121 
A short account is subjoined of three botanists’ eminent 
in their day, who have been alluded to by Hudson in his 
description of the Lobelia. 
Boccone Paul Silvius. He was born of a noble family at 
Palermo in 1633, where he died in 1704. He published a 
small number of works, and has left others in manuscript. 
He had in his youth a passion for the study of natural his- 
tory in general, and of botany in particular. He travelled 
through the difierent countries of Europe to satisfy this 
taste. In Paris he made the acquaintance of the Abbe 
Bourdelot. In 1674, he published at Amsterdam his “ Be- 
searches and Observations on Natural History.”* There 
are in this little work some very curious matters. Having 
connected himself while in London with Hatton, Sherard, 
and Morison, the last named induced him to publish a work 
on the plants which he had observed, and took charge of its 
revision and printing. This work appeared at Oxford under 
the title of “ Drawings and Descriptions of the Barer Plants 
of Sicily, Malta, Prance, and Italy,” in 1674 4to. with 
52 plates. He published afterwards at Venice by the advice 
of Sherard, another work more extensive, under the title, 
‘‘A Museum of the Bare Plants of Sicily, &c.”J Eight 
other works are named. He was appointed Botanist to the 
great Duke of Tuscany, but in 1682 became a monk under 
the name of Sylvius. § 
Bauhin, Gaspard. In Basle, famed for its learned Uni- 
versity, was the subject of this article born and educated. 
After finishing his college education, he visited several parts 
of Europe that he might gain an insight into its vegetable 
productions, which in those days were so important a con- 
stituent of medicine. On his return to his native town, he 
was in high repute as a most learned man, and celebrated 
naturalist. The greatest honours were bestowed upon him, 
and he was appointed professor of Greek, of Anatomy, and 
Botany. Though he wrote several Medical Treatises, yet 
he is most distinguished for his Botanical publications. 
The work quoted by Hudson, which came from the press 
in 1623 and 1671, was a complete key to the knowledge 
* Eecherches et Observations d’Historie naturelle. 
J Museo di plante rare della Sicilia, &c. Venice, 1697. 
§ See Biograpbie tlniverselle. Paris, 1811. 
K 
