that the purfuit was to no purpofe. They were obliged
to leave the plants o f the ancients, and their virtues, in the
lame degree of obfcurity in which they were involved,
and to begin de novo the experiments on their medical
qualities. All that was gained by their fearch was, that
of about five hundred plants mentioned by Diofcorides,
there were hardly twenty known to a eertainty, and of
them only fuch as can be confidered as culinary or dietetic
plants. The multitude of ufelefs and uncertain remedies
with which the apothecaries’ Ihops were filled, and of
which, even in our times, we have not been able to rid
them, is to be charged to thofe examinations, and proved
the only confequence of their labours. We need only
mention Hellebore as a proof of this. The variety of
opinions among the ancients, relative to the plant to
which Sneezewort belongs, which is fo highly commended
by the ancients, added to the ftpres of medicinal
Ihops no lefs t h a n t e n forts of roots, fome entirely ufelefs,
and others very different in quality from that of the ancients,
which is yet not certainly known. But w hy fhould
we not exculpate both the ancients and their expofitors,
who lived in very different climates ? Botany, in their
time, had not been reduced to the form of a fcience; it
is our own age that has given it order and certainty.
But notwithftanding this, advantage over the ancients, and
the opportunity afforded us of examining many of the
remedies which the vegetable kingdom affords, even in
their native climates, yet we are ftill in a ftate of uncertainty
with refpeCtto many which are infrequent ufe, as to
the
the clafs or family to which they ought to be referred, and
with refpect to fome we are entirely ignorant. Much light,
however, has of late years been thrown on this fubject,
and we have learnt to a certainty the plants from which
various medicines are procured;' having infallible marks
or characters by which to diftinguifh their affinities: our
experience therefore will not be loft to pofterity as that of
the ancients has been to us, but will remain as long as the
plants themfelves. No one will deny that the knowledge
of plants, grounded on their effential parts, which are con-
ftant and obvious, is the fureft method of preferving the
knowledge of their qualities, when once difcovered, from
perifhing, as well as of determining any doubts or dif-
putes relative to that point. The fight is unqueftionably
lefs liable'to uncertainty than the fmell and tafte, which
are capable of being perverted by feveral accidents in
fuch a manner as to give uncertain indications ; and how
many plants are there, which, though fimilar in fmell
and tafte, are yet very different in their effects ! To this
may be added the impoffibility of explaining by words
thefe fenfations to others : it is furely far eafier to inform
people through the medium of fight. It may ftill be
objected, perhaps, that colour, a particular afforded by
our fight, is ftill an uncertain character, and is known to
vary. Had we no other characters but the internal ones
by which we might communicate to pofterity the
knowledge of thofe remedies from which we have received
fo much advantage, they would become both
uncertain, and in a little time as unprofitable to them
' j as.