BOTANY. 



this purpofe, mud liave been given to our full parents by 

 immediate revelation from their Creator. Such intimations, 

 however, would be no more than was abfolutely necefTarjr 

 to prefcrvc them from dying by famine, on the one hand, 

 or by the deleterious effeds of puifonous plants on the other. 

 They would extend only to a fewfalutary roots, herbs, and 

 fruits ; and agreeably to the general economy of human life, 

 all farther acquifitious in knowledge would bt the refult of 

 occafional experiments and flow experience. A knowledge 

 of the various fpecies would tlicn gradually increafe, and 

 feme general dillrihutions would fpontancoully offer tliem- 

 felves to notice. A woody trunk would foon be dillin- 

 gniflied from an herbaceous ilem. A tree and a fiuub, an 

 annual and a perennial herb, would not long be confounded 

 with each other. The moll linking difFercnccs in the form 

 and confillence of the fruit would alfo be readily obfcrved. 

 Ivlofes, as appears from the firll chapter of Geticfis, was 

 acquainted with three charadieriltic divifions : giuji, of 

 xvhich the feed was probably for fome time overlooked or 

 difregarded : herbi, which bear their feed in a dry pericarp 

 or feed veffel ; and trees, with all other vegetables, which 

 have their feed inciofed in a pulpy or fome other eatable 

 fubftance. And it is worthy of remark, that in the grant of 

 vegetables to man for the purpofe of food, only the two 

 latter are mentioned ; the firll being referved for " the bealls 

 of the earth, and the fowls of the air, and every thing that 

 creepeth on the earth." Among thefe a f.-letlion would 

 foon be made of fuch as were moll grateful to the palate, 

 and the other fenfes. 'Whatever were the Dudnim which 

 Rachel begged of the fon of Leali, and which our trauOators 

 have abfurdly rendered mandrakes, it is certain, from the 

 fong of Soloiiion, that they were a kind of fruit which gave 

 a pleafant fmell. Solomon is celebrated for his knowledge 

 of plants ; but all that we know of it is, that he fpake ot them 

 from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyflop that groweth on 

 the wall. It could not, moreover, be very long before the 

 early race of mankind began to perceive that fome vegetable 

 produftions are mildly nutritious, and others actively me- 

 dicinal. In the frequent fearch after new viands, which the 

 reftiefs cuviofity and ciaving defirc of diverfilied gratification, 

 natural to man, would induce him to make, he would find 

 fome that produced violent effefts on his bodily frame, and 

 relieved or removed dlfordcrs, wliich are always the " fources 

 of pain, and often the forerunners of death." This would 

 give a new direftion to his inquiries, and would prelent the 

 vegetable creation to him in a more interelling point of view. 

 Pain is, in all cafes, fo difficult to be borne, that whatever 

 promifes to diminifh it, is fought for with unwearied 

 affiduity. 



The knowledge of medicinal plants was, therefore, re- 

 garded as a highly valuable attainment many ages before 

 plants themfelvcs were made the objeils of a ditlintl fcience. 

 Botany long continued the humble but engaging handmaid of 

 furgery and medicine. The balm of Giiead bore a high price 

 in the edimation of a Jew, becp.ufe it was ftrongly and rapidly 

 aiTociatcd with the idea of a phyficiau. In Homer, Patroclns 

 Haunches the bleeding wound of Eurypylus with the juice 

 of a bitter root, the virtues of which he had learned from 

 Achilles, and Achilles from Chiron. The power of the 

 nioly, ufed as an interni-.l antidote againft the incantations of 

 witchcraft, is. hkcwife celebrated by the fame poet ; and the 

 knowledge of it is faid to have been owing to the interven- 

 tion of a god. That great honour was obtained by an 

 acqviaintance with the inedical properties of plants, in the 

 heraic ages, is evident from the encomium given to the wife 

 of one of the heroes whom Neilor boafts of having flaiu in 

 his youth : 



" Who knew the virtues of each earth-born herb." 

