1 8 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



were found, their size, as trees or shrubs or herbs, 

 and according to their uses, as furnishing juices, 

 pot-herbs, and seeds that may be eaten. The first 

 book treated of the parts of the plant — the root, 

 stem, leaves, flower, and seed, and the second of the 

 manner in which plants seed, and the proper times 

 for sowing seeds, and how to sow. In this part he 

 mentions that some plants, evidently of the same 

 kind, have seed and others not, or that there are 

 different sexes in plants, the female bearing the 

 seed. That he was a practical observer is proved 

 by his writings on the method of the reproduction 

 in the great palm trees, which are such striking 

 features in the East. Moreover, he studied the 

 way in which figs grew and the seed became fertile, 

 and he compared the reproduction of the fig with 

 that of the palm tree. The third, fourth, and fifth 

 books are devoted to a consideration of trees, their 

 various kinds, the places they come from, and the 

 economical uses to which they may be applied. 

 The sixth book treats of winter shrubs and spring 

 plants ; the seventh of pot-herbs ; the eighth of 

 plants yielding seeds used for food ; and the ninth 

 of those plants that yield useful juices, gums, resins, 

 and other exudations. The love of the marvellous, 

 however, creeps in here and there, and amongst 

 good facts there are very considerable " tough 

 yarns ; " but these come from the old soldiers of 

 Alexander the Great. 



There is one thing most interesting in the works 

 of this man, and it is the desire he had to make his 



