IV] The Herbal in Switzerland 93 



de I'Ecluse, Gaspard Bauhin and others were the first to 

 describe. 



Among Gesner's numerous scientific correspondents was 

 Jean Bauhin, a brilliant young man, twenty-five years 

 his junior. Their acquaintance began when Bauhin was 

 only eighteen, but, in spite of his friend's youth, Gesner 

 consulted him in botanical difficulties, describing him as 

 " eruditissimus et ornatissimus juvenis." 



Jean Bauhin was the son of a French doctor, a native 

 of Amiens, who had been converted to protestantism by 

 reading the Latin translation of the New Testament 

 prepared by Erasmus. In consequence of his change 

 of faith, he was subjected to religious persecution, which 

 he avoided by retreating to Switzerland, where his sons 

 Jean and Gaspard were born. The medical tradition seems 

 to have been remarkably strong in the family. Both Jean 

 and Gaspard became doctors — Gaspard, whose sons also 

 entered the profession, being, in fact, the second of six 

 generations of physicians. For two hundred years, an 

 unbroken succession of members of the family were 

 medical men. 



After Jean Bauhin had studied for a time at the 

 University of Basle, he went to Tubingen, where he 

 learned botany from Leonhard Fuchs. From Tubingen 

 he proceeded to Zurich, and accompanied Gesner on some 

 journeys in the Alps. After further travel on his own 

 account, and a period at the University of Montpelier, he 

 reached Lyons, where he came in contact with dAlechamps, 

 who engaged him to assist with the ' Histoire des plantes.' 

 Bauhin began to occupy himself with this work, but his 

 protestantism proved a stumbling-block to his life there, 

 and he was obliged to quit France. 



Jean Bauhin's chief botanical work, the ' Histoire 

 universelle des plantes,' was a most ambitious undertaking, 

 which he did not live to see published. However, his 

 son-in-law Cherler, a physician of Basle, who had helped 

 him in preparing it, brought out a preliminary sketch of it 

 in 16 19, and, in 1650 and 165 1, the magnum opus itself 

 was published, under the name of ' Historia plantarum 

 universalis.' This book is a compilation from all sources, 

 and includes descriptions of 5000 plants. The figures, of 



