BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN 
LEAFLETS 
Series VIII Brooklyn, N. Y., May 5, 1920. Nos. 6-8. 
THE BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN COL- 
LECTION OF PORTRAITS OF BOTANISTS 
The following statements about distinguished botanists were 
prepared as legends under portraits, collected for the Garden, 
and hung in the corridors of the laboratory building on May 11, 
1920. The information is from miscellaneous sources, including 
especially Sach’s History of Botany, Agnes Arber’s Herbals 
and Miall’s Early Naturalists. The portraits will be added to 
from time to time. 
THE GREEKS 
Aristotle 
( b . Stagyra, Thraeia, 384 B.C. d. Chalcis, Euboea, 322 B.C.) 
Father of natural science. Pupil of Plato, teacher of Alexander 
the Great and of Theophrastus. Lectured near Athens for twelve 
years. His writings on plants have been lost. Is said to have 
established the first botanic garden of which there is record. 
Theophrastus 
(. b . Eresos, Island of Lesbos (now Mitylene), 370 B. C. 
d. Athens, 285 B. C.) 
“First of real botanists in point of time.’’ Pupil and successor 
of Aristotle. His books On the Histoty of Plants and On the Causes 
of Plants, the earliest botanical works now in existence, take up 
about five hundred species. No more extensive botanical studies 
were made foi 1800 years. He divided plants into trees, shrubs, 
half-shrubs, and herbs. “The whole population of Athens, hon- 
oring him greatly, followed him to the grave.” 
SIXTEENTH CENTURY 
Otto Brunfels 
(b. Mainz, German}', 1464 (?). d. Berne, Switzerland, 1534.) 
First of the “German fathers of botany”. His Herbarvm vivae 
eicones (1530) marks the beginning of modern botany by publish- 
ing the first illustrations made directly from plants. 
Leonhard Fuchs 
( b . Wembingden, Bavaria, January 17, 1501. 
d. Tubingen, Wiirtemberg, 1566.) 
Professor of medicine at the University of Tubingen (1535-1566). 
