Philosophy of Botany. 211 



Agriculture was the only one of the exact sciences which the 

 Romans cultivated with fondness and success. Since ancient 

 times it had been well attended to in Italy and Sicily. Cato 

 the Older had excelled as an agricultural author. Columella, 

 who lived in the time of Nero, spent his literary talent for the 

 revival of love of husbandry ; Terentius Varro laid down the 

 rules for pruning grapevines ; Cornelius Celsus flourished as a 

 celebrated physician and botanist. 



The influence of nature upon the intellectual life of man 

 seems to have been first conceived by Plinius the Older, who, 

 stimulated by this idea, resolved to compose a work which 

 should give an account of all objects of nature which had here- 

 tofore become known. This remarkable man enjoyed the es- 

 teem and friendship of Trajan, to whom he was an advisor in 

 aflfairs of State. He gave his work the title : " Historia 

 Naturalis." As it is not strictly systematic it should be 

 called an Encyclopedia. Such works issue now from asso- 

 ciations only of scientists, but Plinius undertook the gigantic 

 task upon his personal erudition and resources, extracted from 

 the works of not less than 2,500 publications of preceding or 

 contemporaneous authors. In style and depth of research, it 

 is vastly inferior to the Aristotelian work, which it was in- 

 tended to supersede. The Grecian being equally great in in- 

 venting and observing, comparing all things critically, 

 thoughtfully penetrating, giving new forms ; the Roman, 

 collecting with indefatigable zeal and industry, but void of 

 individual judgment and personal observation, neither a critic 

 nor a specialist. The botanical part of the book is the best 

 conducted because he took Dioscorides for his guide. 



The work happily escaped the ravages of the times, and be- 

 came for the Middle Ages the foundation for the study of the 

 natural sciences. In behalf of the service it rendered to the 

 contemporaries it is entitled to the credit to have, by methodic 

 exposition, raised natural science to the dignity of philosophy. 



Taking up again the thread of history in Africa, we are trans- 

 lated to a period when the Christian religion had made great 

 progress. A thorough ecclesiastic organization with seven 

 "bishoprics represented the secular power and dignity of the 

 church. 



