228 
HISTORY OF BOTANY. 
he employed for this purpose, were, the duration and size of plants; 
presence^ or absence of flowers ; the number of cotyledons; the situ- 
ation of the seed, as erect or pendent ; the adherence of the pericarp 
to the seeds ; the number of cells in the pericarp, and the number of 
seeds which they contained ; the adherence of the calyx to the germ ; 
and the nature of the root, whether bulbous, or fibrous. This method 
was too imperfect to be followed, having neither the sim.phcity nor 
the unity to render its application useful. 
John Bauhin, though younger than Gesner, was his friend and 
pupil ; he composed a general history of plants ; this was a work 
evincing great learning and accurate investigations. Gaspard 
Bauhin, the younger brother, no less active and learned, conceived 
the design of a work which should contain a history of all known 
plants, together with the different names which other writers had 
applied to the same plant. Clusius and the elder Bauhin had ima- 
gined something like a genus of plants, formed by the grouping of 
similar species, but Gaspard Bauhin expressed this more decidedly 
in remarks upon generic distinctions. His work, the result of forty 
years' labour, was of great assistance to Linnaeus, in perfecting our 
present system of Botany. 
We find, in looking back upon the labours of botanists daring the 
16th century, that more had been accomplished than during any 
former period ; the character of novelty and originahty exhibited in 
these researches, is highly creditable to those who thus led the way 
in the march of improvement. 
The 17th century, in its commencement, was not favourable to the 
sciences. Europe was agitated by continual wars, and the arts ot 
peace were neglected; but in the last part of that age, a taste for nat- 
ural history revived ; men of highly gifted minds applied themselves 
to the study of Botany, and many undertook long voyages, with the 
sole design of examining foreign plants. Botanists were astonished 
at the great number of interesting plants discovered by travellers, 
in the region of South Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, and 
in the East India Islands. 
Two Dutch botanists of the name of Commelin, who wrote about 
this period, are commemorated in the beautiful genus Commelina, 
first discovered in America. Bonnet* of Geneva, a close observer 
of facts, wrote upon the " Nature and Offices of Leaves ;" and a work 
entitled, " Contemplation of Nature, or the Regeneration of Beings." 
Two writers of the name of Camararius are distinguished in the 
annals of the science for learning and ingenuity. Gaertner of Gei-- 
many wrote upon fruits, or, as he termed this department of the 
science, Carpology. He dissected the fruits of more than a thou- 
sand plants, the figures of which he designed and engraved. To 
Gleditsch, professor of Botany at Frankfort, is dedicated the genus 
Gleditscha. Rudbeck the younger, who preceded Linnaeus as pro- 
fessor of Botany in Upsal, was, by the latter, commemorated in the 
genus Rudbeckia. 
At this period, the plants of our own country began to excite the 
curiosity of scientific Europeans. Louis XIV. sent to America, 
Plumier, a man celebrated for his mathematical and botanical knowl- 
edge, and who was styled, botanist to the King. He made three 
voyages, and gave drawings and descriptions of more American 
species than any other traveller had done. 
* Pronounced Bonnay. 
Characters employed by him in the formation of classes— The Bauhins— Retrospect 
of the 16th century— Botany in the 17th century. 
