The Author's Preface. 



IX 



names of botanists and of their writings, no mere list of 

 the dates of botanical discoveries and theories ; such was 

 not at all my plan when I designed it. On the contrary I 

 purposed to present to the reader a picture of the way in 

 which the first beginnings of scientific study of the veget- 

 able world in the sixteenth century made their appearance 

 in alliance with the culture prevailing at the time, and how 

 gradually by the intellectual efforts of gifted men, who at 

 first did not even bear the name of botanists, an ever 

 deepening insight was obtained into the relationship of all 

 plants one to another, into their outer form and inner 

 organisation, and into the vital phenomena or physio- 

 logical processes dependent on these conditions. 



For the attainment of this end it was above all things 

 necessary for me to form a clear judgment respecting 

 the influence of the views and principles enunciated 

 by the different authors on the further development of 

 botanical science. This is to the historian of science 

 the central point round which all beside should be 

 disposed, and without which the entire work breaks up 

 into a collection of unmeaning details, and it is one which 

 demands knowledge of the subject, and capacity and 

 impartiality of judgment. On questions connected with 

 times long gone by the decision of the experts has in 

 most cases been already given, though I myself found to 

 my surprise that older authors had for centuries been 

 regarded as the founders of views which they had dis- 

 tinctly repudiated as absurd, showing how necessary it is 

 that the works of our predecessors should from time to 

 time be carefully read and compared together. But in 

 the majority of cases there is no dispute at the present 

 day respecting the historical value, that is the operative 



