77 



BOOK XXV. 



THE NATURAL, HISTORY OF THE WILD PLANTS. 



CHAP. 1. (1.) WHEN THE WILD PLANTS WERE FIRST BROUGHT 



INTO USE. 



THE more highly esteemed plants of which I am now about 

 to speak, and which are produced by the earth for medicinal 

 purposes solely, inspire me with admiration of the industry 

 and laborious research displayed by the ancients. Indeed there 

 is nothing that they have not tested by experiment or left 

 untried ; no discovery of theirs which they have not disclosed, 

 or which they have not been desirous to leave for the benefit 

 of posterity. We, on the contrary, at the present day, make 

 it our object to conceal and suppress the results of our labours, 

 and to defraud our fellow- men of blessings even which have 

 been purchased by others. For true it is, beyond all doubt, 

 that those who have gained any trifling accession of knowledge, 

 keep it to themselves, and envy the enjoyment of it by others; to 

 leave mankind uninstructed being looked upon as the high prero- 

 gative of learning. So far is it from being the habit with them 

 to enter upon new fields of discovery, with the view of bene- 

 fitting mankind at large, that for this long time past it has been 

 the greatest effort of the ingenuity of each, to keep to himself 

 the successful results of the experience of former ages, and so 

 bury them for ever ! 



And yet, by Hercules ! a single invention before now has 

 elevated men to the rank of gods ; and how many an individual 

 has had his name immortalized in being bestowed upon some 

 plant which he was the first to discover, thanks to the 

 gratitude which prompted a succeeding age to make some 

 adequate return ! If it had been expended solely upon the 

 plants which are grown to please the eye, or which invite 

 us by their nutrimental properties, this laborious research on 

 the part of the ancients would not have been so surprising ; 

 but in addition to this, we find them climbing by devious 

 tracts to the very summit of mountains, penetrating to the very 



