 Preface. Herbal's Their Origin and Evolution, a chapter in the history of botany. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. Read by Josh Leach. Herbal's Their Origin and Evolution, a chapter in the history of botany. By Agnes Arbor. To my father. H.R. Robertson. Wherefore it may please your gentleness to take these my labors in good worth, not according to their unworthiness, but according unto my good mind and will, offering and giving them unto you. William Turner's Herbal, 1568. Preface. To add a volume such as the present to the existing multitude of books about books calls for some apology. My excuse must be that many of the best herbals, especially the earlier ones, are not easily accessible. And after experiencing keen delight from them myself, I have felt that some account of these works, in connection with reproductions of typical illustrations, might be of interest to others. In the words of Henry Light, the translator of Dodoens. Quote, I think it's sufficient for any, whom reason may satisfy, by way of answer, to allege this action and sententious position. Bonum quo communius aeumelius et prustantius. A good thing, the more common it is, the better it is. End quote. The main object of the present book is to trace in outline, the evolution of the printed herbal in Europe, between the years 1470 and 1670, primarily from a botanical and secondarily from an artistic standpoint. The medical aspect, which could only be dealt with satisfactorily, by a specialist in that science, I have practically left untouched, as also the gardening literature of the period. Bibliographical information is not given in detail, except insofar as it subserves the main objects of the book. Even within these limitations, the present account is far from being an exhaustive monograph. It aims merely at presenting a general sketch of the history of the herbal during a period of 200 years. The titles of the principal botanical works, which were published between 1470 and 1670, are given in appendix one. The book is founded mainly upon a study of the herbals themselves. My attention was first directed to these works by reading a copy of Light's translation of Doudouin's herbal, which happened to come into my hands in 1894, and it once aroused my interest in the subject. I've also drawn freely upon the historical and critical literature dealing with the period under consideration, to which full references will be found in appendix two. The materials for this work have chiefly been obtained in the printed books department of the British Museum, but I have also made use of a number of other libraries. I owe many thanks to Professor Seward, FRS, who suggested that I should undertake this book and gave me special facilities for the study of the fine collection of old botanical works in the Botany School, Cambridge. In addition, I must record my gratitude to the University Librarian, Mr. F. J. H. Jenkinson, MA, and Mr. C. E. Sale, MA, of the Cambridge University Library, and also to Dr. Stapf, Keeper of the Q. Herbarium and Library. By the kindness of Dr. Norman Moore, Harveyan Librarian to the Royal College of Physicians, I have had access to that splendid library, and my best thanks are due to him, and to the Assistant Librarian, Mr. Marlowe, to the latter I am especially indebted for information on bibliographical points. I have also to thank Mr. Knapman of the Pharmaceutical Society, Dr. Moll Hoisen, Keeper of the Manuscripts, University Library, Leiden, and the Librarian of the Tyler Institute, Harlan, for giving me opportunities for examining the books under their charge. The great majority of the illustrations are reproduced from photographs taken directly from the originals by Mr. W. Tams of Cambridge, to whom I am greatly indebted for the skill and care with which he has overcome the difficulties incidental to photographing from old books, the pages of which are so often wrinkled, discolored, or weremeaten. For the use of Plate 18, which appeared in Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, I am under obligations to the author Mr. Edward McCurdy, M.A., and to Messers-Duckworth & Company, text figures 7, 18, 77, 78, and 112 are reproduced by the courtesy of the Council of the Bibliographical Society from papers by the late Dr. Payne, to which the references will be found in Appendix II, while for the use of text figure 108, I am indebted to the Royal Numismatic Society, for permission to utilize the modern facsimile of the famous Diascorities Manuscript of Juliana Anicia, from which Plates 1, 2, and 15 are derived, I have to thank Professor Dr. Joseph Ritter von Karabasek of the KK Hof Bibliotheque in Vienna. In connection with the portraits of herbalists here reproduced, I wish to acknowledge the generous assistance which I received from Sir Sidney Colvin, formerly Keeper of Prints & Drawings, British Museum. I would also record my thanks to Mr. A.W. Pollard, Secretary of the Bibliographical Society, Professor Kilerman of Regensburg, Senora Adelaide Marchi of Florence, Mr. C.D. Sherborn of the British Museum of Natural History, and Dr. B. Dayton Jackson, General Secretary of the Linnaean Society, all of whom have kindly given me information of great value. For help in the translation of certain German and Latin texts, I am indebted to Mr. E.G. Tucker, B.A., Mr. F.A. Schollfield, M.A., and to my brother, Mr. D.S. Robertson, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. I wish further to express my gratitude to my father for advice and suggestions. Without his help, I should scarcely have felt myself competent to discuss the subject from the artistic standpoint. To my husband also, I owe many thanks for assistance in various directions, more particularly in criticizing the manuscript and in seeing the volume through the press. I am indebted to my sister, Ms. Janet Robertson, for the cover, the design of which is based upon a woodcut in the Ortus Sanitatus of 1491. A book of this kind, in the preparation of which many previous works have been laid under contribution, is doubtless open to a certain criticism, which William Turner, the father of British botany, anticipated in the case of his own writings. I think I cannot do better than proffer my excuse in the very words of this 16th-century herbalist. For some of them will say, saying that I grant that I have gathered this book of so many writers, that I offer unto you a heap of other men's labors and nothing of my own. To whom, I answer, that if the honey that the bees gather out of so many flower of herbs, shrubs and trees that are growing in other men's meadows, fields and closes, may justly be called the bees, honey, so may I call it that I have learned and gathered of many good authors my book. Balfour Laboratory, Cambridge, 26th of July, 1912. End of preface. Chapter 1, Herbal's Their Origin and Evolution, a chapter in the history of botany. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. Read by Josh Leach. Herbal's Their Origin and Evolution, a chapter in the history of botany by Agnes Arbor. Chapter 1, The Early History of Botany. Introductory In the present book, the special subject treated is the evolution of the printed herbal between the years 1470 and 1670. But it is impossible to arrive at clear ideas on this subject without some knowledge of the earlier stages in the history of botany. The first chapter will therefore be devoted to the briefest possible sketch of the progress of botany before the invention of printing in order that the position occupied by the herbal in the history of the science may be realized in its true perspective. From the very beginning of its existence, the study of plants has been approached from two widely separated standpoints, the philosophical and the utilitarian. Regarded from the first point of view, botany stands on its own merits as an integral branch of natural philosophy, whereas from the second it is merely a byproduct of medicine or agriculture. This distinction, however, is a somewhat arbitrary one. The more philosophical of botanists have not disdained at times to consider the uses of herbs, and those who entered upon the subject with a purely medical intention have often become students of plant life for its own sake. At different periods in the evolution of the science, one or other aspect has predominated, but from classical times onwards, it is possible to trace the development of these two distinct lines of inquiry, which have sometimes converged, but more often pursued parallel and unconnected paths. Botany as a branch of philosophy may be said to have owed its inception to the wonderful mental activity of the finest period of Greek culture. It is at this time that the nature and life of plants first came definitely within the scope of inquiry and speculation. 2. Aristotelian Botany Aristotle, Plato's pupil, concerned himself with the whole field of science, and his influence, especially during the Middle Ages, had a most profound effect on European thought. The greater part of his botanical writings, which belong to the fourth century before Christ, are unfortunately lost, but from such fragments as remain it is clear that his interest in plants was of an abstract nature. He held that all living bodies, those of plants as well as of animals, are organs of the soul through which they exist. It was broad general speculations such as these which chiefly attracted him. He asks why a grain of corn gives rise in its turn to a grain of corn and not to an olive, thus raising a plexus of problems which, despite the progress of modern science, still baffle the acutist thinkers of the present day. Aristotle bequeathed his library to his pupil Theophrastus, whom he named as his successor. Theophrastus was well fitted to carry on the traditions of the school, since he had, in earlier years, studied under Plato himself. He produced a history of plants in which botany is treated in a somewhat more concrete and definite fashion than is the case in Aristotle's writings. Theophrastus mentions about 450 plants, whereas the number of species in Greece known at the present day is at least 3,000. His descriptions with few exceptions are meager, and the identification of the plants to which they refer is a matter of extreme difficulty. In various points of observation, Theophrastus was in advance of his time. He noticed, for instance, the distinction between centripetal and centrifugal inflorescences, a distinction which does not seem to have again attracted the attention of botanists until the 16th century. He was interested in the germination of seeds and was aware, though somewhat dimly, of the essential differences between the seedling of the bean and that of the wheat. In the Middle Ages, knowledge of Aristotelian botany was brought into Western Europe at two different periods, the 9th and the 13th centuries. In the 9th century of the Christian era, Rabbanus Magnesius Maurus, a German writer, compiled an encyclopedia which contained information about plants indirectly derived from the writings of Theophrastus, Rabbanus actually based his work upon the writings of Isidore of Seville, who lived in the 6th and 7th centuries, Isidore having obtained his botanical data from Pliny, whose knowledge of plants was in turn borrowed from Theophrastus. The renewal of Aristotelian learning in the 13th century was derived less directly from classical writings than was the case with the earlier revival. From the time of Alexander onwards, various Greek schools had been founded in Syria. These schools were largely concerned with the teachings of Aristotle, which were then handed on into Persia, Arabia, and other countries. The Arabs translated