Vlll 



was invariably found the harbinger of spring ; and 

 who, by an association of ideas, was protected from 

 injury, and received a superstitious respect, as being 

 the companion of summer, the precursor of reviving 

 nature. 



The Botany of the early ages was alike restricted 

 within the bounds of convenience with appetite : 

 officinal herbs were cultivated, and the best fruits 

 selected for repast. No traces are left of the culti- 

 vation even of beautiful flowers among the ancients, 

 unless eatable, or otherwise useful. The fields of 

 the senex corycius procured him the riches and 

 well earned security so praised by the Mantuan 

 poet. There is little love of beauty discoverable in 

 the accounts left of the gardens of Alcinoiis : nor 

 is botanical science to be found in the knowledge 

 of Solomon, who knew every herb, from the cedar 

 of Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth on the wall. 



It was probably long after society was completely 

 formed, when many felt that leisure which is caused 

 by the distribution of labour, that the minds of men, 

 ever restless and desirous of knowledge, engaged in the 

 pursuit of natural history for its own sake. Aristotle, 

 Aelian, Theophrastus, and Pliny, lived in a compara- 

 tively advanced state of civilization. Such men seem to 

 have first studied this science independently of rural 



3 



