4 Early History of Botany [ch. 



According to legendary lore the name of Albertus would 

 have been unknown in science, but for divine intervention, 

 which miraculously affected his career. As a boy, tradition 

 says that he was singularly lacking in intelligence, so much 

 so that it was feared that he would be compelled to abandon 

 the hope of entering monastic life, since he seemed incapable 

 even of the limited acquirements necessary. However, 

 one night, the Blessed Virgin, touched by his fervour and 

 piety, appeared before him in glory, and asked whether he 

 would rather excel in philosophy or in theology. Albertus 

 without hesitation chose philosophy. The Virgin granted 

 his desire, but, being inwardly wounded at his choice, she 

 added that, because he had preferred profane to divine 

 knowledge, he should sink back, before the end of his life, 

 into his pristine state of stupidity. According to the legend, 

 this came to pass. Three years before his death he was 

 suddenly struck down, in the presence of his students, and 

 never regained his mental powers. 



The botanical work of Albertus forms only a small 

 fraction of his writings, but it is with that part alone that 

 we are here concerned. As already mentioned, his know- 

 ledge of botany was based upon a mediaeval Latin work, 

 which he reverenced as Aristotle's, but which is now attri- 

 buted to Nicolaus Damascenus, who was, however, a follower 

 of Aristotle and Theophrastus. Although Albertus un- 

 doubtedly drew his botanical inspiration from this book, a 

 large proportion of his writings on the subject were original. 



The ideas of Albertus were in many ways curiously 

 advanced, especially in the suggestions which he gives as 

 to the classification of plants, and in his observations of 

 detailed structure in certain flowers. We shall return to his 

 writings in future chapters dealing with these subjects. 

 It will suffice now to mention his remarkable instinct for 

 morphology, in which he was probably unsurpassed during 

 the next four hundred years. He points out, for instance, 

 that, in the vine, a tendril sometimes occurs in place of a 

 bunch of grapes, and from this he concludes that the tendril 

 is to be interpreted as a bunch of grapes incompletely 

 developed. He distinguishes also between thorns and 

 prickles, and realises that the former are stem structures, 

 and the latter merely surface organs. 



