Supplement to "Nature" Novembc}- 14, 1901. 



The second part of the book contains an admirable 

 detailed description of the ancient MSS., more than one 

 hundred in number, which were exhibited. This cata- 

 logue, containing numerous extracts with references to 

 other MSS. and printed texts, forms, beside its 

 immediate value, an excellent guide to the treasures of 

 this kind preserved in Italian libraries. 



It would be out of place here to enter on the interesting 

 questions relating to the history of medicine which are 

 raised in this volume, but we desire to call attention to 

 the important bearings of some of these ancient works, 

 and especially of the illustrations reproduced in the atlas, 

 on the history of botany. 



It is well known that a considerable number of works 

 on medical botany, written in late Roman times, have 

 come down to us and are still preserved in MS. in several 

 European libraries. The most celebrated and probably 

 the earliest is the MS. of Dioscorides, of the fifth cen- 

 tury, now at Vienna, but originally brought from Naples, 

 which is illustrated with a large number of coloured 

 figures of plants. Another work, bearing the name of 

 " Herbarium of Apuleius Platonicus," exists in many 

 codices, and is always illustrated with the same series of 

 figures, copied from one MS. to another. The ancient 

 Anglo-Saxon version of this work, in the British Museum, 

 with the same figures, has been printed in Mr. Cockayne's 

 " Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms." There are others, which 

 need not be mentioned here. 



The text of these works has little botanical interest, 

 being the work of mere servile compilers. But the illus- 

 trations have a peculiar and indeed unique value, and 

 this because they are the work of copyists, who have 

 transmitted to us, more or less accurately, a tradition of 

 the way in which classical artists of the Roman period 

 figured plants. The great MS. of Dioscorides is unique, 

 or nearly so, and whether its figures were copied from 

 still earlier figures we cannot say. But the earliest 

 MSS. of Apuleius (ninth century) were probably copied 

 from earlier works, and exhibit, therefore, a still earlier 

 period in science and art. 



These rich materials for a study of ancient botanical 

 illustration have been most imperfectly explored, and 

 have never been reproduced for the benefit of students 

 in general. There is a printed edition of Apuleius issued 

 by Philip de Lignamine at Rome about 1480, with rough 

 copies of the figures in the original MS. ; but the book 

 is almost as rare as the manuscripts. The figures of the 

 Vienna Dioscorides were copied on copper plates in the 

 eighteenth century ; but only two impressions are known 

 to exist. A few were reproduced in Daubeny's " Roman 

 Husbandry" and elsewhere, but they amount to very little. 

 It would be a worthy, though costly, enterprise for some 

 Government or acadeiiiy to reproduce one of the old 

 MSS., with its figures in their original colours. 



We are therefore glad to see that Sig. Giacosa has 

 copied in his atlas some of these ancient figures of 

 plants. The chief characteristics of the school, viz. the 

 diagrammatic representation of the plant with artificial 

 symmetry, the disproportion of parts, the formal outline, 

 and the decorative aim of the whole, can be well traced ; 

 while a comparison of figures of different dates shows the 

 growth of conventionalism. Some realistic botanical 

 figures of later schools form an instructive contrast. 

 NO. 1672, VOL. 65] 



As an example, we can only refer to the figures of one 

 plant, the celebrated Atropa tiiandragora or mandrake, 

 of which so many fables have been told. A comparison of 

 the representations of this plant at different periods shows 

 the gradual development and embellishment of the legend. 



The legend of the mandragora, a formidable plant 

 which caused the death of whoever pulled it up, so that 

 a dog was employed in this fatal task, as told by Josephus 

 and others, is well known. We find here, however, from a 

 MS. of the ninth century, a fuller account than we have met 

 with elsewhere, which it maybe of interest to translate : — 



" Mandragora is a plant which the poets call anthropo- 

 niercas [sic], since it has a root shaped like a man. It is 

 given in wine to those who wish to undergo a surgical 

 operation safely, as when stupefied by it they feel no pain. 

 When you come to it you will recognise it because it 

 shines at night like a lamp. When you see its head you 

 must cut round it with a knife lest it should escape. For 

 such is its virtue that on the approach of an impure man 

 it quickly flees before him. Therefore you dig round 

 it with a knife, which must not touch the plant, and 

 carefully remove the earth with an ivory spade. And 

 when you see the hand and foot of the herb, tie round it 

 a new cord and fasten the cord to the neck of a dog 

 which has been kept fasting, and a little way off place a 

 piece of bread so that the dog (trying to seize the bread) 

 may pull up the herb. But if you do not wish to kill the 

 dog, since the herb has such a divine power that it kills 

 in an instant whoever pulls it up, proceed as follows.. 

 Make a snare of a long rod, and tie the cord which is 

 fastened to the herb to the top of the rod, and bend it 

 down ; so that when the rod sprmgs up by its own force 

 it will pull up the herb mandragora." 



This merciful substitute for the dog we have not found 

 mentioned elsewhere. 



All the pictures of the mandrake accordingly show the 

 dog and the cord, sometimes a spectator, stopping his 

 ears, lest (according to another part of the story) he 

 should hear the shriek uttered by the herb when pulled 

 up, which it was death to hear. In some, presumably 

 the older figures, the herb is merely a forked tap-root 

 with arms, the extremities ending in fibres, and sur- 

 mounted by a tuft of leaves. In later figures the tuft is 

 replaced by a well-formed human head and the fibres by 

 distinct fingers and toes. 



There are other figures of plants which, without 

 possessing the romantic interest of the mandrake, are 

 well worthy of study, and furnish interesting, though 

 difficult, problems in identification. Some old botanical 

 glossaries are also worth attention. 



We have quoted enough to show the botanical interest 

 of Signor Giacosa's beautiful work. It is an important 

 contribution to the history of science, and should find a 

 place in all the greater botanical as well as medical 

 libraries. J. F. P. 



THE ANDES OF PA TAGONIA. 

 Les Andes de Patagonie. Par L. Gallois. Pp. 28 -F plates! 

 (Paris : Librairie Armand Colin, 1901.) 



THIS brochure treats almost entirely of the orography 

 of Patagonia in its relation to the boundary-line 

 question between the Argentine Republic and Chile, 

 which is now sub judice, having been submitted to the 

 arbitration of the English Government. The author claims 

 that his " only object in this study is to assist in making 

 better known one of the most curious regions of the globe"; 



