Guide to an Exhibition of 
a medical work (largely drawn upon by later compilers of 
Herbals), of which a Latin translation first appeared in 1490. 
AMONG mediaeval European writers the following deserve 
notice :— Albertus (Albert von Bollstadt), called Albertus 
Magnus [1193-1280], a Dominican, and sometime Bishop 
of Ratisbon, who, among his numerous writings, included 
No. 9. Commentaries on Aristotle and treatises:— De Animalibus^ 
first printed in 1479, De Mineralihus^ printed 1495, and Tabula 
No. 8. tractatuum parvorum naturalium (in which were comprised his 
De Vegetabilibus et Plantis) printed in 1517. 
ViNCENTius Belovacensis, or Vincent of Beauvais 
[c. 1190-C. 1264], another learned Dominican, who resided at 
the court of Louis IX. of France, compiled at the instance of 
No. 7. that king a Bibliotheca Mundiy which is not only one of the 
earliest of encyclopaedias, but the greatest of the Middle Ages. 
The first part, entitled speculum Naturahy written about 1250, 
contains thirty-three books. It was first printed at Strasburg 
about 1473. 
Bartholom^us (Bartholomew de Glanville), called 
Bartholom^eus Anglicus [fl. 1230-1250], a Minorite Friar, 
No. 13. compiled an encyclopaedia entitled ; De Proprietatibus Reruniy 
which as a manuscript was known in Italy in 1283 and in 
England in 1296. It was first printed at Basle about 1470, and 
was the source of common information on Natural History 
during the Middle Ages. 
THESE authors were followed after a long interval by :— 
Leonardo da Vinci [1452-1519], who was not only 
a great painter, but had also vast knowledge, among other 
subjects, of Anatomy, Botany, and Geology. He vigorously 
maintained that the contents of the rocks were real shells, 
and supported the belief in the changes of sea and land which 
this view implied. His writings on these subjects were not 
printed from the original manuscripts till 1881 and 1883. 
Girolamo Fracastoro [1483-1553] declared his opinion 
that fossil shells had all belonged to animals which had lived 
and multiplied in the places where their exuviae are now found, 
but he was not listened to. 
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