Xll INTRODUCTION. 



aimed at medical utility, and he had the 

 whole civilised world for his public. He 

 founded the Botany of the Roman Empire. 

 He was a military physician ; and in this 

 office he enjoyed the greatest opportunities 

 for collecting botanical and medical infor- 

 mation. His famous book, for long ages 

 a standard authority, was entitled Hc/n vX^s 

 larpiKrjs, Materia Medica, Things fit for 

 Medicine. He flourished in the reign of 

 Nero. His date has indeed been disputed, 

 and especially in comparison with that of 

 the elder Pliny; because much of their 

 material is identical, and it has been ques- 

 tioned which was the author and which 

 the borrower. It now seems quite estab- 

 lished (according to Ernst Meyer) that 

 while Dioscorides was the elder of the two, 

 they lived and wrote so near in time to one 

 another, that neither could have used or 

 known the book of the other, and that 

 they must have drawn from the same 

 sources all that they have in common. The 

 characteristic feature of his book, and that 

 which most concerns us, is the collection of 

 Synonyms from various languages. He 



