138 SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN MIND 



elsewhere, and there the rare plants brought home by 

 the explorers and adventurers were deposited and 

 cared for. Each society of apothecaries had its 

 physic garden, one of which yet survives amid the 

 crowded thoroughfares of London. A number of 

 " herbals " containing descriptions of plants and their 

 properties medicinal and culinary began to appear 

 and to find their place in the libraries of the country 

 gentlemen. Such an one, illustrated by woodcuts, was 

 published in England by John Gerard in 1597, Gerard 

 himself being a member of the court of Barber- 

 Surgeons and superintendent of Lord Burghley's new 

 gardens at his house near Stamford. 



The anatomy of plants was studied as soon as the 

 microscope made the subject possible for investigation, 

 and, led by Malpighi and Nehemiah Grew, men began 

 to form correct ideas about the functions of the different 

 plant organs. Although from early times the fruit 

 of plants had been recognized to be connected with 

 a female element, it was not till the end of the seven- 

 teenth century that definite experimental proof was 

 given by Camerarius (1665-1721), to show that the 

 anthers were the necessary male organs, that in their 

 absence no fertilization of the female element was 

 possible, and that without fertilization seed could not 

 be formed. 



The earlier classifications of both animals and plants 

 were chiefly based on utilitarian ideas or on such 

 obvious external signs as led to the division of plants 

 into herbs, trees and shrubs. Ray, by giving definite- 

 ness to the idea of species, pointed the road to a 

 more natural scheme. 



It was on the sex-organs of plants that Linnaeus 



