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CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY OF LICHENOLOGY. 



" Let me suggest that the study of the simple plants ought to take the 

 precedence of those whose organization is more complex and intricate, as 

 being the simplest expression of the laws of vegetable life." — Coultas. 



The dark and almost impenetrable veil which has for ages 

 enveloped the subject of Lichenology, — and especially the 

 question of the reproduction of Lichens, — has not been due 

 to the deficiency or absence of a special literature. On the 

 contrary, the Lichens, like the Salices and Hieracia, may 

 be said in a manner to have been " rendered botanically 

 odious by books." In the works of the earlier Licheno- 

 logists, — who did not possess suitable instruments for re- 

 search, — the microscope in particular having been rendered 

 available in botanical science only within a comparatively 



