( 34 ) 
C H A t. p 
Manu/cripts of the Patres Botanici fcarce in Eng-^ 
land — Reftoration of ancient knowledge^ by thd 
publications of Pliny, Diofcoridcs, and Theo- 
phrafbus — 'The ^era of cotnmentators — Rife of 
true invefligation hy Brunsfelfius, Tragi^s, Cor- 
■ diis, and Gefner — Famous MS. o/'E)iofcorides> 
ivith illuminated figures, 
Middle AGES. 
AT this time manufcripts of Thec^- 
PHRASTUs, DioscoRi]!)ES, and 
Pliny^ were not only exceedingly rare 
throughout Edrope, biit thofe of the twd 
former v/ere unnoticed through ignoranGe"" 
of the Greek language • otherwife we ean-» 
not fuppofe our anceftors could have ne- 
gleded them, for the crude and barbarous- 
works which have been mentioned. It wa^ 
not till the opening of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, that opportunity was given to recur to 
thefe repofitories of antient lore. The flight 
of the Greeks into Italy, at the fubverfion 
of the Eaftern Empire^ and the fubfequent 
invention? 