the Syriac versions of Greek writers into their own language, and their physicians and philosophers kept alive the knowledge of science during the dark ages when Greece and Rome had ceased to be the homes of learning, and while culture was still in its infancy in Germany, France, and England. The Arabic translations of classical writings were eventually rendered into Latin, or even sometimes into Greek again, and in this guise found their way to Western Europe. Amongst other books, which suffered these successive metamorphoses, was the pseudo-Aristotelian botany of Nicolaus of Damascus, which has acquired importance in the annals of Western science because it formed the basis of the botanical work of Albertus Magnus. Albert of Bolstadt, 1193-1280, Bishop of Ratisman, was a famous scholastic philosopher. He was esteemed one of the most learned men of his age, and was called Albertus Magnus during his lifetime, the title being conferred on him by the unanimous consent of the schools. The angelic doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, became one of his pupils. According to legendary lore, the name of Albertus would have been unknown in science, but for divine intervention, which miraculously affected his career. As a boy, tradition says that he was singularly lacking in intelligence, so much so that it was feared that he would be compelled to abandon the hope of entering monastic life, since he seemed incapable even of the limited requirements necessary. However, one night the Blessed Virgin, touched by his fervor and piety, appeared before him in glory and asked whether he would rather excel in philosophy or in theology. Albertus without hesitation chose philosophy. The Virgin granted his desire, but being inwardly wounded at his choice, she added that because he had preferred profane to divine knowledge, he should sink back before the end of his life into his pristine state of stupidity. According to the legend, this came to pass. Three years before his death, he was suddenly struck down in the presence of his students and never regained his mental powers. The botanical work of Albertus forms only a small fraction of his writings, but it is with that part alone that we are here concerned. As already mentioned, his knowledge of botany was based upon a medieval Latin work which he reverenced as Aristotle's, but which is now attributed to Nicolaus Demaschinas, who was, however, a follower of Aristotle and Theophrastus. Although Albertus undoubtedly drew his botanical inspiration from this book, a large proportion of his writings on the subject were original. The ideas of Albertus were in many ways curiously advanced, especially in the suggestions which he gives as to the classification of plants and in his observations of detailed structure in certain flowers. We shall return to his writings in future chapters dealing with these subjects. It will suffice now to mention his remarkable instinct for morphology in which he was probably unsurpassed during the next 400 years. He points out, for instance, that in the vine a tendril sometimes occurs in place of a bunch of grapes, and from this he concludes that the tendril is to be interpreted as a bunch of grapes incompletely developed. He distinguishes also between thorns and prickles and realizes that the former are stem structures and the latter merely surface organs. Albertus seems to have had a fine scorn for that branch of the science now known as systematic botany. He considered that to catalog all the species was too vast and detailed a task and one altogether unsuited to the philosopher. However, in his sixth book, he so far unbends as to give descriptions of a number of plants. As regards abstract problems, the views of Albertus on plant life may be summed up as follows. The plant is a living being and its life principle is the vegetable soul whose function is limited to nourishment growth and reproduction feeling desire sleep and sexuality properly so called being unknown in the plant world. Albertus was troubled by many subtle problems connected with the souls of plants. Such questions, for instance, as whether in the case of the material union of two individuals such as the ivy and its supporting tree, their souls also united. Like theophrastus and other early writers Albertus held the theory that species were mutable and illustrated this view by pointing out that cultivated plants might run wild and become degenerate while wild plants might be domesticated. Some of his ideas, however, on the possibility of changes from one species to another were quite baseless. He stated, for instance, that if a wood of oak or a beach were raised to the ground an actual transformation took place. Aspens and poplars springing up in place of the previously existing trees. The temperate tone of the remarks made by Albertus on the medical virtues of plants contrast favorably with the pluralities of many later writers. Much of the criticism from which he has suffered at various times has been in reality directed against a book called De Vertutibus Herbarum, the authorship of which was quite erroneously attributed to him. We shall refer to this work again in chapter eight. After the time of Albertus, no great student of Aristotelian botany arose before Andrea Cessalpino, whose writings, which belong to the end of the 16th century, will be considered in a later chapter. The work of Cessalpino had great qualities, but curiously enough, it had little influence on the science of his time. He may be regarded as perhaps the last important representative of Aristotelian botany. Three, medicinal botany. With the revival of learning, the speculative botany of the ancients began to lose its hold upon thinking men. This may be attributed to the curious lack of vitality and the absence of the power of active development manifested in this aspect of the subject since its initiation at the hands of Aristotle. It has proved comparatively barren because, though the minds which engaged it were among the finest that have ever been concerned with the science, the basis of observed fact was inadequate in quality and quantity to sustain the philosophical superstructure built upon it. It might have been supposed a priori that accurate observation of natural phenomena needed a less highly evolved type of mind than that required to cope with metaphysical considerations, and hence that in the development of any science the epoch of observation would have preceded the epoch of speculation. In actual fact, however, the reverse appears to have been the case. The power of scientific observation seems to have lagged many centuries behind the power of reasoning, and to have reached its maturity at least 2,000 years later. Aristotle and Theophrastus arrived by the subtlest mental processes at a certain attitude towards the universe, and at certain ideas concerning the nature of things. They attempted a direct advance in scientific thought by extending these conceptions to include the plant world. It was an heroic effort, but one which could not ultimately form a basis for continued progress because, in its inception, preconceived ideas had come first, and the facts of nature second. It seems to be almost a law of thought that it is the indirect advances which in the end proved to be the most fertile. The progress of a science, like that of a sailing boat, more often precedes by means of tacking than by following a direct course. In the case of botany, the path which was destined to lead furthest in the end was the apparently unpromising one of medicine. Various plants from very early times had been used as healing agents, and it became necessary to study them in detail, simply in order to discriminate the kinds employed for different purposes. It was from this purely utilitarian beginning that systematic botany for the most part originated. As we shall show in later chapters, nearly all the herbalists whose work is discussed in the present volume were medical men. The necessity for some means of recognizing accurately the individual species of medicinal plants led in time to a sounder and more exact knowledge of their morphology than had ever been acquired under the influence of thinkers such as Albertus Magnus, who regarded with some contempt the idea of becoming acquainted in detail with the countless forms of plant life. The mass of observations relating to herbs and flowers accumulated during a period of many centuries, largely for medicinal purposes, is today serving as the basis for far-reaching biological theories which could never have arisen without such a foundation. It is not systematic botany alone that we owe in the first instance to medicine. Nehemiah grew 1641-1712, one of the founders of the science of plant anatomy, was led to embark upon this subject because his anatomical studies as a physician suggested to him that plants, like animals, probably possessed an internal structure worthy of investigation since they were the work of the same creator. In ancient Greece there was considerable traffic in medicinal plants. The herbalists and druggists who made a regular business of collecting, preparing, and selling them, do not appear, however, to have been held in good repute. Lucian makes Hercules address Asclepius as, quote, a root-tigger and a wandering quack, end quote. The herbalists seem to have attempted to keep their business select by fencing it about with all manner of superstitions, most of which have for their moral that herb collecting is too dangerous an occupation for the uninitiated. Theophrastus draws attention to the absurdity of some of the root-diggers directions for gathering medicinal plants. For instance, he quotes with ridicule the idea that the peony should be gathered at night since, if the fruit is collected in the daytime and a woodpecker happens to witness the act, the eyes of the herbalist are endangered. He also points out that it is folly to suppose that an offering of a honey cake must be made when iris, fetidisma, is rooted up. Or to believe that if an eagle comes near when helibor is being collected, anyone who is engaged in the work is fated to die within the year. The herbalist's knowledge of plants must have been in the first place, transmitted from generation to generation entirely by word of mouth, but as time went on, written records began to replace the oral tradition. The earliest extant European work dealing with medicinal plants is the famous materia metica of diascorides, which was accepted as an almost infallible authority as late as the Renaissance period. Diascorides and Azerbius was a medical man who probably flourished in the first century of the Christian era in the time of Nero and Vespasian. Tradition has, however, sometimes assigned to him the post of physician to Antony and Cleopatra. His native land was Asia Minor, but he appears to have traveled widely. In his materia metica, he described about 500 plants with some attempt at an orderly scheme, though naturally the result is seldom successful when judged by our modern standards of classification. The actual descriptions of the plants are very slight, and it is only those with particularly salient characteristics which can be recognized with any ease. Careful research on the part of later writers has, however, led to the identification of a number of the plants to which he refers. There is a famous manuscript of diascorides at Vienna, which is said to have been copied at the expense of Juliana Anicia, the daughter of the emperor Flavius Anicias, about the end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century. The character of the script settles the age within narrow limits. Juliana lived in the reign