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strengthened rather than weakened as the time-distance from 

 Theophrastus increases. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that 

 Dr. Greene's sympathetic and masterly interpretation of the 

 writings of Theophrastus has brought the "Father of Botany" 

 appreciably nearer to the botanists of the present age. 



Among the botanical writers discussed in the chapter on 

 "Greeks and Romans after Theophrastus", the principal are 

 Nicander of Colophon, Cato, Varro, Virgil, Columella, Dios- 

 corides, Pliny, and Galen. "The scientific botanist among the 

 Greeks", Dr. Greene observes, "was Theophrastus; and there is 

 no comparison between him and Dioscorides, whose theme was 

 medical botany; but, quite as usual, the man of 'applied science' 

 was the one to meet with general appreciation and approval. . . . 

 Latin editions of Dioscorides are too numerous to be given a 

 reckoning; and almost the same may be said as to early trans- 

 lations of him into modern tongues; for between the years 1555 

 and 1752 there were at least twelve Spanish editions, as great a 

 number in Italian". And there were several editions, also, in 

 French and German. Nicander, a Greek grammarian and poet, 

 wrote, it seems, a versified dissertation on poisonous fungi and 

 another on the cultivation of edible mushrooms. The Roman 

 writers treated of plants chiefly in their relations to horticulture 

 and agriculture. "Cato (B. C. 235-149) knew 125 kinds of 

 plants, Varro (B. C. 117-27) mentions 107, Virgil (B. C. 70-19) 

 164. Yet the sum total of the plants of these Romans, 245, is 

 only about half the number that had been known by Theophras- 

 tus some 300 years earlier." 



The sixteenth-century "German Fathers" whose lives and 

 works are interestingly set forth by Dr. Greene are Brunfels, 

 Fuchs, Tragus, Euricius Cordus, and Valerius Cordus. The 

 author of the "Landmarks" is so bold as to say that the works of 

 the "German Fathers" have been quite inadequately examined 

 even by the German historians. "Julius von Sachs, the latest in 

 the line, copied Sprengel's caption The German Fathers', etc., 

 but knew next to nothing of their works, even rating as unimpor- 

 tant Valerius Cordus, who was immeasurably the greatest of them 

 all." 



