Ancient Botany Organising The Vegetable Kingdom

Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin have brought together their botanical and historical knowledge to produce this unique overview of ancient botany. It examines all the founding texts of botanical science, such as Theophrastus' Enquiry into Plants, Dioscorides' Materia Medica, Pliny the Elder's Natural History, Nicolaus of Damascus' On Plants, and Galen' On Simple Remedies, but also includes lesser known texts ranging from the sixth century BCE to the seventh century CE, as well as some material evidence. The authors adopt a thematic approach rather than a chronological one, considering important issues such as the definition of a plant, nomenclature, classifications, physiology, the link between plants and their environment, and the numerous usages of plants in the ancient world. The book also takes care to place ancient botany in its historical, social and economic context. The authors have explained all technical botanical terms and ancient history notions, and as a result, this work will appeal to historians of ancient science, medicine and technology; classicists; and botanists interested in the history of their discipline.

This 1830 work gives a systematic view of the organisation, natural affinities, and geographical distribution of the vegetable kingdom.

Excerpt from An Introduction to the Natural System of Botany, or a Systematic View of the Organisation, Natural Affinities, and Geographical Distribution, of the Whole Vegetable Kingdom: Together With the Uses of the Most Important Species in Medicine, the Arts, and Rural or Domestic Economy As Guardians of the education of a very con siderable part of the Medical Profession, the subject of the following pages cannot be otherwise than interesting to you. If a knowledge of the Plants from which medicinal substances are obtained, is in itself an object of importance, as it most undoubtedly is, the Science which teaches the art of judging of the hidden qualities of unknown vegetables by their eaternal -characters is of still greater moment. T 0 what extent this can safely be carried, it is not, in the actual state of human knowledge, possible to foresee; but it is at least certain, that it depends entirely upon a careful study of the natural rela tions of the Vegetable Kingdom. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.