INTRODUCTION. XXXI 



was plagued with uncertainty. The no- 

 menclature was swamped in the overgrown 

 Synonymy. The greatest difficulty was 

 experienced in determining what plants 

 answered to what names ; and authors were 

 but half intelligible. 



To remedy this huge disorder was a Her- 

 culean task. It was however undertaken by 

 Gaspar Bauhin, the editor of Matthiolus. 

 He conceived the comprehensive plan of 

 sifting the literature, making a concord- 

 ance of the synonymy, selecting the best 

 names, and fixing them to their plants by 

 a systematic scheme. After a labour of 

 forty years, he produced his Pinax Theatri 

 Botanici at Basle in 1623, an immortal 

 work in the annals of Botany. It is 

 arranged in twelve Books, each of six 

 Sections, so that there are seventy -two 

 Sections ; and these again are subdivided 

 by Chapters. Each Chapter is a list of 

 Species, with a Generic name common to 

 all at the head; and this Generic name 

 is mostly taken from Theophrastus or 

 Dioscorides. The Books may be said to 

 stand for Classes, the Sections for Orders, 