of Justinian, and was renowned for her ardent Christian faith, and for the churches which she built. The manuscript which bears her name is illustrated by a number of drawings, which are in some cases remarkably beautiful and very naturalistic. A facsimile reproduction of this manuscript was published in 1906, and it is thus rendered accessible to students. Examples of the figures are shown on a reduced scale in Plates 1, 2, and 15. The botanists of the Renaissance devoted a great deal of time and energy to the consideration of the writings of diascorides. The chief of the many commentators who dealt with the subject were Mathiolus, Ruellius, and Ametus Lusitanus, and a discussion of the botany of diascorides formed an integral part of almost every 16th century herbal. One of the contemporaries of diascorides, Gaius Plinius IIus, commonly called the Elder Pliny, should perhaps be mentioned at this point, although he was not a physician, nor does he deserve the name of a philosopher. In the course of his natural history, which is an encyclopedic account of the knowledge of his time, he treats of the vegetable world. He refers to a far larger number of plants than diascorides, probably because the latter can find himself to those which were of importance from a medicinal point of view. Whereas Pliny mentioned indiscriminately any plant to which he found a reference in any previous book. Pliny's work was chiefly of the nature of a compilation, and indeed it would scarcely be reasonable to expect much original observation of nature from a man who is so devoted to books that it was recorded of him that he considered even a walk to be a waste of time. The writings of the classical authors, especially Theophrastus and diascorides, dominated European botany completely until in the 16th century other influences began to make themselves felt. As we shall see in the following chapter, the earliest printed herbals adhered closely to the classical tradition. Section 2 of Herbalds, their origin and evolution, a chapter in the history of botany. This is a Libravox recording, all Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Herbalds, their origin and evolution, a chapter in the history of botany by Agnes Arba. Chapter 2, the earliest printed herbals, 15th century. Part 1, the anticlopedia of Bartholomeus Anglicus and the Book of Nature. After the invention of printing, a very active period of book production followed, during which many works, which had previously passed the more or less lengthy existence of manuscript, were put into circulation and print, contemporaneously with books actually written at the time. The result is that a number of the Incuna Bulla as printed books of the 15th century are technically called, are far more ancient as regards to the matter which they contain, than the date of their publication would seem to suggest. This characteristic is illustrated in the anticlopedia of Bartholomeus Anglicus, and in Conrad von Megenberg's Das Puch de Natur, which were perhaps the earliest printed books containing strictly botanical information. The former work, which was first printed about 1470, was compelled by a monk, sometimes called Bartholomeu de Glanville, who flourished in the 13th century. The title by which it is generally known is Liber des propriati bosrirum, one of the sections of which it is composed is concerned with an account of a large number of trees and herbs arranged in alphabetical order, and is chiefly occupied with their medicinal properties. It also includes some theoretical considerations about plans on Aristotelian lines. An English translation, which was printed by Vincen de Vorder before the end of the 15th century, is interesting as containing the very primitive botanical woodcut reproduced in text figure 19. Das Puch de Natur is slightly later as regards the date of publication, having been printed by Hans Bemler at Augsburg in 1475. It seems to have been very popular, followed past through six or seven editions before the end of the 15th century. A very large number of manuscripts of The Book of Nature exist, as many as 18 being preserved in the Vienna Library and 17 at Munich. The text is a compilation from all Latin writings, and is said to have been translated into German as earliest 1349. The portion dealing with plans consists of an account of the virtues of 89 Hertz with the Latin and German names. The chief interest of the work, from our present point of view, lies in the fact that it contains the earliest known botanical wood engraving, plate three. We shall return to the subject in chapter seven. Part two, The Herbarium of Apolaeus Platonicus. Another very early book based on classical writings, especially those of Dioscorides and Pliny, was the Herbarium of Apolaeus Platonicus. This little Latin work is among the earliest to which the term herbal is generally applied. Herbal has been defined as a book containing the names and description of herbs, or of plans in general, with their properties and virtues. The word is believed to have been derived from a medieval Latin adjective, herbalas, the substantive liber being understood. It is thus exactly comparable in origin with the word manual in the sense of a handbook. Four early printed editions of the Herbal of Apolaeus Platonicus are known, all of which appear to have been based on different manuscripts. The earliest was published in Rome late in the 15th century, from a manuscript discovered by Johann Philippus de Lechnamine, physician to Pope Sixtus IV. Nothing is definitely known concerning the author, but it is conjectured that he was a native of Africa, and that his book may date from the fifth century, or possibly even the fourth. The work undoubtedly had a career of many centuries in manuscripts before it was printed. Various extant manuscripts of the Herbarium are illustrated with collared drawings of the crudist description, which are found in comparison to be identical in many different examples, and to have been reproduced in a degraded form when the book was printed. The original figures, from which the drawings in the different manuscripts were copied, must date back to very early times. They probably represent, as Dr. Payne has pointed out, a school of botanical draughtsmanship derived from late Roman art. These illustrations, some of which are reproduced in Plates IV, V and XVI, and text figures I and II, will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter VII. One of their peculiarities is that, if a herb has the power of healing, the bite or sting of any animal, that animal is drawn with the plant on the same block. Soon after the appearance in Italy of the earliest printed editions of the Herbarium of Apollaeus Platonicus, three works of bright importance were published at Mainz in Germany. These were the Latin Habarius 1484, the German Habarius 1485, and derived from the latter the Hortus Sanitatus 1491. The Latin and the German Habarius, together with the Herbarium of Apollaeus Platonicus, may be regarded as the doyen among printed herbals. All three seem to have been largely based upon pre-existing manuscripts, representing a tradition of great antiquity. The various forms of the Latin and German Habarius and of the Hortus Sanitatus are described under many titles, and then reveling of the various editions is a matter of great difficulty. In the 15th century, before copyright existed, as soon as a popular work was published, pirated editions and translations sprang into existence. In the case of the German Habarius, a new edition was printed at Orcs Book only a few months after the appearance of the original at Mainz. Some such editions were dated, and some undated, and the sources from which they were derived were seldom acknowledged. The passage of the earliest printed books through the press was naturally extremely slow, as compared with the rapid production of the present day. The result was that the printer had leisure to make occasional alterations, so that different copies belonging actually to the same edition sometimes show slight variations. The bibliographer has thus to deal with an additional element of confusion. As far as the works now under consideration are concerned, however much of the obscurity has been removed by the late Dr. Payne, to whom we owe a very lucid memoir on the various editions of the Latin and German Habarius and the Hortus Sanitatus, based and part upon the researchers of Dr. Lucretra Long, free use has been made of his account in the present chapter. Part 3 The Latin Habarius The work to which we may refer for convenience as The Latin Habarius is also known under many other titles, Arigato de Simplicibus, Habarius Montcontinos, Habarius Patavinos etc. It was originally printed at Mainz by Peter Schafer in 1484, in the form of a small quarto. It is interesting to recall that the earliest specimen of printing from movable type none do exist was produced in the same town 30 years before. Other early editions and translations of the Habarius appeared in Bavaria, the Low Countries, Italy and probably also in France. The work, like most of the early Herbals, was anonymous and was a compilation from medieval writers, and from certain classical and Arabian authors. It seems to have no connection with the Habarium of Apolles which is nowhere cited. The majority of the authorities quoted wrote before 1300 AD, and no authors mentioned who might not have been known to a writer about the middle of the 14th century. That is to say at least a hundred years before the Habarius was published. It is quite possible that the work was not written at the time it was printed, but may have had a previous career in manuscript. The wood blocks of the first German edition are bolt and decorative, but as a rule show little attempt at realism. See text figures 3, 4, 5 and 73. A different and better set of figures were used in Italy to illustrate the text, text figures 6, 57, 65, 74, 75, 76. The authorship of this version of the Habarius is sometimes erroneously attributed to Arnold de Neuveville, a physician of the 13th century, a mistake which arose through the conspicuous citation of his name and the preface of the Venetian editions. The descriptions and figures of the Herbs are arranged alphabetically, all the plans discussed were natives of Germany or in cultivation there, and the object of the work seems to have been to help the reader to the use of cheap and easily obtained remedies in case of illnesses or accident. Part 4. The German Habarius and Related Works Of even greater importance than the Latin Habarius is the German Habarius, or Habarius zu Teutsch, sometimes also called the German Autos Sanitatis, or the smaller Autos. This folio, which was the foundation of the later works called Hortes, or Autes Sanitatis, appeared at minds, also from the printing press of Peter Schäffer in 1485, the year following the publication of the Latin Habarius. It has been mistakenly regarded by some authors as a mere translation of the latter, however the two books are neither the same in the text nor in the illustrations. The German Habarius appears to be an independent work, except as regards the third part of the book, the index of drugs according to the uses, which may owe something to the Latin Habarius. It seems from the preface that the originator of the book was a rich man, who had travelled in the east, and that a medical portion was compiled under his direction by a physician. The latter was probably Dr. Johann von Kübe, who was town physician of Frankfurt, at the end of the 15th century. The preface to the Habarius zu Teutsch begins with the words, oft und viel habe ich bei mir selbst betracht der Scheppfass