ARISTOTLE 7 



C OME plants are born and grow by means of nutriment well ARISTOTLE 



^ digested ; and others, on the contrary, spring from residues, ^ B ' c> 3 8 4-3* 2 ) 



and materials quite different. Cultivation causes the nutriment 



to digest, and fertilises it ; this it is which produces fruits good to 



eat. The plants which arise from this tempering, are called tame 



plants, because the art of cultivation has been profitable to them, 



and has effected, to some extent, their education. Those, on the 



contrary, which art has not been able to direct, and which are 



derived from materials of which the conditions are contrary, re- 



main wild and cannot shoot in a cultivated ground. For Nature 



tames plants in rearing them ; but these other plants can only 



come from corruption. The caper-tree is one of the plants of 



this sort. . . . 



Why is thyme in Attica so bitter, whilst all the other fruits are 

 so sweet ? Is it not because the soil of Attica is light and dry, 

 so that plants do not find in it much moisture ? . . . 



Why do myrtles rubbed between the fingers seem to produce 

 a better scent, than when not rubbed ? Is it not the same as 

 with grapes, of which the bunches submitted to the vintage seem 

 sweeter than the ones gathered from the stock ? * The Problems ' : 

 from the French of Barthelemy Saint- Hilaire. 



Theophrastus attached himself to Plato and then to Aristotle, and was the THEO- 

 master of the comic poet Menander : his true name of Tyrtamus, Aristotle PHRASTUS 

 exchanged for Theophrastus, in allusion to the divine grace of his speech: after ^ C fn *' B -C.) 

 the death of Aristotle, Theophrastus possessed a garden of his own, in the 

 acquisition of which he was aided by Demetrius of Phalenis, whose friendship 

 he enjoyed : he died at the age of eighty-Jive. 



Diogenes Laertius gives an enormous list of works, all of which have perished 

 except his ( Characters ' (translated by La Bruyere], the History and Causes of 

 Plants, on Stones, the Senses, and several fragments : the Lyceum, under his 

 gtiidance, was attended by 2000 disciples. 



There is no complete English translation of his work on Plants. 



T GIVE to Callinus the land which I possess at Stagira, and all 

 * my books to Neleus. As to my garden, the walk, and the 

 houses adjacent to the garden, I give them in perpetuity to those 



