Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/69

 characters should be based on the fruit, and denying spontaneous generation.

As a specimen of the great work he meditated, Morison next issued 'Plantarum Umbelliferarum Distributio nova,' Oxford, 1672, fol. pp. 91, with 12 plates, dedicated to the Duke of Ormonde, the chancellor, and the university. In 1674 he issued 'Icones et Descriptiones rariorum Plantarum Sicilian, Melitae, Galliae, et Italiaa. . . auctore Paulo Boccone,' Oxford, 4to, pp. 96, with 52 plates, having 119 figures, a work sent to him at the author's request, by Charles Hatton, second son of Lord Hatton, who, about 1658, had been Morison's pupil in botany at St. Germains. In 1680 he published 'Plantarum Historiæ Universalis Oxoniensis pars secunda; seu Herbarum distributio nova, per tabulas cognationis et affinitatis, ex libro Naturæ observata,' Oxford, fol. pp. 617. The preface is dated 'Ex Musæo riostro in Collegio dicto Universitatis.' In this work, leaving trees, as a smaller subject, for separate treatment, Morison divides herbaceous plants into sixteen classes, but deals only with the first five. He dealt with four more before his death, and the work was completed, at the request of the university, in 1699, by Jacob Bobart the younger [q. v.], who had learnt Morison's system from its author. This second volume (pp. 655) contains numerous copper-plates, representing some 3,384 plants, engraved at the expense of Bishop Fell, Dean Aldrich, and others, the illustrations of the two volumes of the work being almost the earliest copper-plates in England. Speaking of this volume, Wood says: 'After this is done there will come out another volume of trees by the same hand.' This never appeared, but Schelhammer wrote, in 1687, that, eleven years before, he had seen the whole work nearly complete, at the author's house (Hermanni Conringii in universam artem medicam Introductio, Helmestadt, pp. 350-1). In the Botanical Department of the British Museum there is a volume from Sir Hans Sloane'a library containing 128 cancelled pages from the beginning of the second volume. These differ mainly in containing the 'annotations of the eastern names,' mentioned by Wood (Fasti, ii. 315) as the work of 'Dr. Tho. Hyde, chief keeper of the Bodleian Library.' The volume also contains manuscript notes by Bobart.

 MORISON or MORESIN, THOMAS, (1558?–1603?), physician and diplomatist, was born about 1558 it is said, in Aberdeen, but the statement is only based on the epithet 'Aberdonanus' or 'Aberdonnus' which Morison applies to himself. He may have been educated at Aberdeen, and Tanner calls him 'medicinæ doctor in academia Aberdonensi,' but his name does not appear in the published records. Like many of his countrymen (cf. Preface to Fasti Aberdonenses, Spalding Club), Morison studied at Montpellier, whence he probably took his degree of M.D. It was possibly during Anthony Bacon's visit to Montpellier in 1582 that Morison made his acquaintance [cf. ]. Morison was probably at Arras in December 1592, for in a letter to Bacon he gives a remarkably minute account of the death of Alexander Farnese, which occurred there on 2 Dec. From that date until Bacon's death in 1601 Morison seems to have frequently corresponded with him, but few of his letters are preserved (, Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, i. 99). Early in 1593 Morison appears to have been at Frankfort, where he published his first book, 'Liber novus de Metallorum causis et Transubstantione,' 1593, 8vo (Brit. Mus.); it is dedicated to James VI, and directed against alchemists and astrologers. In the same year Morison returned to Scotland, and through Bacon's influence became one of Essex's 'earliest, as well as most considerable, intelligencers there'. During a visit to the north of Scotland he fell in with the Earl of Huntly [see, sixth , and first ], and secured considerable influence with him, which Morison thought might be of use to the queen's envoys. Elizabeth appears to have been quite satisfied with Morison's services, which were well rewarded with money. In August 1593 he received 30l from Bacon; Essex sent him a hundred crowns in September, and another hundred in March 1593-4. On 5 Feb. 1593-4 Morison dedicated to James his second book, 'Papatus, seu depravatæ religionis Origo et Incrementum,' Edinb. 1594, 8vo (Brit. Mus.) In spite of its fanciful alphabetical arrangement, it is a learned work, compiled from more than two hundred authors, and tracing the history of the papacy from its origin to the Reformation. It is quoted in Ussher's 'Historia Dogmatica,' p. 271, and 'is now of rare occurrence, and highly prized by the learned for its singular erudition.'

In 1594 Morison appears to have visited London and had an interview with Essex. Next year he was back again in Scotland sending accounts to his patron of James's behaviour and views on domestic and foreign policy, and describing the movements of 