( ^55 ) 
CHAP. 12. 
Hiftory of wooden cuts of plants — Plantin'j ac- 
cumulation of thefe figures — Fate of Gefner'j 
excellent engravings—Of thofe to the Herbals 
of Turner, Gerard, and Parkinfon— Parkin- 
fon J the lafl of importance ( except Salmon'j- ) 
which were exhibited in England™-i"ir/2 copper- 
plates of plants. 
WOODEN CUTS. 
AS we are nov/ arrived at the period, 
when wooden cuts were about to be 
faperfeded by engravings on metal, Par- 
kinson's Herbal*' being the lait of any 
importance in whicii they were xStA in 
E?2gland, it may not be incongruous to our 
plan to notice the origin and progrefs of 
that art, which contributed not a little to 
facilitate the knowledge of plants. Rude 
as thefe reprefentations were, compared 
with the elegance of modern times, yet, in 
an age when fpecific diflindHons were not 
fixed^ and the diagnoftic of the plant de- 
pended 
