218 
mSTOET OF BOTANY. 
tiom of them ; he remarked upon their different external or* 
ffans; distinguished the seed-lobes (Cotyledons) from the leaves ; 
gave just ideas of their functions, and the offices of the root. 
He explained their anatomy as well as possible without the as- 
sistance of the microscope, which (as the science of optics was 
then unknown) had not been invented. Theophrastus seemed 
too much inclined to compare the structure of vegetables to that 
of animals ; imagining that he found in plants bones and arte- 
ries. A shrub which grows in the Antilles is named Theophras- 
ta, in honor of this ancient botanist. DioscorideSy a physician 
of Greek extraction, about the commencement of the Christian 
era, travelled over Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy, in order to 
observe the plants of those countries ; his works were written in 
Greek: he divided plants into four classes, viz. : Ist^ aromatic ; 
^di^ vinous I ^di^ medicinal i 4:i\h^ alimentary oi' nutritious. The 
labors of this botanist were of little value on account of want of 
method in his descriptions. He gave the names and properties 
of six hundred plants ; but having no idea of species or genera, 
his work was but a chaos of facts, which were so imperfectly 
expressed as to render it impossible to apply them to use. 
333. TJie elder Pliny ^ who lived in the reign of Wero^ treated 
of the history of plants, but he neglected nature, and derived his 
science from the works of his predecessors. False systems oi 
philosophy seemed to fetter the noblest minds, and prevent theii 
pursuing those methods of investigation which would have led 
to a true knowledge of nature. The genius of Pliny was vast 
and active ; he consecrated to scientific researches and literary 
works, the leisure which public duties left him. His "History 
of the World," which was a compilation of all the knowledge 
of the ancients upon the subject of natural history, the only one 
of his writings which has escaped the ravages of time and bar- 
barians, is but a small portion of his labors. He is considered 
faulty in recording both truth and error, often transmitting them 
without observation or criticism, and sometimes favoring absurd 
traditions ; but his work is justly admired for the greatness ol 
its plan, which embraced the whole of nature., for the elegance 
of its style, and for the wonderful art with which the highest 
considerations of practical philosophy are associated with natu- 
ral history. In the year Y9 after Christ, Pliny fell a sacrifice to 
his desire of knowledge, in an eruption of Mount Yesuvius, 
wishing to contemplate as near as possible so sublime a specta- 
cle, he perished, suftbcated by the sulphureous exhalations. 
334-. Galen., in the second ceiittcry^ wrote upon the medicinal, 
qualities of plants, but gave no descriptions. The love of the 
sciences seemed, in the prosperous days of Rome, to be extin- 
Dioscoiyes — 333. Piiny.— 334. (Jalen— Condition of science in the niost prosperous days of B inw 