der Natur. Similar words are found in all the different German editions, and in the later Autes Sanitatis, they are translated into Latin. The preface revealed so clearly and so delightfully, the spirit in which the work was undertaken, that it seems worthwhile to translate it almost in extent so. It is impossible, however, to grasp the medical ideas characteristic of the earlier herbals, such as those presented in the preface which follows, unless one understands the special terminology in which the four elements and the four principles or natures play a great part. The ideas expressed by these terms had begun to dominate medical and physiological notions, five or six hundred years before the birth of Christ, and they helped their own for a period of more than two thousand years. As an instance of their constant occurrence in literature, we may recall Sir Toby's remark in Twelfth Night. Do not our lives consist of the four elements? In Aristotle's time, these conceptions must have been already quite familiar to his pupils. Like his predecessors, he distinguished four elements, fire, water, earth and air, and to these he added a fifth, the ether, and the four elements, the four principles are combined in pairs, fire being characterised by heat and dryness, air by heat and moisture, water by cold and moisture, and earth by cold and dryness. According to Aristotle, heat and cold are active while dryness and moisture are passive in their nature. By the temperament of a man is understood the balance or proportion maintained between these conflicting tendencies. The particular virtues of each plant, in other words the power of restoring lost health or temperament, are determined by the principles which it contains, and the proportions in which these occur. With this introduction, we may pass on to the preface of the Avaris to Toch. Many a time and often, if I contemplate it inwardly, the wondrous works of the creator of the universe, how in the beginning he formed the heavens and adorned them with goodly shining stars, to which he gave power and might to influence everything under heaven, also how he afterwards formed the four elements, fire hot and dry, air hot and moist, water cold and moist, earth dry and cold, and gave to each a creature of its own, and how after this the same great master of nature made and formed herbs of many sorts and animals of all kinds, and last of all man, the noblest of all created things. Thereupon I thought on the wondrous order which the creator gave the same creatures of his, so that everything which has its being under heaven receives it from the stars, and keeps it by their help. I considered further, how that in everything which arises grows, lifts or soars in the four elements named, be it metal, stone, herb or animal, the four natures of the elements, heat, cold, moistness and dryness are mingled. It is also to be noted that the four natures in question are also mixed and blended in the human body, in a measure and temperament suitable to the life and nature of man. While man keeps within his measure, proportion or temperament, he is strong and healthy, but as soon as he steps or falls beyond the temperament or measure of the four natures, which happens when heat takes to the upper hand and strives to stifle cold, or on the contrary, when cold begins to suppress heat or man becomes full of cold moisture, or again is deprived of the due measure of moisture, he falls of necessity into sickness and draws nigh on to death. There are many causes of disturbances, such as I have mentioned in the measure of the four elements which is essential to man's health and life. In some cases it is the poisonous and hidden influence of the heavens acting against man's nature, for from this arise impurity and poisoning of the air. In other cases, the food and drink are unsuitable, or suitable but not taken in the right quantities or at the right time. Of truth I would as soon count the leaves on the trees or the grains of sand in the sea, as the things which are the causes of a relapse from the temperament of the four natures, and the beginning of man's sickness. It is for this reason that so many thousands and thousands of perils and dangers beset man, who is not fully sure of his health or his life for one moment. While considering these matters I also remembered how the creative nature, who has placed us amid such dangers, has mercifully provided us with a remedy, that is with all kinds of herbs, animals and other created things to which he has given power and might to restore, produce, give and temper the four natures mentioned above. One herb is heating, another is cooling, each after the degree of its nature and complexion. In the same manner, many other created things on the earth and in the water preserve man's life, through the creative nature. By virtue of these herbs and created things, the sick man may have recovered the temperament of the four elements and the health of his body, since then man can have no greater nor no blood trash on earth than bodily health. I came to the conclusion that I could not perform any more honourable, useful or holy work or labour than to compile a book in which should be contained the virtue and nature of many herbs and other created things, together with their true colours and form, for the help of all the world and the common good. Thereupon I caused this place worthy work to be begun by a master learned in physics, who, at my request, gathered into a book the virtue and nature of many herbs out of the acknowledged masters of physics, Galen, Avicena, Serapio, Dioscorides, Panectarios, Plataearius and others. But when in the process of the work I turned to the drawing and depicting of the herbs, I marked that there are many precious herbs which should not grow here in these German lands, so that I could not draw them with the true colours and form, except from hearsay. Therefore I left and finished the work which I had begun, and laid aside my pen, until such time as I had received grace and dispensation to visit the Holy Sepulchre, and also Mount Sinai, with a body of the blessed virgin, Saint Catherine rests in peace. Then in order that the noble work I had begun and left incomplete should not come to naught, and also that my journey should benefit not my soul alone, but the whole world, I took with me a painter ready of wit and cunning and subtle of hand, and so we journeyed from Germany through Italy, Istria, and then by way of Slovenia, or the Windish land, Croatia, Albania, Dalmatia, Greece, Corfu, Moria, Candia, Rhodes and Cyprus, to the Promised Land and the Holy City, Jerusalem, and then through Avrabia Minor to Mount Sinai, from Mount Sinai to Wurzelretse, in the direction of Cairo, Babylonia, and also Alexandria and Egypt, whence I have returned to Candia. In wandering through these kingdoms and lands, I diligently thought after the herbs there, and had them depicted and drawn with their true colour and form, and after I had by God's grace returned to Germany and home, the great love which I bore this work and helped me to finish it, and now, with the help of God, it is accomplished, and this book is called in Latin, Autosanitardis, and in German, Garde di Gesundheit. In this garden are to be found the power and virtues of 435 plans and other created things, which serve for the health of man, and are commonly used in apothecaries shops for medicine. Of these about 350 appear here as they are, with their true colours and form, and so that it might be useful to all the world, learned and unlearned, I had compounded in the German tongue, now fair forth into all lands, thou noble and beautiful garden, thou delight of the healthy, thou comfort and life of the sick. There is no man living who can fully declare thy use and thy fruit. I thank the O Creator of heaven and earth, who has given power to the plans and other created things contained in this book, that though has granted me the grace to reveal this treasure, which until now has lain buried and hid from the sight of common men, to thee be glory and honour, now and forever, amen. Passing from the preface to the botanical part of the German herbarias, we find that it is divided into chapters, each of which deals with a herb, except in a comparatively small number of cases, in which an animal or a substance useful to man such as butter or lime forms the subject. The chapters are arranged in alphabetical order. The herbarias sitoich represents a notable advance upon the Latin herbarias in the matter of the figures. Its publication, according to Dr. Paine, forms an important landmark in the history of botanical illustration, and marks perhaps the greatest single step ever made in that art. This estimate seems that the present writer to be somewhat exaggerated, but it must at least be conceded that the figures in question are, on the whole, drawn with greater freedom and realism than those of the Latin herbarias, and are often remarkably beautiful, text figures 7, 77, 78. The most attractive is perhaps that of the daughter climbing on a plant with flowers and pots, text figures 77, which is drawn in a masterly fashion. These woodcuts form the basis of nearly all botanical illustrations for the next half century, being copied and recopied from book to book. No work, which excelled or even equalled them, was produced until a new period of botanical illustration, began with the Herbal of Blundfeld's, published in 1530. The German herbarium was much copied and translated into other languages. The original set of figures being, as a rule, reproduced on a smaller scale. According to Dr. Payne, the earliest French edition called Arbolère, derived from the Latin herbarium, is now an exceedingly rare book. It is said to differ little from the original, except in the fact that the French translator declined to believe the myth that the Mandrake root has human form. Another early French herbal, very similar to the Arbolère, was published under the name of Le Grand Habierre. The origin of the text of this book has been the subject of some discussion. Troulon regarded it as derived from the Autes Sanitatis, but an Italian authority, Signore Giulio Camus, has discovered two 15th century manuscripts in the Bibliotheca Estenza Madena, which have thrown a different light on the subject. One of these is the work commonly called Checa Instanz, while the other is a version of the Grand Orpierre. On comparing the two, Signore Camus concluded that the French manuscript was obviously derived from Checa Instanz. A version of the latter, differing somewhat from the Madena manuscript, was printed at Ferrara in 1488 and other editions appeared later. The figures, which illustrate the Grand Habierre, seem to have been derived from those of the Autes Sanitatis, rather than those of the Herbarias. The work is of special interest to British botanists, since it was translated into English and published in 1526 as The Greta Herbal, a book which will be discussed at length in the following chapter. Another work, which appeared with reduced copies of the familiar illustrations from the German Herbarias, was the Libade Arte Distilandi de Simplicipus of Hieronymus Branschweig 1500. In this book, the method of distilling herbs in order to make use of their virtues was described in considerable detail with drawings of the apparatus employed. Part 5 The Hortus Sanitatis A third of the fundamental botanical works produced at minds towards the close of the 15th century was the Hortus, or as it is more commonly called, Autes Sanitatis, printed by Jakob Meidenbach in 1491. It is in part a modified Latin translation of the German Herbarias, but it is not merely this, for