6 SKETCH OF THE RISE [LECT. I. 



that science really begins to dawn. It was in this 

 state in Chaldea, when Botany, which is said 

 by Botanical historians to have originated there, 

 made its appearance as subservient to medicine. 

 That the sufferings, as well as the wants of the 

 human body should have given rise to the know- 

 ledge of the medicinal properties of vegetables' is not 

 surprising : for one of the unhappy but ordinary 

 effects of the advancement of society is a violation 

 of the laws of Nature, inasmuch as these regulate 

 our appetites and tastes, the natural consequence 

 of which is the production of diseases. To ob- 

 viate these evils, remedies were to be sought for ; 

 and, either by accident, or by observing the effect 

 of instinct on the lower animals, they were first 

 obtained from the vegetable kingdom. 



The knowledge of plants which the Chaldeans 

 had gained for so important a purpose, was trea- 

 sured up as a rich legacy, to be handed down 

 from father to son ; and in this manner the infant 

 science was cherished till it passed into Egypt. 

 With the Egyptians, however, and even with the 

 Greeks, who received the science from Egypt, it 

 did not make any great advances. Accustomed 

 to rest too much upon genius and reflection, and 

 careless of facts, the Grecian philosophers ad- 

 vanced the most absurd doctrines regarding ve- 

 getable life. They taught that plants possess a 

 sensible and reasonable soul; have desires and 



