IV] 



The Herbal in Italy 



81 



destined for the law, but his inherited tastes led him away 

 from jurisprudence to medicine. He practised in several 

 different towns, and became physician, successively, to the 

 Archduke Ferdinand, and to the Emperor Maximilian II. 



Pyra. 



Text-fig. 41. " Pyra." = Pyrus communis L., Pear 

 [Mattioli, Commentarii, 1560]. 



Mattioli's 'Commentarii in sex libros Pedacii Dios- 

 coridis,' his chef-d'oeuvre, the gradual production and im- 

 provement of which occupied his leisure hours throughout 

 his life, was first published in 1544. It was translated into 



