THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



To the English translation of the History of Botany of 

 Julius von Sachs. 



I am gratefully sensible of the honourable distinction 

 implied in the determination of the Delegates of the 

 Clarendon Press to have my History of Botany trans- 

 lated into the world-wide language of the British Empire. 

 Fourteen years have elapsed since the first appearance of 

 the work in Germany, from fifteen to eighteen years since 

 it was composed, — a period of time usually long enough in 

 our age of rapid progress for a scientific work to become 

 obsolete. But if the preparation of an English translation 

 shows that competent judges do not regard the book as 

 obsolete, I should be inclined to refer this to two causes. 

 First of all, no other work of a similar kind has appeared, 

 as far as I know, since 1875, so tnat mine may still be 

 considered to be, in spite of its age, the latest history of 

 Botany ; secondly, it has been my endeavour to ascertain 

 the historical facts by careful and critical study of the 

 older botanical literature in the original works, at the cost 

 indeed of some years of working-power and of consider- 

 able detriment to my health, and facts never lose their 

 value, — a truth which England especially has always 

 recognised. 



But the present work is not a simple enumeration of the 



