224 
HISTOEY OF BOTANY. 
343. In the teginning of the IQth century we fina the namea 
of n.any who were engaged in investigating the vegetable king- 
dom. Some are commemorated by the names of plants ; Leon- 
ard Fiischs of Germany by the plant Fuschsia ; Lobelius, phy- 
sician to James I., by the Lobelia ; and Lonicer, by the Loni- 
cera. Lobelius distinguished the cotyledons of seeds^ divided 
monocotyledonous from dicotyledonous plants^ and attempted to 
form families hy grouping species according to their natu/ral 
relations. Zaluzian^ of Bohemia^ labored to perfect the natu/ral 
groups of former hotanists ; he is the first qf the moderns who 
positively affirmed the existence of stamens and pistils in all 
species of plants^ and suggested the necessity of these orgoMS. 
3M. But notwithstanding the labors of many learned men, 
little real improvement would have been made in the science of 
Botany had there not, at that time, existed some minds of su 
perior genius, who turned their attention to tracing some proper 
method of classification. These were Gesner, Clusius, Csesal- 
pinus, and Bauhin ; of the latter name were two brothers, both 
of whom are deservedly celebrated. Gesner^ called the Pliny 
of Germany, born in 1516, was of an obscure and humble ori- 
gin, but possessed of a powerful and penetrating mind. He at- 
tempted to make a general collection of the objects of natural his- 
tory I he explored the Alps^ and discovered many plants until 
then unknown. He is distinguished from those who had gone 
before him in his suggestions that there existed in the vege- 
table- kingdom genera^ each one composed of many species, 
united by similar characters of the flowers and fruit. Soon 
after the publication of this opinion, botanists began to under- 
stand that the different families of plants have among them- 
selves natural relations.^ founded upon resemblances and affini- 
ties^ and that the most obvious are not always the most impor- 
tant. These are fundamental truths ; and the distinction of 
species., the establishment of genera., and of natural families^ 
seemed to follow of course, after these principles were once es- 
tablished. The Tulipa gesneriana and genus Gesneria have 
been dedicated to this botanist. 
345. Clusius was born in 1526 ; his parents had destined 
him for the profession of law, but his decided taste for Botany 
induced him to abandon this profession. Though he was learned 
in the ancient and modern languages, his enthusiasm for nat- 
ural history induced him to lay aside every other pursuit. He 
traveled over almost all the west of Europe in order to make 
discoveries in the vegetable kingdom, and soon excelled all the 
botanists of the age in the knowledge of both native plants and 
343. Botanists of the 16th century- T.obelius— Zaluzian.— 344. Gesner.- 
pruposed to divide plants into classes. 
345. Clasius, the iirat wn« 
