294 HISTORY OF BOTANV. 



world. Their attempts at a systematic distribution 

 of plants were altogether futile. Although Aris- 

 totle's divisions of the animal kingdom are, even at 

 this day, looked upon with admiration by the best 

 naturalists; the arrangements and comparisons of 

 plants which were contrived by Theophrastus and 

 his successors, have not left the slightest trace in 

 the modern form of the science; and, therefore, 

 according to our plan, are of no importance in 

 our history. And thus we can treat all the miscel- 

 laneous information concerning vegetables which 

 was accumulated by the whole of this school of 

 writers, in no other way than as something ante- 

 cedent to the first progress towards systematic 

 knowledge. 



The information thus collected by the unsyste- 

 matic writers is of various kinds; and relates to 

 the economical and medicinal uses of plants, their 

 habits, mode of cultivation, and many other cir- 

 cumstances: it frequently includes some descrip- 

 tion; but this is always extremely imperfect, because 

 the essential conditions of description had not been 

 discovered. Of works composed of materials so 

 heterogeneous, it can be of little use to produce 

 specimens; but I may quote a few words from 

 Theophrastus, which may serve to connect him with 

 the future history of the science, as bearing upon 

 one of the many problems respecting the identifi- 

 cation of ancient and modern plants. It has been 

 made a question whether the following description 



