History 15 



early as 1533 or 1535, at the time of the conquest of Peru 

 by the Spaniards. Hieronymus Cardan, a monk, is 

 supposed to have been the first to introduce it from 

 Peru into Spain, and from thence it passed quickly into 

 Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and 

 France. The first figures and detailed description of it 

 in its new home in continental Europe are those of Clusius 

 in 1601 in his " Rariorum Plantarum Historia," although 

 Bauhin in his " Phytopinax," printed in Basel in 1596, 

 described it and gave it the Latin name or characteriza- 

 tion, Solanum tuberosum esculentum. (See Plate I.) 



The date and method of introduction of the potato 

 into North America are not definitely known, but it was 

 probably introduced by Spanish voyagers and at some- 

 time before 1585, for it is clearly recorded that its first 

 introduction was made into England by colonists from 

 Virginia in 1586 under the patronage of Sir Walter 

 Raleigh. 



"It seems to me most likely," says De Candolle, "that 

 some inhabitants of Virginia — perhaps English colo- 

 nists — received tubers from Spanish or other travelers, 

 traders or adventurers, during the ninety years which 

 had elapsed since the discovery of America. Evidently, 

 dating from the conquest of Peru and Chile, in 1535 to 

 1585, many vessels could have carried tubers of the potato 

 as provisions, and Sir Walter Raleigh, making war on 

 the Spaniards as a privateer, may have pillaged some 

 vessel which contained them. This is the less improbable, 

 since the Spaniards had introduced the plant into Europe 

 before 1585." 



At the discovery of America, we are told by Humboldt, 

 the plant was cultivated in parts of western South 

 America from Chile to Colombia but not in Mexico, and 



