320 HISTORY OF BOTANY. 



more modern writers on botany. Linnaeus calls him 

 one of the founders of the science ; " Primus verus 

 systematicus 19 ;" and, as if not satisfied with the ex- 

 pression of his admiration in prose, hangs a poetical 

 garland on the tomb of his hero. The following 

 distich concludes his remarks on this writer : 



Quisquis hie extiterit primes concedet honores 

 Ctesalpine tibi; primaque serta dabit: 



and similar language of praise has been applied to 

 him by the best botanists up to Cuvier 20 , who justly 

 terms his book " a work of genius." 



Perhaps the great advance made in this science 

 by Csesalpinus, is most strongly shown by this ; that 

 no one appeared, to follow the path which he had 

 opened to system and symmetry, for nearly a cen- 

 tury. Moreover, when the progress of this branch 

 of knowledge was resumed, his next successor, 

 Morison, did not choose to acknowledge that he 

 had borrowed so much from so old a writer; and 

 thus, hardly mentions his name, although he takes 

 advantage of his labours, and even transcribes his 

 words without acknowledgment, as I shall show. 

 The pause between the great invention of Csesal- 

 pinus, and its natural sequel, the developement and 

 improvement of his method, is so marked, that I 

 will, in order to avoid too great an interruption of 

 chronological order, record some of its circum- 

 stances in a separate section. 



19 Philosoph. Bot. p. 19. 80 Cuv. Hist. 193. 