 At a much later period, we Ihall fearch in vain for any 

 information concerning the botany of the ancients, except 

 in their medical writers. Hippocrates, the oldell of thole 

 of wlunn we have any remains, and who flouridied at the 

 beginning of the Pcloponnefian war, ofcourle makes menlioa 

 of the plants which were then employed in the cure of 

 difeafes ; but he gives only their names, with their real or 

 fuppofed fanative qualities. Arilbitle, v/ho lived about 

 half a century after, and whofe comprehenfive genius left 

 fcarcely any thing unexplored, could not overlook fo ob- 

 vious and attradlivc a purfnit : but the two books now cx- 

 ifting which bear his name, are of fuch inferior merit, that they 

 are generally thought to be fpurious. Thcophraftus, the 

 dlfciple of Ariftotle, is the firll profcffed writer on plants, 

 whofe works have iucontillibly defeended to modern times. 

 He was acquainted with about five hmidrtd, and has left 

 defcriptions of them, with flight philofophieal fl<etche« 

 relating to fome of their moil prominent dillinCiions. But 

 his defcriptions arc fo vague and imperfetl, that, in mofl. 

 cafes, it is diffienlt, in many impoilible, to detennine what 

 plant he intended. And he has made only a rude attempt 

 to divide them into grand families, either by their fize and 

 texture, as trees, (hrnbs, and herbaceous plants, or by the 

 ufes to which they were then commonly aprjjlied. 



From the age of Theophrallus to that of Diofcorides and 

 Pliny, there is an interval of 400 years. Diolcoridts was a 

 phyfician, and wrote entirely as fuch. He has enumerated 

 about f'OO plants ; but his account of them is fo brief ai)d 

 indeterminate, that, in a botanical view, they are of litile 

 vahie. Nor, in this refpeft, is Phny entitled to muiih 

 greater praifc. 



Dnring the dark ages which fucceeded the downfal of the 

 weftern empire, almolt all the knowledge on this fide of the 

 Indus was confined to the courts ot the Mahometan caliphs. 

 The .A.rabian and Moorifh phylicians cultivated the art of 

 medicine with no inconliderable degree e)f fuecefs, ai.d 

 trauflated the bell Greek writers on the fubjcdl into their 

 own language. But in the inveftigation of plants, they 

 were not much, if at all, fuperior to their mailers, \Vc are, 

 however, indebted to them for the knowledge ot fcnna, 

 caflia fillula, manna, tamarinds, rhubarb, and fome other 

 medical drugs, which Hill keep a place in the Materia 

 Mediea. 



At the revival of literature in the weft, the ancients were 

 truly confidered as the depofitaries of ne'irly all the know- 

 ledge that then txilled. It feemed, ther-.fore, as neceffary 

 as it was natural, that their writings fliould, for 9 time, be 

 cxelufively iludied. For what Heps towards a farther 

 progrcfs coidd be advantageoufly taken, till what was 

 already done was clearly afcertained ? As a general idea, it 

 was a good one : but its application to natural hillory 

 was unfortunate. For in this branch of knowledge the an- 

 cients had done nothing to mncli purpofe. The lovers of 

 botany, however, buoyed up by vain expcftations, devoted 

 themlelves diligently to the Itudy of Theophrallus, Diof.o- 

 rides, and Pliny ; and much time was idly fpcnt in endea- 

 vouring to find, on the well of the Adriatic, all the plant* 

 which have been mentioned by thofe authors. Commen- 

 tators fucceeded commentators ; conjefturc fuperfeded con- 

 jethire : till at length a few intelligent niimls, weary of 

 fruitlefs attempts,^ perceived the folly of Undying a fcience 

 in the imperfeft remains of two dead language-s,- when they 

 might have free accefs to the fair and legible charaAer* 

 of a book always open, and inviting their regard by incoii- 

 tcftible marks of unerring knowledge audwifdom. 



I^ Z Gtfncr, 



