FUCHS 25 



known by his successful treatment of an epidemic. In 

 1533 lie was invited to resume his professorship at 

 Ingolstadt, but was soon driven away by Jesuit in- 

 trigues, and returned to Anspach. On the death of 

 his patron, the margrave, he accepted a call to the 

 university of Tiibingen, which had just adopted the 

 Eeformed faith, and here he remained from 1535 

 till his death (1566). Among his published works are 

 treatises on medicine and human anatomy. 



Fuchs' first contribution to botanical literature con- 

 sisted of critical remarks on medicinal plants written 

 for Brunfels' Krauterbuch. He then aspired to produce 

 a herbal of his own, and in 1542 issued his Historia 

 Stirpium, which was immediately translated into 

 German. 



The text, like that of Brunfels, is drawn chiefly 

 from ancient authors ; the descriptions are briefer, and 

 show a much slighter acquaintance with the original 

 texts. The arrangement is alphabetical according to 

 the Greek names of genera. Fuchs says in his preface 

 that he would have liked to associate "congenerous 

 herbs," as Dioscorides had done, had such a sequence 

 been permitted by the pictures ; this excuse is uncon- 

 vincing. Plants are often associated on the ground 

 of a quite superficial resemblance ; Viola includes the 

 violet, Hesperis and the snowdrop ; Stellaria Holostea 

 and Parnassia come under the Grasses.^ Fuchs shows 



^This remark holds good for early botanists in general. Names like rose 

 and violet had no definite botanical meaning ; the Christmas Rose, the China 

 Rose and the Rook Rose have no affinity with the rose of the hedge, nor with 

 one another ; the Dame's Violet and the Dog's-tooth Violet no affinity with 

 the sweet violet and the pansy. In the same way primitive medicine gave the 

 name of Hepatioa to an anemone, and also to the cryptogamous Marchantia, 

 of Verbena to Verbena officinalis and also to the groundsel ; and of Consolida 

 (healing) to a number of quite different herbs, which agreed only in having a 

 reputation for closing wounds (Greene, Landmarha, pp. 176, 231). 



