14 THE NEW BIOLOGY 



the professional classes. After printing became common 

 the Ortus was reproduced many times, often in popular 

 forms, while it was translated or otherwise adapted 

 to the use of different nations. Though " Dyascorides '' 

 is often quoted, as if from the original, the text is 

 really a compilation from mediaeval writers, who were 

 themselves compilers. A table of diseases shows where 

 the remedies are described, and takes the place of an 

 index. Plants furnish the bulk of the illustrations ; 

 many are drawn from native species, though not one 

 in three could be recognised by the figure alone. 

 Among the animals are fabulous creatures, such as 

 the basilisk. The figure of a snail resembles a horned 

 quadruped peeping out of a bottle. In the baser 

 editions the pictures are such as a child might draw, 

 and sometimes lose all resemblance to the object. A 

 figure of Greek asphalt, for instance, which was un- 

 natural to begin with, after passing through the hands 

 of several copyists, becomes a mere chance collection of 

 strokes and blotches. Failing natural objects, anything 

 might be inserted which caught the fancy of the 

 draughtsman, a monkey perched on a fountain, casks in 

 a cellar, etc.^ These books indicate a zero of merit, 

 above which rise, not only all the herbals produced 

 afber 1530, but all books which contain observations 

 made direct from nature. H^ 



Germany soon took the lead in the revival of botany. 

 It was not only Germans who felt the need of improved 

 knowledge. In France Ruel, a physician of Soissons, 

 spent many years upon the elucidation of Dioscorides, 

 and the examination of those native plants which might 

 throw light upon his author. In Italy too scientific 



^Free choice of subjects, irrespective of the text and of practical utility^ 

 was the long-staiiding tradition of the illuminators of inital letters. 



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