[Vol. 2 

 194 ANNALS OP THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



definite gardens led to the establishment of demonstrations 

 upon living specimens of the medicinal plants, and at Padua 

 sixteen years after the foundation of the garden, a separation 

 was made of the "Lectura" from the "Ostensio simplicium," 

 or demonstration of living plants. 



Botany, however, in all these early universities to which 

 gardens were attached was merely ancillary to medicine. At 

 Montpellier, for instance, the same professor taught anatomy 

 in winter and botany in summer, and as late as 1773 anatomy, 

 surgery and botany formed the subjects for one and the same 

 professor at Jena. 



Very soon after the founding of the gardens at Padua and 

 Pisa, plants other than those of strictly medicinal value were 

 introduced into the physic gardens. This was due to the 

 revival of interest in the plant world which took place about 

 the middle of the sixteenth century and to the desire for 

 travelling and interest in collecting which then sprang up. 

 Conrad Gesner, writing in 1561 in the 'Horti Germaniae,'^ 

 mentions that in botanic gardens not only medicinal herbs 

 were cultivated but also other plants, especially rare ones, 

 for the purpose of observing and admiring nature: 



, "Hortorum alii vulgares sunt, utilitatis tantum gratia confiti: 

 in quibus olera, legumina, vites, fructus qui edendo sint, & 

 gramen, usum homini aut pecori praebent. Alii medicinales, 

 ut Medicorum & Pharmacopolarum : in quibus non bortenses 

 tantum stirpes, sed etiam sylvestres omnis generis, & peregrinae 

 quoque coluntur, propter remedia quae ex ipsis eariimve parti- 

 bus homini fiunt. Alii similes istis, sed magis varii, in quibus 

 non solium plantae remediis nobiles, sed aliae etiam quae uis 

 rariores praesertim coluntur, propter admirationem & contem- 

 plationem naturae." 



John Ray visited both Padua and Pisa early in 1664 ; refer- 

 ring to the garden at Padua, he says: "Here is a public 

 Physick garden, well stored with simples but more noted for 

 its prefects, men eminent for their skill in Botanies." The 

 Pisan garden at this time would not appear to have been in 

 a very flourishing condition since Ray merely remarks, "The 



' Gesner, Conrad. Horti Germaniae p. 237 verso. Strasburg, 1561. 



