HISTORY OF BOTANY. 227 



These species were arranged according to certain general resem- 

 blances, or natural relations ; thus we see that natural methods were 

 prior to any attempts at an artificial system. 



In the beginning of the 16th century, we find the names of many 

 who were engaged in investigating the vegetable kingdom. Some 

 are commemorated by the names of plants ; Leonard Fuschs of 

 Germany, by the plant Fuschsia ; Lobelius, physician to James I., by 

 the Lobelia ; and Lonicer, by the Lonicera. 



Lobelius distinguished the cotyledons of seeds, divided monocoty- 

 ledonous from dicotyledonous plants, and attempted to form fami- 

 lies by grouping species according to their natural relations. Zalu- 

 zian of Bohemia laboured to perfect the natural groups of former 

 botanists ; he is the first of the moderns who positively affirmed the 

 existence of stamens and pistils in all species of plants, and suggest- 

 ed the necessity of these organs. 



But, notwithstanding the labours of many learned men, little real 

 improvement would have been made in the science of Botany, had 

 there not, at that time, existed some minds of superior genius, who 

 turned their attention to tracing some proper method of classifica- 

 tion. These were Gesner, Clusius, Cresalpinus, and Bauhin; of the 

 latter name were two brothers, both of whom are deservedly cele- 

 brated. 



Gesner, called the Pliny of Germany, born in 1516, was of an ob- 

 scure and humble origin, but possessed of a powerful and penetra- 

 tmg mind. He attempted to make a general collection of the ob- 

 jects of natural history ; he explored the Alps, and discovered many 

 plants until then unknown. He is distinguished from those who had 

 gone before him, in his suggestions that there existed in the vegeta- 

 ble kingdom, groups, or genera^ each one composed of many spe- 

 cies, united by similar characters of the flowers and fruit. Soon af- 

 ter the publication of this opinion, botanists began to understand 

 that the different families of plants have among themselves natural 

 relations, founded upon resemblances and atfinities, and that the 

 most obvious are not always the most important. These are fun- 

 damental truths ; and the distinction of species, the establishment of 

 genera, and of natural families, seemed to follow of course, after 

 these principles were once established. The Tulipa gesneriana, 

 and genus Gesneria, have been dedicated to this botanist. 



Clusius was born in 1526 ; his parents had destined him for the 

 profession of law, but his decided taste for Botany induced him to 

 abandon this profession. He was learned in the ancient and mod- 

 ern languages, but his enthusiasm for natural history induced him 

 to lay aside every other pursuit. He travelled over almost all the 

 west of Europe, in order to make discoveries in the vegetable king- 

 dom ; and soon excelled all the botanists of the age in the knowl- 

 edge of both native plants and exotics. He had the' direction of the 

 imperial garden at Vienna, and afterward was public professor of 

 Botany at Leyden. His enthusiasm for this science terminated only 

 with his hfe. Before his time, the art of describing plants with pre- 

 cision and accuracy was unknown ; but, unlike the descriptions of 

 his predecessors, his were neither faulty from superfluous terms, nor 

 from the omission of important circumstances. 



Caesalpinus, a native of Florence, who was contemporary with 

 Clusius, proposed to form species into classes. The characters which 



Botanists of the 16th century — Lobelius— Zaluzian — Gesner— How distinguished 

 from his predecessors 7— Clusius, the first who proposed to divide plants into classes 

 —Caesalpinus. 



