8 4 
Review. 
REVIEW, 
“ Herbals : their Origin and Evolution. A Chapter in the History of 
Botany, 1470—1670.” By Dr. Agnes Arber. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1912. 
No other epoch in the development of Botany has the peculiar 
fascination possessed by that which elapsed between the renascence 
of interest in the subject and its firm establishment as a pure 
science. Botanists are extremely fortunate in having in Dr. Arber 
a writer who combines a thorough knowledge of the recent growth 
of the science with an affectionate interest in its childhood and an 
unrivalled acquaintance with its juvenilia. To these qualifica¬ 
tions she adds the other not less important one of literary ability, 
so, that in a book positively loaded with erudition there is no indi¬ 
gestible page: indeed no page in which one may not find some 
some happy phrase or quaint quotation. 
The book opens with a consideration of the earliest 
known records of observations of plants, those of Aristotle, 
Theophrastus, the elder Pliny, Dioscorides and Albertus Magnus, 
although these authors lived earlier than the XV century : their 
work, especially that of Dioscorides, having such a fundamental 
importance in relation to the mediaeval botany of the Renaissance. 
The primitive Herbals of the end of the XV century, with 
their crude, but singularly attractive illustrations, are next con¬ 
sidered. A special chapter is devoted to the earliest examples of 
herbals in England; and here, as in the other sections dealing with 
works in English, Dr. Arber exhibits to the full her aptitude in the 
selection of charming passages for quotation. 
The next chapter is the most extensive in the book, and deals 
with the history of the herbal in Germany, the low Countries, 
Italy, Switzerland, France and England respectively. This is 
probably the best arrangement of the mass of available material: 
but it is remarkable to note the internationalism of botanical 
studies even in those early days. Here we find ourselves among 
Bock and Brunfels, Fuchs and Camerarius, and witness the cul¬ 
mination of the art of plant portraiture. 
Chapter V is devoted to the methods adopted in plant des¬ 
cription, and Chapter VII to the evolution of botanical illustration. 
The latter is admirably full, dealing concisely with the charac¬ 
teristics of the work of the various artists and the development of 
the power of scientific observation reflected therein : the text being 
lavishly adorned with well chosen figures reproduced through the 
skill of Mr. W. Tams. 
Of great interest to systematists is Chapter VI on early 
methods of classification : while the curious will find in Chapter 
VIII an account of the singular entanglement of botany with 
astrology ; and of the doctrine of signatures, the climax of the 
anthropocentric notions which have so recently disappeared from 
orthodox science. 
The volume closes with a list of herbals published between 
1470 and 1760, a bibliography and a full iudex. It well printed and 
bound, and singularly free from misprints. By reason of its varied 
virtues it will appeal to a wide circle of readers, and will keep alive 
many valuable tilings upon which in the lapse of time “oblivion 
blindly scattereth her poppy.” R.H.C, 
