316 HISTORY OF BOTANY. 



and Pyrenees, and many provinces of France, collecting the 

 flowery treasures offered by those fertile regions; often in 

 peril from banditti, and exposing his life to hazards in climbing 

 terrific precipices, or amidst the glaciers of the mountains. 



The method of Tournefort,* which was founded upon the 

 form of the corolla, although imperfect, greatly assisted the 

 progress of that botanist who stands unrivalled in this depart- 

 ment of Natural History. You do not need to be told, that 

 we here refer to Linnaeus. 



You will observe that the attempts of botanists, until this 

 time, had been chiefly directed towards the attainment of some 

 proper method for the arrangement of plants ; the attention 

 of some investigating minds was now turned towards their 

 Anatomy and Physiology. Since the days of the first Greek 

 naturalists, these departments of botanical science had lain 

 neglected ; but the confused opinions of the ancients now 

 served to suggest experiments, which resulted in new observa- 

 tions and solid discoveries. 



The invention of the microscope threw light upon the myste- 

 ries of nature, which, without this instrument, must ever have 

 remained in obscurity ; by its assistance botanists studied the 

 internal structure of vegetables ; they described the heart, 

 woody and pith; they perceived the newly formed bud, yet in- 

 visible to the naked eye ; the future plant existing in the bulbous 

 roots, and even in the seed; pores were discovered, which 

 were found to be the organs of the expiration and inspiration 

 of gasses, thrown out as noxious, or inhaled as nutritious.-)- 

 The importance of the stamens and pistils as essential to the 

 perfection of the seed of vegetables began to be suspected. 



As yet, however, the science of botany lay in scattered 

 fragments of various imperfect and contending systems : much 

 labour had been bestowed, and great improvements made, but 

 there seemed to be no central point around which these im- 

 provements might be collected ; the learned world were sensi- 

 ble of the deficiency ; but it required genius, great observa- 

 tion of nature, and courage to stem the tide of popular preju- 

 dices, in him who should come forward to attempt the work of 

 reform. 



Charles Linnaeus, an inhabitant of Sweden, suddenly emer- 

 ging from obscurity, offered to the world a system of botany, 

 so far superior to all others, as to leave no room for dispute as 



* See part III. 



t Leuwenhoek, Grew, Malpigh, and Camerarius, are among the first of tno 

 moderns who investigated the internal structure of vegetables. 



Attention of botanists turned towards anatomy and physiology Microscope 

 Science of botany yet imperfect Linnaeus, 



