It is evident that these names were introduced by 

 gardeners who understood Latin, and there can be little 

 doubt that the gardeners were the monks, of whose skill 

 in horticulture there are abundant indications in mediaeval 

 annals. 



Medicine was practised during many generations 

 chiefly by the religious and the Jews ; relics and holy 

 water were more esteemed than drugs.^ When physi- 

 cians became plentiful, they were nearly always astro- 

 logers as well, and during a great part of the middle ages 

 all men of science either called themselves astrologers 

 or were popularly supposed to practise astrology and 

 magic. 



To the thirteenth century are generally ascribed the 

 introduction of the mariner's compass, gunpowder, read- 

 ing glasses, the Arabic numerals and the denary 

 scale. In the fourteenth century trade with the east 

 was extended so far as the Saracen power permitted ; 

 central Asia and even the far east were visited by 

 Europeans ; universities were multiplied ; popular 

 government, ecclesiastical reformation and national sen- 

 timent gained strength ; the revival of learning and the 

 revival of painting and sculpture proceeded in Italy 

 with unexampled rapidity and force. The fifteenth 

 century is marked by the invention of wood engraving 

 and printing, and by the great geographical discoveries 



'Meyer, Geschiehte der Botanik, Vol. Ill, p. 412. 



