THE DARK ERA 21 



The revival of interest in ancient Greek and Roman 

 literature which began in the fourteenth century and 

 became so general and enthusiastic throughout Europe 

 in the fifteenth century, brought to the attention of the 

 scientist and layman the observations and philosophies 

 of Theophrastus and Pliny regarding the diseases of 

 plants. But the statements of these philosophers were 

 blindly accepted and no attempts were made to verify 

 or disprove them by actual observation. The few 

 writers on agriculture during the latter part of this dark 

 era contented themselves for the most part with repeating 

 merely the statements of the ancients (Sorauer Transl., 

 1914:45). 



gives volume 3 as the one in which data on diseases of plants is to be 

 found. This appears to be an error, as I am unable to discover any 

 "volume 3." Part 2 of the second volume, which might have been 

 meant, deals with diseases of animals. 



