MEMOIR OF GESNER. 51 



great work on botany which he so anxiously con- 

 templated, the result of his labours were by no 

 means lost ; and these, in connexion with what he 

 did publish, have proved of the greatest service to 

 the science. In order to appreciate his merits in 

 this respect, we have only to consider the state of 

 botany at the time when it first attracted his atten- 

 tion. It was considered solely as a branch of the 

 materia medica. The only authors consulted on 

 the subject were the ancient writers of Greece and 

 Rome. Manuscripts of Theophrastus, Dioscorides, 

 Pliny, and some other writers of similar character, 

 had been at all times rare ; and while they conti- 

 nued as manuscripts, even the meagre information 

 they contained was consequently accessible to few. 

 Pliny was first printed at Verona in 1448; Dios- 

 corides, in Latin, at Cologne in 1478 ; and Theo- 

 phrastus at Venice in 1483. Numerous editions, 

 both in Latin and in Greek, soon followed, and 

 these works were now in the hands of most of the 

 learned. It was long, however, before the latter 

 made any attempt to add to the knowledge which 

 they contained ; contenting themselves by writing- 

 voluminous commentaries, translations, &c. of the 

 orioinal text. This continued to be the state of 

 things till a good while after the commencement of 

 the sixteenth century, when several individuals ap- 

 peared who entered upon the study with more 

 enlarged viev*^s, and a juster estimate of its import- 

 ance. The following names include the most dis- 

 tiniiuislied of these " Patres Botanici :" Brunsfelsius, 



