BRITISH GALLS 



CHAPTER I 

 INTRODUCTION 



THE remarkable hypertrophies of plant tissues with 

 which this volume is concerned have been termed 

 " galls " from early times. The Greek naturalist and philo- 

 sopher Theophrastus (372-286 B.C.) alluded to the superior 

 quality of the gall-nuts of Syria. Then, as now, the Aleppo 

 gall * was a valuable article of trade. Two well-known 

 writers of the first century a.d. also alluded to them — viz., the 

 Greek surgeon Dioscorides and the Roman naturalist Pliny 

 the Elder. The true cause of the origin of these growths was 

 quite unknown until comparatively recent times. Dr. Peter 

 Matthiolus, a physician of great repute in the sixteenth 

 century, ascribed their origin to spontaneous generation, and 

 asserted that important events could be foretold by carefully 

 examining the contents of galls. These views were upheld 

 by the botanists (herbalists) of that time. Gerard wrote : 

 "The Oke-apples- being broken asunder do foreshew the 

 sequell of the yeare, as the expert Kentish husbandmen 

 have observed by the living things found in them : as if 

 they found an ant, they foretell plenty of graine to ensue ; 

 if a white worm or magot, murren of beasts and cattell ; 

 if a spider, then, say they, we shall have a pestilence or 

 some such-like sickness amongst men." The authors of a 



* Caused by Cynips tinctona Oliv. chiefly on Quercus infectoria Oliv. 

 Nearly 800 tons of these Galls were imported in 1861. 



