THE MID-JULY FLOWERS. 207 
gone. A map of the world as known to Homer gives 
usa comparatively small circle drawn about Greece as 
a center, including southern Europe, western Asia and 
northern Africa, the whole surrounded by the Ocean 
Stream; a geography of myth and fairy tale, of sea 
gods and nymphs and enchantresses neither mortal nor 
divine; a geography of strange lands like that Syrian 
isle ‘where disease is not, nor hunger nor thirst, and 
where, when men grow old, Apollo comes with Artemis 
and slays them with his silver bow.” 
Little by little the limits of the circle are pushed 
further back. Herodotus has a larger knowledge than 
Homer; Ptolemy, than Herodotus; Alexander and 
Cesar push their conquests to the verge of the world. 
In time comes the invention of the mariner’s compass, 
and a bold Columbus pushes westward across the ocean 
to reach the far East with its boundless wealth, and a 
new world is laid open to the astonished gaze of man- 
kind, thenceforth stimulated to greater zeal in discovery 
and exploration and map-making. The coming ex- 
plorer will soon be obliged to weep for new lands to 
explore. The names of many who have taken an active 
part in these discoveries and explorations have become 
a part of the map, to suggest their history to all stu- 
dents in the after time. 
So in a vague sort of way, botany must have been 
studied from time immemorial. But the beginnings of 
