THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
SEPTEMBER,  1905, 
PLANT  MORPHOLOGY  AND  TAXONOMY.1 
By  Henry  Kraemer.2 
The  history  of  botany,  so  far  as  the  authentic  and  correct  record 
of  facts  and  observations  is  concerned,  like  the  history  of  the  other 
descriptive  natural  sciences,  may  be  said  to  date  from  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries.  While  it  is  true  that  the  works  of  the  older 
writers,  like  Theophrastus,  Bioscorides,  Pliny  and  Galen,  contain 
matter  of  historical  interest,  still  from  the  modern  scientific  point  of 
view  they  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  more  than  curiosities. 
With  the  discovery  by  Copernicus  that  the  earth  is  not  the  center 
of  the  universe,  and  with  the  revival  of  learning  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries,  there  was  an  awakening  in  scientific  investiga- 
tion and  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  thought.  This  was  the  period  of 
which  Pater  writes.    He  says  :— 
"  But  it  is  in  Italy,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  that  the  interest  oi 
the  Renaissance  lies,  in  that  solemn  fifteenth  century  which  can 
hardly  be  studied  too  much,  not  merely  for  its  positive  results  in 
the  things  of  the  intellect  and  the  imagination,  its  concrete  works 
of  art,  its  special  and  prominent  personalities,  with  their  profound 
aesthetic  charm,  but  for  its  general  spirit  and  character,  for  its 
ethical  qualities  of  which  it  is  a  consummate  type." 
If  we  trace  the  history  of  the  study  of  botany  and  of  its  different 
divisions,  we  find  that  taxonomy  or  classification  preceded  mor- 
phology as  a  distinct  branch,  but  morphology  being  the  basis  of 
taxonomy,  that  is,  one  of  the  factors  upon  which  the  taxonomist 
1  Presented  at  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Pharmaceutical  Congress,  Portland, 
Oregon,  July  12,  1905. 
2  The  author's  thanks  are  due  Miss  Florence  Yaple,  Philadelphia,  for 
valuable  assistance  in  the  preparation  of  this  paper. 
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