. First 

 set foorth in the Doutche or Almaigne tongue by that 

 learned D. Rembert Dodoens, Physition to the Emperour, 

 and now first translated out of Frenche into Englishe 

 by Henry Lyte, Escuyer." 



This herbal went through several editions, but apart 

 from it Lyte made little contribution to English botany. 



One especial merit which Turner had was accuracy of 

 observation, and a determination to see what he had to 

 describe. Hitherto, knowledge largely depended upon the 

 written word of the classical philosophers. Turner pre- 

 ferred to record his own experiences rather than to repeat 

 " Pliny's Hearsay." He named many British plants, and, 

 as Pulteney tells us, " allowing for the time when specifical 

 distinctions were not established, when almost all the small 

 plants were disregarded, and the Cryptogamia almost wholly 

 overlooked, the number he was acquainted with was much 

 beyond what could easily have been imagined in an original 

 writer on the subject." 



Although other distinguished herbalists who followed hi 

 Turner's path in the main disregarded his work, there is 

 no doubt that he started a new era in the study of plants, 

 and we shall see later he did the same in the study of animals. 

 Another noted herbalist was John Gerard (1545-1612). 

 Unlike Turner, he was brought up to be a surgeon, and hi 

 his youth travelled extensively in Russia, Sweden, Norway, 

 and other parts of the Continent. To some extent he re- 

 garded plants from the medical point of view, and in what 



