HISTORY OF BOTANY. 
2S3 
barbarity of the times ; yet we cannot doubt, that these distant 
and romantic expeditions were suggested by the desire of change, 
and the vague wish to see and to know new things ; and has- 
tened the awakening of the human mind from its long sleep of 
ages. 
The 12th and 13th centuries, witnessed in Italy the revival 
of a taste for letters and the fine arts ; the commerce of that 
country was flourishing, the people made long voyages by sea, 
and in the relations which they published, spoke of the vegeta- 
ble productions of the countries they had visited, in such a man- 
ner as excited the curiosity of the nations of Europe. 
About this period, it is supposed, herbariums, or collections 
of dried plants, began to be prepared. This was an important 
era in botanical science ; for nature is ever true, and incapable 
of leading into error, while descriptions, or even drawings may 
often give false views of natural objects. 
The science of botany, was not enriched by a single work of 
any meiit, from the fall of the Roman Empire, a period which 
marked the decay of literature, until the 15th century. Those, 
in the dark ages, who pretended to any knowledge of plants, 
only quoted from the Greek and Roman writers, but they were 
ignorant even of the principles of tire languages in which their 
works were written. In the 15th century Italy was governed 
by wise princes, who were influenced by a desire to promote 
knowledge among their people. They invited to their country 
learned men from Greece, from whom they might learn the lan- 
guage of Ilomer and Aristotle. 
At this time the Turks threatened Constantinople, and that 
capital of the empire of the East at length fell into their hands. 
The literature of Greece now took refuge in Italy ; the ancient 
languages were revived, and at this time translations of ancient 
writers, with learned commentaries, were given. Rut these 
labors, although exercising an important influence upon litera- 
ture, were not equally fdrtunate with respect to the progress of 
natural history. The learned writings of antiquity were accu- 
rately studied, but blinded by the brilliancy of great names, men 
of learning looked not upon nature ; they had yet to learn, that 
without examining and comparing real objects, there can be no 
solid foundation in natural history. 
At the period of which we are now speaking, a physician of 
Germany, published some indifferent descriptions of plants ac- 
companied by a few engravings ; this connexion of drawing 
and botany, although the whole was badly executed, was consid- 
ered as an important improvement in the science. 
Revival of literature — Herbariums composed — Constantinople taken by 
the Turks, and the literature of Greece transferred to Italy. 
