iv] The Herbal in Germany 65 



It must nevertheless be admitted that, even if their 

 quality was poor, the herbals published by Egenolph and 

 his successors did good service in disseminating some 

 knowledge of the plant world among a very wide public. 

 There is, in the British Museum, a beautiful copy of the 

 1536 edition, with a binding stamped in gold and bear- 

 ing the arms of Mary, Duchess of Suffolk, daughter of 

 Henry VII. The duchess may perhaps have inherited 

 a taste for herbals from her father, for the British 

 Museum also possesses a copy of Ve>ard's translation of 

 the \Ortus Sanitatis,' which is known to have been pur- 

 chased by him. 



JEttopffd. 



Vulgago. Panisporcmus. Ciclamcn* 

 Malum terrae. Atthamta. Bothormarfetu 



Text-fig. 33. " Erdopfifel" = Ranunculus ficaria L., Lesser 

 Celandine [Rhodion, Kreutterbuch, 1533]. 



Among the German Fathers of Botany, Sprengel in- 

 cludes a comparatively little known name, that of Valerius 

 Cordus (15 15 — 1544), a man whose actual achievement 

 was small, but who, if he had not died so young, would 

 probably have become one of the most famous of the earlier 

 herbalists. His father, Euricius Cordus, was a physician, 

 botanist, and man of letters, so Valerius was brought up in 

 a fortunate environment. At sixteen he graduated at the 

 University of Marburg, and, after studying in various towns, 



