77 
BOOK XXV. 
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE WILD PLANTS. 
CHAP. 1. (1.) WHEN THE WILD PLANTS WERE FIEST BROUGHT 
INTO USE. 
The more highly esteemed plants of which I am now about 
to speak, and which are produced by the earth for medicinal 
purposes solely, inspire me with admiration of the industry 
and laborious research displayed by the ancients. Indeed there 
is nothing that they have not tested by experiment or left 
untried ; no discovery of theirs which they have not disclosed, 
or which they have not been desirous to leave for the benefit 
of posterity. We, on the contrary, at the present day, make 
it our object to conceal and suppress the results of our labours, 
and to defraud our fellow-men of blessings even which have 
been purchased by others. For true it is, beyond all doubt, 
that those who have gained any trifling accession of knowledge, 
keep it to themselves, and envy the enjoyment of it by others; to 
leave mankind uninstructed being looked upon as the high prero- 
gative of learning. So far is it from being the habit with them 
to enter upon new fields of discovery, with the view of bene- 
fitting mankind at large, that for this long time past it has been 
the greatest efibrt of the ingenuity of each, to keep to himself 
the successful results of the experience of former ages, and so 
bury them for ever ! 
And yet, by Hercules ! a single invention before now has 
elevated men to the rank of gods ; and how many an individual 
has had his name immortalized in being bestowed upon some 
plant which he was the first to discover, thanks to the 
gratitude which prompted a succeeding age to make some 
adequate return ! If it had been expended solely upon the 
plants which are grown to please the eye, or which invite 
us by their nutrimental properties, this laborious research on 
the part of the ancients would not have been so surprising ; 
but in addition to this, we find them climbing by devious 
tracts to the very summit of mountains, penetrating to the very 