it contains treatises on animals, birds, fishes and stones, which are almost unrepresented in the Herbarias. Nearly one third of the figures of herbs are new. The rest are copied on a reduced scale from the German Herbarias, and the Dewing, which by no means improved, often shows that the copyist did not fully understand the nature of the object he was attempting to portray. As an example of a woodcut, which has lost much of its character in copying, we may take the dotter, compare text figures 80 and 77. The Hortus Sanitatis is very rich in pictures. The first edition opens with a full page woodcut, modified from that at the beginning of the German Herbarias, and representing a group of figures, who appear to be engaged in discussing some medical or botanical problem. Before the treatise on animals, there is another large engraving of three figures, with a number of beasts at their feet, and before that on birds, there is a lively picture with an architectural background, showing a scene which swarms with innumerable birds of all kinds, whose peculiarities are apparently being discussed by two savants in the foreground. The treatise on fishes begins with a landscape with water, and livened by shipping. There are two figures in the foreground, and in the water, fishes, crabs and mythical monsters, such as merman, are seen disporting themselves. Before the treatise on stones, there is a very spirited scene, representing a number of figures in a jeweller's shop, and two large woodcuts of doctors and their patients illustrates the medical portion, with which the book concludes. The treatise on plants is considerably modified from the German Herbarias, and the virtues of the herbs described are dealt with at greater length. The Herbarium of Apollaeus Platonicus is more than once quoted, though not by name. A number of new illustrations are added, some of which are highly imaginative. The Tree of Life, text figure 12, and the Tree of Knowledge are dealt with amongst other botanical objects, a woman-headed serpent being introduced in the first case, and Adam and Eve in the second. There is a beautiful description of the virtues of the Tree of Life, in which we read that he who should eat the fruit should be clothed with blessed immortality and should not be fatigued with infirmity or anxiety or lassitude or weariness of trouble. The engraving, which is named Narcissus, text figure 13, has diminutive figures emerging from the flowers, like a transformation seen at Epantemime. It is probably, however, intended to represent the conversion of the beautiful youth, Narcissus, into a flower. Apart from these mythological subjects, there are a number of very curious engravings. A tree called Bausor, for instance, which was believed to exhale an acotic poison, like the fabulous Ipas Tree, has two men lying beneath its shade, apparently in the sleep of death, text figure 14. Among the herbs, substances such as starched, vinegar, cheese, soap, etc. are included, and as these do not lend themselves to direct representation, they become the excuse for a delightful set of genre pictures. Wine is illustrated by a man gazing at a glass, bread by a housewife with loaves on the table before her, text figure 15, water by a fountain, honey by a boy who seems to be extracting it from the coom, and milk by a woman milking a cow. The picture, which appears under the heading of Amber, shows great ingenuity, text figure 16. The writer points out that this substance, according to some authors, is the fruit or gum of a tree growing by the sea, while according to others it is produced by a fish or by sea foam. In order to represent all these possibilities, the figure shows the sea, indicated in a conventional fashion with a tree going out of it, and a fish swimming in it. The writer of the Autosanitadas, on the other hand, holds the opinion that Amber is generated under the sea, after the manner of the fungi which arise on land. The treatises on animals and fishes are full of pictures of mythical creatures, such as a unicorn being caressed by a lady as though it were a little dog, text figure 17, recalling the lady and unicorn tapestry in the Musée Cluny, a fight between a man and Hydras, the phoenix and the flames, and a harpy with its claws in a man's body. Other monsters which are figured include a dragon, the basilisk, Pegasus, and a bird with a long neck which is tied in an ornamental knot. Later Latin editions of the Autosanitadas were printed in Germany and Italy, and translations were auto-popular. The part of the book, dealing with animals and stones, was produced in German under the name of Gard der Gesundheit, to Latin Autosanitadas. So as to form a supplement to the German herbarias, which dealt, as we have seen, almost exclusively with herbs. No really complete translation of the Hortus was ever published, except that printed by Antoine Verra in Paris about the year 1500, under the title Autosanitadas Translater de la Tine in François. Henry VII was one of Verra's patrons, and in the account books of John Herrin, Treasurer of the Chamber, which are preserved at the Record Office, there's an entry, 1501-2, which runs item to Anthony Verra for two books called The Guardian of Health, £6. This refers to a copy in two parts of Verra's translation of the Autosanitadas, which is still preserved in the British Museum. The complete Autosanitadas made its appearance for the last time as Le Jardin de Sainte, printed by Philippe Le Noir about 1539, and Saulten Paris, Alain Sainte de la Rose Blanchée Coronet. Text Figure 18, taken from this book, shows how the artists of the period represented a garden of health. The title pages of the early herbalds were often decorated with Dutch pictures. A more ambitious example is reproduced in Text Figure 113. In this case, the apothecary storeroom is also depicted, and a housewife is portrayed, laying frackrant herbs among linen. The small garden scene on the title page of the Greta Herbal, 1526, is of special interest, since it includes representations of the male and female Mandrake, Text Figure 112. End of Chapter 2, Recording by Mocha. Section 3 of Herbal's Their Origin and Evolution, a chapter in the history of botany. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Herbal's Their Origin and Evolution, a chapter in the history of botany by Agnes Arver. The Early History of the Herbal in England. Part 1, The Herbarium of Apolaeus Plutonicus. Concerning the Herbarium of Apolaeus Plutonicus, a few remarks have been already made. This herbal was perhaps the first through which any kind of systematic knowledge of medicinal plants was brought into Britain. For this reason it may be mentioned here, although manuscript herbals do not strictly come within our province. In the Bodleian Library there is an Anglo-Saxon translation of the work, which is said to have been made for King Alfred. Another Anglo-Saxon manuscript of later date, probably transcribed between AD 1000 and the Norman Conquest, has been rendered into modern English by Dr. Cacain. The classical and Anglo-Saxon plant names are given in the herbal, and although there are scarcely any attempt at description, the localities where the plants may be found are sometimes mentioned. The greater part of the manuscript is concerned with the virtue of herbs. The plants were regarded in this, as in most early works merely as symbols, that is, the simple constituents of compound medicines. Heronymus Spach in 1551 described his herbal as being an account of Dainfas et Geshwar, simplicia genant. The term simple, now almost obsolete, was a household word in earlier times when most remedies were manufactured at homes in the still room. The expression of Jacques, and as you like it, a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many symbols, extracted from many objects, would not have seen in the least far fetched to an audience of that day. It is interesting that, although the word simple used in this sense has vanished from our common speech, its antithesis compound has held this place in the language of pharmacy. The southern source of the herbal of Apuleus is suggested by the fact that the origin of the healing art is attributed to Esculapius and Chiron. We are told also that the worm words were discovered by Diana, who delivered their powers and leached them to Chiron, the centaur who first from these warts set forth the leechdom. The lily of the valley, on the other hand, is said to have been found by Apollo and given by him to Esculapius, the leech. Many of the accounts of the virtues of the plants are of the nature of spells or charms, rather than of medical recipes. For instance, it is recommended that if any propose a journey, then let him take to him in hand this wart Artemisius, then he will not feel much toil in his journey. As is usually the case in the older herbals, the proper mode of uprooting the mandrick is described with much gusto. This wart is Nicolene, illustrious of aspect, and is also beneficial. Thou shalt in this manner take it when thou comest to it. Then thou understandest it by this that it shineth at night, altogether like a lamp. When first thou seest its head, then inscribe thou it instantly with iron, lest it fly from thee. Its virtue is so nickel and so famous that it will immediately flee from an unclean man once he cometh to it. Hence, as we said before, do thou inscribe it with iron, and so thou dwell about it, as though thou touch it not with the iron, but thou shalt earnestly with an ivory staff dwell the earth. And when thou seest its hands and its feet, then tie thou it up, and take the other end, and tie it to a dog's neck, so that the hound be hungry. Next cast meat before him, so that he may not reach it, except be jerk up the wart with him. Of this wart it is said, that it hath so nickel might that what things so ever tucketh it up, that it shall soon in the same manner be deceived. Therefore, as soon as thou see that it be jerked up and hath possession of it, take it immediately in hand and twist it, and ring the ewes out of its leaves into a glass ampula. The writer of the herbal evidently fully accepted the mythical notion that the mandrake was furnished with human limbs. Plate five shows how this plant was depicted in an early printed edition of the Herbarium of Apolaus, but much more spirited and sensational treatments of the same subject already be found in some of the manuscripts dealing with herbs. The earliest English printable containing information of a definitely botanical character is probably the translation of the Lever de Proprietatibus Revrum of Bartholomeus Anglicus, which was printed by Winkende word before the end of the 15th century. This has been briefly mentioned in the last chapter, and a woodcut from it is shown in text figure 19. Section 2. Banks Herbal The first book printed in England, which can really be called a herbal, is an anonymous quartile volume without illustrations, published in 1525. The title page runs here begin at the new matter, the which showeth and treateth of the virtues and properties of herbs, the which is poultry. I've not been able to satisfy myself that this work is directly derived from any pre-existing book, and it seems possible that it may really have some claim to originality. Dr. Payne suggests that it is probably an abridgment of some medieval English manuscript on herbs. It is certainly quite a different work from the much more famous great herbal printed in the seceding year, and although there are no figures, it is in some ways a better book. Distinctly less space and proportion is devoted to the virtues of the plants, and on the whole more botanical information is given. For