ULYSSES ALDROVANDI. 29 



lie garden and in his private dwelling, concerning 

 fossils, and animals, and plants, of which he has an 

 admirable collection. He also correctly attaches 

 the names, and describes the nature and properties 

 of them all."* 



It has already been stated, that about the year 

 1553, and when we suppose Aldrovandi had attain- 

 ed the age of thirty-one, he was appointed to the 

 Chair of Botany. Of this department of science, as 

 of all the rest, he seems to have been a most assidu- 

 ous cultivator. He had the honour and happiness 

 of establishing the Botanical Garden of Bologna, 

 in the year 1567. The accomplishment of this im- 

 portant enterprise at this early date must have ex- 

 erted a powerful influence on the celebrity of the 

 university and the progress of the science. It must 

 have proved a useful stimulus at the time, and must 

 have been permanently useful in disseminating a 

 love of the science throughout Europe. We have 

 no reason to suppose that our Philosopher ever 

 abandoned this fascinating study. At all events, it 

 is recorded by Haller that his Hortus Siccus, or 

 collection of dried plants, which filled sixteen large 

 folio volumes, was still in existence nearly a cen- 

 tury after the collection was formed ; and the result 

 of some of his labours in this science was published 

 at a later period in his "Dendrology," a inassy folio, 

 to which our attention will in the sequel be more 

 particularly directed. 



* Uterverus, Recommend, in Opera, t. ii. 



