36 Botanists of Germany and the Netherlands. 



instance the Duckweeds, among the Cryptogams and the 

 Salviniaceae among the Mosses, and unite the Corals, Alcio- 

 nieae, and Sponges with the Seaweeds, when we consider that 

 it was not till the middle of the 18th century that more correct 

 views arose in respect to these forms, and that Linnaeus himself 

 could not decide whether the Zoophytes should be excluded 

 from the vegetable kingdom and ranked with animals. The 

 knowledge of plants in the scientific sense of the word was till 

 the beginning of the 1 9th century limited to the Phanerogams ; 

 and in speaking of principles and methods in descriptive 

 botany before that time we must think only of the Phanero- 

 gams, or at most of the Phanerogams and the Ferns. The 

 methodical examination of the Cryptogams belongs to quite 

 recent botanical research. The matter is here alluded to only 

 in connection with the fact, that it is from the works of Kaspar 

 Bauhin, a writer of ability, in whom the first period of scien- 

 tific botany culminates, that we most clearly see how great the 

 advance has been since his time. 