instance, under the heading Capillus veneris, we find the following description. This herb is called maiden, here, or waterwort. This herb hath leaves like deferne, but the leaves be smaller, and it groweth on walls and stones, and in ye mittels of ye leaf is as if it were black here. The great herbal, on the other hand, vowed safe, is only the meager information. Capillus veneris is an herb so named. In cases where the virtues of the herbs are not strictly medicinal, they are described in banks herbal with more than a touch of poetry. Rosemary has perhaps the most charming list of attributes, some of which are worth quoting. The reader is directed to take the flowers and make powder thereof, and bind it to the right arm in a linen cloth, and it shall make the light and marry. Also take the flowers and put them in a chest among your clothes, and among books, and moth shall not hurt them. Also boil the leaves in white wine, and wash the face therewith, thou shalt have a fair face. Also put the leaves under thy bed, and thou shall be delivered of all evil dreams. Also take the leaves and put them into a vessel of wine. If thou sell that wine, thou shalt have good luck and speed in the sail. Also make thee a box of the wood, and smelt to it, and it shall preserve thy youth. Also put thereof in thy doors, or in thy house, and thou shall be without danger of adders, and other venomous serpents. Also make thee a barrel thereof, and drinketh thou of the drink that standeth therein, and thou needest to fear no poison that shall hurt ye, and if thou set it in the garden keep it honestly, for it is much profitable. The popularity of Banks' herbal is attested by the fact that a large number of additions appeared from different presses, although their identity has been obscured by the various names under which they were published. To consider these additions in detail is a task for the bibliographer, rather than the botanist, and will not be attempted here. We may, however, mention a few typical examples. In 1550 a book was printed by John King with the title A Little Herbal of the Properties of Herbs newly amended and corrected, with certain additions at the end of the book, declaring what herbs hath influence of certain stars and constellations, whereby may be chosen the best to most lucky times and days of their administration, according to the moon, being in the signs of heaven, the which is daily appointed in the Almanac, made and gathered in the year of our Lord God 1550, the twelfth day of February, by Anthony Ascombe, physician. This work, which is generally called Ascombe's herbal, is directly derived from Banks' herbal, with the addition of some astrological lore. The book known as Kerry's, or Copeland's herbal, which was probably first published about the same time as Ascombe's herbal, is simply a later edition of the herbal of Richard Banks, and another closely similar edition with an almost identical title, was published by King. Another version of the same work, undated and printed by Robert Weier, appeared under an even more deceptive title, a new herbal of maser translated out of Latin into English. There was, as a matter of fact, a certain Amelius maser, a contemporary of Virgil and Ovid, who wrote about plants in Latin verse, and there's also a herbal which was first printed in the 15th century, which is known by the name of maser floridas de viribus erbarum. Maser floridas, or Amelius maser, is supposed to have been the pseudonym of a physician whose real name was Oto. De viribus urarum deals with 77 plants in alphabetical order, and describes their virtues in medieval Latin verse, which is believed to date back to the 10th century. It is illustrated with woodcuts, which are apparently copied from those of the verbarius zoo touche. There seems to be no justification, whatever, for the use of maser's name on the title page of a new herbal of maser, except for some slight verbal differences. It is identical with bank's herbal of 1525. Another closely similar edition, also undated, was published under the name of maser's herbal, practiced by Dr. Lenecro. Maser's name was probably merely borrowed in each case in order to give the books a well-sounding title, and thus to increase the chances of sale. Section 3 The Great Herbal Among the earlier English herbals, the greater reputation belongs not to bank's herbal in any of its forms, but to the great herbal, printed by Peter Traveras in 1526, and again in 1529. This was admittedly a translation from the French, namely from the work known as Le Grand Evier, whose origin we have discussed on page 24. And the preface and supplement, however, it also shows some indebtedness to the autus sanitatus. The figures in the great herbal are the great copies of the series which first appeared in the verbarius zoo touche. The introduction to the great herbal, though it is less naive and charming than the corresponding part of the German verbarius, may yet be quoted in part as having a very lucid idea of the utilitarian point of view of the herbalist of the period, and also as bringing home to the reader the immense influence of the theory of the four elements. Considering the great goodness of Almighty God creator of heaven and earth, and all done therein, and all thing therein comprehended to whom be eternal law and praise, etc., considering the course and nature of the four elements and qualities where the nature of man is inclined, out of the which elements issueth divers qualities, infirmities, and diseases in the corporate body of man. But God of His goodness that is creator of all things hath ordained or mankind, which He hath created to His own likeness, for the great and tender love which He hath unto Him, to whom all things earthly, He hath ordained to be abyssin, for the sustenation and health of His loving creatures mankind, which is one made equally of the four elements and qualities of the same. And when any of these four abound were hath more domination, the one than the other, it constraineth the body of man to great infirmities or diseases, for the which the eternal God hath given of His abundant grace virtues in all manners of herbs to cure and heal, all manner of sickness or infirmities, to Him be fallen through the influent course of the four elements before said, and of the corruptions and the venomous heirs contrary the health of man. Also of unwholesome meats or drinks, diseases been of name and impossible to be rehearsed and fortune as well in villages, whereas neither surgeons nor physicians be dwelling nigh by many a mile, as it doth in good towns where they be ready at hand. Wherefore brotherly love compeleth me to write through the gifts of the Holy Ghost, showing and informing how man may be helped with green herbs of the garden and weeds of the fields as well as by costly receipts of the pothickery prepared. The conclusion of the whole matter, which is set forth immediately before the index, is in these words. O ye were the readers or practitioners to whom this noble volume is present, I beseech thou, take intelligency behold the works and operations of Almighty God, which hath endowed His simple creature mankind with the graces of the Holy Ghost to have perfect knowledge and understanding of the virtue of all manner of herbs and trees in this book comprehended. From a twentieth century point of view, the great herbal contains much that is curious, especially in relation to medical matters. Bathing was evidently regarded as a strange fad. We learn on the authority of Galen that many folk that hath bathed them in cold water hath died or they come home. Water drinking seems to have been thought almost equally pernicious, for we were told, Master Isaac saith that it is impossible for them that drinketh over much water in their youth to come to the age that God ordained them. A period when men were more prone than they are today to settle their differences, by the use of their strong right arms is reflected. In the various remedies proposed for such afflictions as blackness or bruising coming of stripes, especially if they be in the face. Turning to less concrete elements, it is rather striking to find what a large number of prescriptions against melancholy are considered necessary. For instance, to make folk merry at the table, one is recommended to take four leaves and four rots of revane and wine, then sprinkle the wine all about the house where the eating is, and they shall all be merry. The smoke of aristolotia make it the patient merry marvelously, and also driveeth all devilishness and all trouble out of the house. Buglos and mugwort are also recommended to produce merrymen, and it is suggested that the lesser mugwort should be laid under the door of the house, for if this is done, man nor woman can annoy in that house. The number of specifics proposed as a cure for baldness is somewhat surprising, when one remembers that this condition is often attributed to the nervous stress and strain of modern life. Hair dyes and stains for the nails also receive their share of attention. Very remarkable powers were ascribed to products of the ocean, such as coral and pearls. The former is described as being a manner of stony substance that is found in parties of the sea, and especially in hollow and cavey hills that bend in the sea, and growth as a matter of gluey humor and cleaveth to the stones. The writer mentions that some say that the reed coral keepeth the house that it is in from lightning, thunder and tempest. Pearls were regarded as of great value in medicine, and for weakness of the heart, the patient is recommended to take the powder of pearls with sugar of roses, which suggests to the remedy worthy of a poet. Many traveler's tales are incorporated into the herbal. We find, for instance, a most thrilling description of the lodestone. Lapis magnetus is the adamant stone that droth then. It is found in the brimes of the ocean sea, and there be hills of it, and these hills draw the ships that have nails of iron to them and break the ships of drawing of the nails out. This description is illustrated by a picture of a rocky pinnacle and a ship going to pieces. One man is already in the water, and two others are on the point of losing their lives. Many of the remedies for different ailments strike the modern readers being violent in a terrifying degree, and adapted to a more robust age than the present. They incline one to echo the words, there were giants in the earth in those days. But apparently the 16th century held an exactly corresponding view of its predecessors, for under the heading of white elabor we read in old time it was commonly used in medicines as we use squaminy, for the body of man was stronger than it is now, and might better endure the violence of elabor for man is weaker at this time of nature. It is somewhat remarkable that both Christianity and Greek mythology find a place in the great herbal. The discovery of Artemisia and its virtues is attributed to Diana and the centaurs, but in the event of being bitten by a mad dog the sufferer is recommended to appeal to the Virgin Mary before employing any remedy. As some of you be bitten go to the church and make the offering to our lady and pray here to help and heal thee, then rub your sore with a new cloth, etc. Quite a number of medicines enumerated in the great herbal still hold their own in modern practice. Licorice is recommended for coughs, laudanum, henbane, opium, and lettuces as narcotics, olive oil and slaked lime for scalds, cuddle fishbone for whitening the teeth, and borax and rose water for the complexion. This book throws an interesting light on the early names of British plants. The primrose is