BOTANY. 



doubtless quickened to a further contem- 

 plation of 1 heir beauty and utility, when it 

 was discovered, that, independently of af- 

 fording gratification to the senses, some 

 were, provided as an aliment for the body, 

 and that others contained a soothing balm 

 for corporeal sufferings. Hence we may 

 infer, that the study of plants has, through 

 every age and in every clime, excited the 

 attention of mankind; >yet it is truly re- 

 marked by a late elegant writer, Dr. Pul- 

 teney, that " in the enlightened ages of 

 Greece and Rome, and under the most 

 flourishing state of Arabian literature, 

 botany, as a science, had no existence. 

 Nor was it till some time after the revival 

 of learning, that those combinations and 

 distinctions were effectually discovered, 

 which in the end, by giving rise to sys- 

 tem, have raised the study of plants to 

 that rank it holds at present in the scale 

 of knowledge." 



In the early history of Britain, we find 

 that herbs were cultivated and studied 

 with considerable assiduity by the Druids, 

 who applied this knowledge with much 

 effect to the purposes of superstition as 

 well as medicine, and thus appropriated 

 to themselves the offices both of priests 

 and physicians. Historians inform us 

 that the misletoe was held by our an- 

 cestors in such veneration, that it was 

 only allowed to be cut by a priest, and 

 with a golden knife : when thus prepared, 

 it was dispensed as a charm to prevent 

 sterility, and to overcome the fatal effects 

 of poison. We learn from Pliny, that 

 various superstitious rites with respect to 

 many other plants were also carefully ob- 

 served by the Druids. Vervain and savin 

 were among the number ; the former of 

 these being used as a means to conciliate 

 friendship, and the latter as an antidote 

 to misfortunes. A small portion of the 

 mountain-ash was believed to act as a 

 charm against the powers of witchcraft, 

 and this idea is still prevalent in the high- 

 laiyls of Scotland, where it is usual to 

 drive cattle with a switch of this tree, in 

 order that they may be preserved from 

 the evils of enchantment. 



The Saxons appear to have made but 

 little proficiency in the investigation of 

 plants, though some of the Saxon manu- 

 script herbals shew that the study was 

 not altogether disregarded by this peo- 

 ple. Their chief aim was, to be acquaint- 

 ed with plants in a medicinal point of 

 view. Botany indeed was involved in the 

 utmost obscurity, being merely studied as 

 an auxiliary to astrology, even to the mid- 

 file of the 16th century ; for at that period 



was. published "A Lyttel Herbal of the 

 Properties of Herr>s, newly amended and 

 corrected, with certain additions at the 

 end of the boke, declarying what herbs 

 hath influence of certain starres and con- 

 stellations, whereby may be chosen the 

 best and most lucky times and days of 

 their ministration, according to the Moon 

 being in the signs of Heaven, the which 

 is daily appointed in the almanack ; made 

 and gathered in the year M. D. L.. xii. 

 Feb. by Anthony Ascham, Physician." 

 London, 1550, 12. 



But from these times of ignorance and 

 barbarism, in which the fairest of sciences 

 was converted to the most foolish of pur- 

 poses, let us now turn to the contempla- 

 plation of the first gleams of wisdom that 

 darted through the clouds, when rent 

 asunder by the inventors of systematical 

 botany. 



Conrad Gesner, at Zurich, and Csesal- 

 pinus, at Rome, towards the end of the 

 16th century, entirely independent of 

 each other, first conceived the idea of a 

 regular classification of plants by their 

 flowers and fruit, to which, as Dr. Smith 

 has observed, " the very existence of bo- 

 tany, as a science, is owing." Upon this 

 plan various systems have been framed by 

 succeeding botanists. But before we en- 

 ter upon this subject, it will be essential, 

 in the first place, to understand the gene- 

 ral anatomy of plants, and, lastly, the 

 nature and functions of their particular 

 organs. 



It will readily be admitted, that the 

 most convenient mode of coming to a 

 knowledge of the anatomy of vegetables 

 is, to begin from their external covering, 

 the epidermis, or cuticle. Various theo- 

 ries have been formed respecting its uses 

 to the vegetable body, but physiologists 

 have mostly agreed, that it was designed 

 as a guard against the injurious effects of 

 the atmosphere upon the vital parts of 

 plants, since this, as well as the human 

 cuticle, is merely a dead substance. The 

 infinite variety of appearances which the 

 epidermis assumes in different plants is 

 peculiarly striking. It is common!}' trans- 

 parent and smooth ; sometimes it is hairy 

 or downy ; sometimes of so hard a sub- 

 stance, that even flint has been detected 

 in its composition. Hence the Dutch rush, 

 equisetum hyemale, serves as a file to po- 

 lish wood, ivory, and even brass. 



Under the cuticle is found a substance, 

 which till very lately has been but slight- 

 ly noticed by physiologists. This is the 

 cellular integument, analogous to the rete 

 mucosum of animals; it is, like that, of a 



