188 Philosophy of BoTANt. 



point, as living organisms developing in definite phases of 

 grov,fth and reproduction with regard to their affinities among- 

 themselves, their analogies to animal and human life, their 

 dependencies from the elements in which they are placed, the 

 mutual dependencies among themselves, as also upon aninial 

 life, and ultimately the human race itself. Even the function 

 of the human intellect is shown to be intertwined with the 

 phenomena of their sensitiveness resembling volition. With 

 the scrutiny of the origin and meaning of life they help to 

 transport us in the sphere of philosophy, the sublime terminus 

 of science. 



The earlier phases of the development of any particular sci- 

 ence cannot be followed up otherwise than along the line of 

 general intellectual progress, following the plan- of gradual 

 specializations. How this process evolved in the struggles 

 with the floods and eddies of history I wish to depict within 

 the smallest possible compass, with the special aim to point 

 out the interferences which even at this day have not ceased 

 to make themselves felt. I intend to proceed like a navigator 

 who sails around a continent, directing his course from prom- 

 ontory to promontory. To follow the coast line and explor- 

 ingly to ascend the rivers would be the work of an historian. 



The birthplace of all ideal creations of the human mind and 

 also of the natural sciences is ancient Athens, and the origin 

 of scientific botany is one of the latest fruits which matured 

 from the flowery epoch of Greece. Great statesmen, heroes, 

 genial artists, poets, and philosophers had in unbroken suc- 

 cession followed each other in the interval of one hundred and 

 fifty^years between the battles of Salamis and Arbela, and the 

 Hellenic genius appeared to exhaust itself in the luxuriance of 

 its productions. The first school of philosophy was a natural 

 philosophy, known under the name of the Ionian school. It 

 originated with Thales, the Milesian, who first calculated the 

 length of the year to be three hundred and sixty-five days, and 

 was the first who predicted a solar eclipse and called water the 

 passive principle in nature. His friend and disciple was An- 

 aximander, also born in Miletus. He taught that the universe, 

 though variable in its parts, as one whole is immutable. The 

 invention of the sundial is ascribed to him. Anaximenes, also 