called primaroles and St. Peterward. The devil's bite is said to be so called by cause the rote is black and seemeth that it is jagged with brightening, and some say the devil hath envy at the virtue thereof and beat the rote so forth to have destroyed it. Duckweed is called lentils of the water or frogsfote while cuckoo pine is known by the picturesque name of prestis hood and wood sorrow is called alleluia or cuckoo's meat. One of the most noticeable features of the herbal is the exposure of methods of faking drugs for the protection of the public. To astew the fraud of them that sell it, this is a great step in advance from the days of the old Greek herbalists when secrecy was part of the stock and trade of a drugist, and as we have pointed out in a previous chapter, the credulous public was warned off by threats of the miraculous and fearful ills which would follow any unskilled meddling with the subject. Another work which was illustrated with the same figures as those of the great herbal was the virtuous book of distillation of the waters of all manner of herbs, which appeared in 1527. This was a translation of Lawrence Andrew from the Viber de Arte Distellande of Hieronymus Ransvig, to which we have already referred. It is almost entirely occupied with an account of methods of distillation, but occasionally there is a picturesque touch of description. For example, in speaking of the mistletoe the author says, this herb hath a long slender leaf, neither full green nor full yellow, and beareth a small white berry. The book was printed in the fleet street by me, Lawrence Andrew, in the sign of the Golden Cross. Section 4 of Herbalds, Their Origin and Evolution, a chapter in the history of botany. This is a Librovox recording, or Librovox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, audible in tier, please visit Librovox.org. Herbalds, Their Origin and Evolution, a chapter in the history of botany by Yakni Saba. Chapter 4, The Botanical Renaissance of the 16th and 17th Centuries, Part 1, The Herbal in Germany. In his history of botany, Kutsch-Bengel first used the honour title, The German Fathers of Botany, to describe a group of herbalists, Brünfeldts, Bock, Fuchs and Caulis, whose work belongs principally to the first half of the 16th century. The earliest of these was Otto Brünfeldts, Otho Brünfeldius, who was said to have been born in 1464. His sure name is derived from the fact that his father, who was a cooper, came from Schloss Brünfeldts near Mainz. When Otto grew up he became a Cthusian monk. We do not know how long his monastery career lasted, but eventually his health appeared to have broken down, and at the same time his faith in the Roman Catholic Church was undermined by the acquaintance which he began to make with protestant doctrines. He fled from the monastery and took up as a botanist trust book, where he was for nine years headmaster of the grammar school. He wrote various theological works, but ultimately turned his attention to medicine, and before his death in 1534 he had become town physician at Bern. As evidence of his medical studies we have his fine herbal, which is still full of interest, whereas his other works, which he probably regarded as much more serious contributions, are falling into oblivion. A new era in the history of the herbal may be set to date from the year 1530, when the first part of Brünfeldts' work, the Hebarium vive iconis, was published by Shot of Strasbourg. In this book, with its beautiful and naturalistic illustrations, there is, as the title indicates, a real return to nature. The plants are represented as they are, and not in the conventionalised aspect which had become traditional in the earlier herbals, through successive copying by one artist from another, without reference to the plants themselves. The blocks for the Hebarium vive iconis were executed by Hans Weiditz, who was probably also the Draughtsman. Examples are shown in text figures 22, 23, 24, 25, 82, 83, and 84. The illustrations of Brünfeldts' herbal are incomparably better than the text, which is very poor, and largely borrowed from previous writers. Brünfeldts' knowledge of botany was chiefly derived from the study of certain Italian authors, Monardus and others, who spent the time in trying to identify the plants they saw growing around them, with those described by Dioscorridus. This was by no means unreasonable in their case, since it was the plans of the Mediterranean region that Dioscorridus had enumerated, when, however Brünfeldts attempted to employ the same methods, in its examination of the Florida of the Strasbourg district, and the left bank of the Rhine, many difficulties and discrepancies arose. He had no understanding of the geographical distribution of plants, and did not realise that different regions have dissimilar flores. It is curious that this should have been so, when we remember that Theophrastus, more than 1800 years earlier, had clearly pointed out that the provinces of Asia have each their own characteristic plans, and that some which occur in one region are absent from another. Heronymus Bock, who in his Latin writings called himself Tagus, text figure 26, was a contemporary of Brünfeldts, though his botanical work was somewhat later in date. He was born in 1498, and destined by his parents for the cloister. But he proved to have no vocation for the monastic life, and having passed through a university course, he obtained by favour of the Count Paladin Ludwig, the post of school teacher at Strybrücken, and overseer of the Count's garden. After his patron's death, he removed to Hornbach, where he preached the gospel, and also had an extensive medical practice, devoting his spare time to botany. But he got into some trouble, apparently yo-ing to his proscentism, and was obliged to leave Hornbach. He was in serious strides until Count Philip of Nassau, whom he had previously cured of a severe illness, gave him shelter and support in his own castle. He was eventually able to return to Hornbach, where he filled the office of preacher until his death in 1554. Bock's great work is the new Kreuterbuch, a herbal which first appeared in 1539, printed at Strasbourg by Wendel Riehel. In subsequent editions, the title was abbreviated to Kreuterbuch. The first edition was with art illustrations, but a second, containing many woodcuts, followed in 1546. The majority of the figures are said to have been copied on a reduced scale from those in Fuchs's Magnificent Herbal, which appeared in 1542, between the first and second editions of Bock's work. Fuchs's figures must have been used with great discretion, for the plagiarism is often not obvious. See text figures 27, 90, 91. A considerable number of the figures are new, being drawn and engraved by David Cundle, whose initials appear on the portrait of Bock, but produced in text figure 26. The woodcuts of trees in the third part of the book are particularly noticeable, see text figures 28 and 92, and are often made more interesting by the introduction of figures of man and animals. Bock's chief claim to remembrance, however, does not lie in his figures, but in his descriptions, which were at great advance on those previously published. He was careful also to note the mode of occurrence and localities of the plans mentioned, and in this feature his work showed some approach to a flora in the modern sense of the word. Bock seems to have been a keen collector, although hampered by ill health, and a great point in his favour is that he described only those plans which had come under his own personal observation. The royal fern, Osmonder, was traditionally supposed to bear seed upon San John's eve, though ferns were generally believed at that time to have no organs of fruitification. To test the statement, Bock four times spent the night on the forest. He found small black seed-like poppy seed, in spite of the fact that he used no charm incantation or magic character, but went upon a search without superstition. Bock's freedom from the credulity which permeated the work of so many of the early botanists is one of his most remarkable characteristics. His chapters on Verbena and Artemisia reflect clearly the independence of his thought. He points out that the former plan is collected rather for purposes of magic than for medicine, and he can hardly contain a scorn at the monkey tricks and ceremonies connected with the use of the latter. Leonhard Fuchs, or Fuchsius, the third of the fathers of German botany, seafrontyspice, belonged to the same generation as Hieronymus Bock, though he was a little younger and produced the chief work three years later. He was born in 1501 at Memdingen in Bavaria, and at an early age he became a student of the University of Fairford, where he is said to have taken a bachelor's degree in his thirteenth year. After a period of school teaching, he resumed his studies, this time at the University of Ingolstadt, where he devoted himself chiefly to classics and became a master of arts. After this he turned his attention to medicine and took a doctor's degree. At Ingolstadt, he came under the influence of Luther's writing, which won him over to the reformed faith. Fuchs began to practice as a physician at Munich, but in 1526 he returned to Ingolstadt as professor of medicine. He seems to have been of a restless temperament, which was probably accentuated by the persecution to which his protest and opinion exposed him. His career for more than 40 years consisted of periods of active practice, alternating with periods of university teaching. In 1535 he was appointed to a professorship at Tübingen, and while he helped this post, he declined a call to the University of Pisa, and also an invitation to become physician to the King of Denmark. It is clear that, both as a physician and a teacher, he was in great demand. He acquired a widespread reputation by a successful treatment of a terrible epidemic disease, which swept over Germany in 1529. A little book of medical instructions and prayers against the plague, which was published in London in the letter half of the 16th century, shows that his fame had extended to England. It is entitled, A Worthy Practice of the Most Learned Physician Meister Leonhard Fuchsius, Doctor in Physics, Most Necessary in This Needful Time of Our Visitation, for the comfort of all good and faithful people, both old and young, both for the sick and for them that would avoid the danger of contagion. In spite of his professional activity, Fuchs found time to produce a botanical masterpiece, which appeared in 1542 from the press of Isingren of Baal, and the title De Historia Stepium. This was a Latin herbal, dealing with about 400 native German and 100 foreign plans, and was followed in the succeeding year by a German edition called the New Kreuterbuch. Of all the botanists of the Renaissance, Fuchs is perhaps the one who deserves most to be held on honour. He is notably superior to his two predecessors in matters calling for scholarship, such as the critical study of the plant nomenclature of classical authors. His herbal rivals, or even surpasses, that of Brunfeld's in its illustrations, and that of Bock in its German text. The letter press of the Latin edition is, on the whole, inferior to the German, the brief descriptions being often taking word for word from previous writers. The Latin edition opens, however, with a long and most interesting preface in singularly pure and fine Latin. Fuchs is keenly indignant at the ignorance of herbs displayed even by medical men. His outburst on this subject may be literally translated as follows. But, by immortal God, is it to be wondered at that kings and princes do not at all