BLUE LOBELIA. 87 



The genus was named by Linnaeus in honour of a 

 remarkable man, who was one of the true founders of 

 botanical science. Matthias de Lobel was born at Lisle 

 in 1538, and was trained to the medical profession, under 

 the physician Rondelet, in whose honour the fragrant 

 rondeletia was named. Lobel, according to the good 

 custom of his time, prepared himself for the business of 

 life by travel, and in his wanderings he picked up a lot 

 of knowledge about plants. He settled as a physician 

 at Antwerp, but soon after went to Delft, where he was 

 appointed physician to William Prince of Orange. Some 

 time after this, but at what date no one can tell, he 

 came to England, and published in London, in 1570, 

 his " Novum Stirpium Adversaria," the object of which 

 was to investigate the botany and materia medica of the. 

 ancients. Now it is of the utmost importance, in con- 

 nection with the history of plants, to bear in mind that 

 this work contains the germ, and a large and good germ, 

 of the natural system. Lobel grouped the plants into 

 tribes and families by their affinities, which is the essence 

 of the natural system ; and it is somewhat surprising that 

 Linnaeus did not work on this basis instead of framing 

 his own artificial system, which, with all its ingenuity, 

 is comparatively valueless even as an aid to the memory, 

 although it becomes useful in spite of its inherent weak- 

 ness of principle when it happens to agree with the 

 natural system in the case of such groups as the grasses 

 and the composites. 



Lobel was an industrious author and a consistent 

 worker in the garden. Under the patronage of Lord 

 Zouch he established a physic garden at Hackney, and in 

 due time was appointed king's botanist by James I., but 



