THE RENAISSANCE 137 



the main configuration of continents and oceans, the 

 work of the later navigators is remarkable for the 

 growth of the scientific spirit of observation. 



William Dampier (1653-1715) in particular showed 

 the new attitude of mind. His keen eye noted every 

 strange bird and beast, every new tree and plant, and 

 his facile pen described their forms and hue with 

 marvellous accuracy and recorded them in his volumes 

 of Voyages. His Discourse on Winds became a classic 

 of meteorology, and Humboldt, long afterwards, 

 praised him as the best hydrographer of his age. 



The development of medicine in the treatment of dis- 

 ease by drugs soon reacted on the knowledge of plants, 

 B , originally a province of the traditional 



Natural lore of monastery and convent garden. 



History. Mediaeval symbolism was slow to loose its 

 grip of the plant world, where it took the form of the 

 doctrine of " signatures," and regarded the shape of 

 the leaf or the colour of a flower as an index or sign of 

 the use for which the plant had been intended by its 

 Creator. However, the increased security of life led 

 to the laying out of private gardens and parks, and to 

 the more general cultivation of trees, vegetables and 

 flowers. Thus, partly owing to the use of herbs as 

 remedies, partly to natural curiosity and to a growing 

 love of beauty and colour, made possible by the 

 advances in ordered existence, the sixteenth century 

 saw a great development in botanical knowledge. 

 Medicine, virtually freed from the control of the 

 Church, soon acquired its own gathering grounds and 

 distilleries. Botanic gardens were established at 

 Padua in 1545, and afterwards at Pisa, Ley den and 