regard the pursuit of the investigation of plants, when even the physicians of our time so shrink from it, that it is scarcely possible to find one among a hundred who has an accurate knowledge of even so many as a few plans. That Fuchs's work was indeed a labour of love as a conviction that must force itself upon everyone who studies his herbal, and it is further borne out by his own words in the preface, words which bear the stamp of a lively enthusiasm. But there is no reason why I should delay to greater length upon the pleasantness and delight of acquiring knowledge of plants, since there is no one who does not know that there is nothing in this life pleasanter and more delightful than to wander over woods, mountains, plains, garlanded and adorned with the flowerlets and plans of various sorts, and most allergen to boot and to gaze intently upon them. But it increases that pleasure and delight not a little, if there be added acquaintance with the virtues and powers of these same plans. The woodcuts which illustrate Fuchs's herbal are of extraordinary beauty. Tech figures 30, 31, 32, 58, 70, 86, 87, 88. Some of them gain a special interest, as being the first European figures of certain American plants, for example Indian corn, ZMI's L, and the great pumpkin, Cucubita maxima doch, Tech's figure 32. These woodcuts became familiar in England in the second half of the 16th century, being used on a reduced scale, borrowed from the Octavo edition in both William Turner's Herbal and Light's Dodoens, two books which we shall consider a little later. In Fuchs's great work, we are fortunate in possessing, in addition to the botanical drawings, a full-length portrait of the author himself, holding a spray of Veronica, on the verso of the title page, Seafronti Speese, and at the end of the work, named Portraits, which are generally supposed to represent the artist who drew the plans from nature, the Draughtsmen whose business it was to copy the outline onto the wood, and the engraver who actually cut the block, Tech's figure 89. It has also been suggested that the first of these is perhaps engaged in colouring a printed sheet. These portraits are powerfully drawn, and remarkably convincing. It is pleasant to think that we know not nearly the names, but the very features of the man who collaborated to give us what is perhaps the most beautiful herbal ever produced. The influence of Fuchs's illustrations is more strongly felt in later work than that of his text. The majority of the wood engravings unboxed Kroiderbuch 1546, Dodoens Kroiderbach 1554, Törner's New Herbal 1551 to 1568, Leitz Neuer Herbal 1578, and Jean Bourhan's Historia Plantarum Universales 1651, are copied from Fuchs, or even printed from his actual wood plucks, while a number of his figures reappear in the herbals of Egenolf, de Alicham's, Tebemari Montanos, etc., and the commentaries of Ruelios and Amartus Lucintanos on his corridors. Fuchs arranged his work alphabetically, making no attempt at a natural griping of the plants, and his herbal is therefore without importance in the history of plant classification. His influence on methods of plant description was however considerable, as is shown by the fact that Dodoens, in his Kroiderbach, took Fuchs's herbal as a model for the order of description of each plant. Fuchs's text, as well as his figures, may thus be said to have had an effect, even if an indirect one, un-British botany, since the herbals of Light and of Gerard, are based on the work of Dodoens, in which, as we just have shown, the influence of Fuchs is clearly felt. The publisher Christian Egenolf Frankfurt, though not himself a botanical writer, must be mentioned at this stage. Bersy brought out, in 1533, a set of planned illustrations, which became particularly well-known, for example, text figures 33 and 85. They do not reflect any great credit on Egenolf, since they were mostly pirated from Brunfeld's. They were not even used to illustrate a new herbal, but merely a new addition of the old German Herbarios, enlarged and improved by Dr. Ocharius Rodion, and issued under the name of Kroiderbach von Allen Erdgevex. Egenolf was evidently a keen man of business, for he made his figures to duty over and over again. He used them not only as illustrations to the herbal, but as a separate publication, without any letter press, and also in conjunction with an entirely unrelated text, such, for example, as a Latin version of Dias Corridis. Many later editions of the Kroiderbach appeared, and to these a number of figures were added, chiefly copies on a reduced scale, from those of Bach, who had himself made considerable use of drawings on the Octave edition of Fuchs's Herbal. The editions produced under the auspices of Adam Lonniser, the publisher's son-in-law, are particularly well known. No other botanical work of the period had his success comparable to that of his long series of books, of which Rodion's Kroiderbach was the prototype. This success was, however, achieved in the teeth of a much-adverse contemporary criticism. Fuchs, in the preface of his Historia Stepium 1542, referred with unspelling touch to Egonolf's botanical mistakes. His transient indignment may be rendered into English as follows. Among all the herbals which exist today, there are none which have more of the crassest errors than those which Egonolf, the printer, has already published again and again. This statement Fuchs supports by means of actual examples. It must nevertheless be admitted that, even if their quality was poor, the herbals published by Egonolf and his successors did good service in disseminating some knowledge of the planned world among a very white public. There is, in the British Museum, a beautiful copy of the 1536 edition, with a binding stamina gold and bearing the arms of Mary, Duchess of Suffolk, daughter of Henry VII. The Duchess may perhaps have inherited a tasteful herbals from her father, for the British Museum also possesses a copy of Verrat's translation of the Autus Sanitatis, which is known to have been purchased by him. Among the German fathers of Botany, Sprengel includes a comparatively little known name, that of Valerius Cordus, 1515-1544, a man whose actual achievement was small, but who, if he had not died so young, would probably have become one of the most famous of the earlier herbalists. His father, Iresius Cordus, was a physician, botanist, and man of letters, so Valerius was brought up in a fortunate environment. At sixteen he graduated at the University of Marburg, and, after studying in various towns, he passed from the position of pupil to that of teacher, and expanded his couridice at the University of Wittenberg. He travelled wildly in search of plans, and visited many of the savans of the periods. He is known to have made a stay at Tübingen, and it is highly probable that he became personally acquainted with Leonhard Fuchs. Cordus had always longed to see, under the native skies, the plans about which the ancients had written, and, in fulfilment of this dream, he undertook a long excursion into Italy. He visited many of the towns, amongst others Padua, Bologna, Florence, and Siena, travelling partly on foot, and partly on horseback, and generally accompanied by his friend Hieronymus Schreiber. The journey was a very trying one to men accustomed to a more northerly climate. Wild and difficult country had he be traversed in the height of summer, and the exposure and fatigue led to a tragic conclusion. Cordus was injured by a kick from a horse which brought on a fever, and his companions had great difficulty in getting him as far as Rome. He rallied, however, and his friends were deceived into the belief that he was on the road to recovery. They even thought it safe to leave him, while they made an excursion to Naples, but he did not survive until their return. His fate, like that of Keats, was to see Rome and die. None of the botanical works of Valerius Cordus were published during his lifetime, but his commentaries on Diocoretus and his Historia stepium were edited by Gessner after his death. The great merit of the Historia lies in the vividness of the descriptions. The author seems to have examined the plans for their own sake, not merely in the interest of the arts of healing. Cordus did noteworthy service to medicine, however, for when he passed through Nuremberg on his travels, he was able to lay before the physicians of that town a collection of medical recipes, chiefly selected from earlier writings. This work, which had for some time been in use in Saxony in manuscript form, was considered so valuable that, after it had been examined and tested under the auspices of the town council, it was published officially as the Nuremberg Dispensentorium, probably in 1546. This is said to be the first work of the nature of a pharmacopoeia ever published under government authority. A passing reference may be made at this point to Jacob Theodor of Betsarbon, 1520-1590, a herbalist whose work was perhaps of no very great importance, but who was closely connected with the German fathers of botany, having been the pupil both of Otto Bornfeldt's and of Eronomus Bock, in his books he called himself Tabernaya Montanos. Like the majority of the herbalists, Theodor was a medical man, and his study of botany was a hobby which extended over many years. He projected a herbal, but was unable for a long time to carry the idea into effect, being deterred by the cost of the illustrations. This difficulty was eventually overcome, chiefly through the generosity of Count Paladin Frederick III, and of the Frankfurt publisher Nikolaus Baceos. The herbal first appeared in 1588, under the title Neu Kötabuch, and in 1590 the illustrations were published without any text as the Iconus Plantarum. The herbal is a large and very finely illustrated work. The figures, however, are for the most part not original, but are reproduced from Bock, Fuchs, Dodowens, Matjoli, De La Cluce and De La Belle. This collection of woodblocks became familiar in England a few years later, when they were acquired by the printer John Norton, and used to illustrate Durant's Herbal which appeared in 1597. There is still another German herbalist of the 16th century whose work must not be overlooked. This is Joachim Camaradius, the Younger, played six. His father was a celebrated philologist and a friend of Melantrton. The son, who was born in 1534, was attracted to botany in his early youth. He studied at Wittenberg and other universities, and travelled in Hungary and Italy. He spent some time in the letter country, and took a doctor's degree in medicine at Bologna. At Pisa, he became acquainted with Andréa Cisalpino. Finally he returned to Germany, and settled down at Neuronberg. Here he cultivated a garden which was kept supplied with rare plants by his friends and the Neuronberg merchants. Camaradius brought out an edition of Matjoli, De Plantis Epitome, but his chief work was the Hortus Medicus at Philosophicus, which appeared in 1588. The illustrations to this book consist partly of drawings by Gassner, which the author had bought a few years previously, and partly of original figures. It is impossible to discriminate with any exactness between the work of the two men. These woodcuts, of which text figures 34, 35, 71 and 100 are examples, will be discussed more fully in Chapter 7. From the botanical point of view, they represent a considerable advance, since the details of floral structure are often shown on an enlarged scale. Camaradius was a good observer, and his travels furnished him with much information regarding the calaques for the plans which he described, and of Chapter 4, Part 1, Recording by Mocha.