HISTORY OF BOTANY. 
225 
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 
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 
language of Homer 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 liter¬ 
ature 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. But these labours, although exercising 
an important influence upon literature, were not equally fortunate 
with respect to the progress of natural history. The learned writings 
of antiquity were accurately 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 Ger¬ 
many published some indifferent descriptions of plants, accompanied 
by a few engravings. This connexion of drawing.and botany, al¬ 
though the whole was badly executed, was considered as an impor¬ 
tant improvement in the science. 
While Italy was thus a second time enriched with the literary trea¬ 
sures of Greece, Spain and Portugal were becoming enlightened by 
intercourse with foreign nations. The Portuguese extended their 
voyages to the western coasts of Africa and the Cape de Verd isl¬ 
ands ; the Cape of Good Hope was at length discovered, and Vasco 
de Gama, sailing around it, reached the East Indies. It was at this 
period that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. 
This event, so important to the old world, is to us who inhabit this 
pleasant and favoured country, one of deep interest. Ages passed 
on after the creation of the world, and America remained, wfith re¬ 
gard to.the eastern continent, as though she existed not. The lofty 
Andes raised their snowy heads to the clouds, the majestic Amazon 
rolled onward to the Atlantic, our lakes spread out their vast ex¬ 
panse of waters, our Hudson and Connecticut received their tribu¬ 
tary streams, and bore them to the ocean ;—but to what people were 
these grandeurs presented, and what were the changes in the moral 
world, wflflle nature thus moved on in her unchanging course ?—His¬ 
tory is silent! But while in the old world empires had been rising, 
continuing for centuries stationary, and then decaying, succeeded, 
and succeeded by others pursuing the same track; w T ere no moral 
changes going on in the American continent ? Have no mighty na¬ 
tions ever existed here; have no arts or letters been cultivated; was 
the savage Indian for thousands of years sole lord of one half of the 
world?—And wflien, and how, did the first inhabitants of this conti¬ 
nent come from Asia, where man was placed at his creation ? These 
are inquiries which naturally arise, on tracing the historic page 
through so long a period of time, until suddenly this new world 
bursts upon our vision ! But, though many speculations have from 
time to time appeared, respecting the probable history of America, 
before its discovery by Columbus, the subject is still shrouded in 
darkness and obscurity. 
ly- 
■Constantinople taken by the Turks, and the literature < 
r —New world discovered—What was the history of Am 
of Greece transferred to Ita- 
erica before this period 1 
