Page:History of botany (Sachs; Garnsey).djvu/242

 seventeenth century, endeavouring by earnest reflection to apply the powers of the mind to the objects seen with the assisted eye, to clear up the true nature of microscopic objects, and to explain the secrets of their constitution. If we compare the works of these men with the utterances of the systematists of the same period on the relations of form in plants, we cannot fail to see how superior the matter of the former is in intellectual value. This appears most strikingly when we put what Malpighi and Grew tell us of the construction of the flower and fruit side by side with the knowledge of Tournefort, Bachmann, and Linnaeus on the same subject.

This enhancement of the mental capacity of the observer by the microscope is however the result of long practice; the best microscope in unpractised hands is apt soon to become a tiresome toy. It would be a great mistake to suppose that progress in the study of the anatomy of plants has simply depended on the perfecting of the microscope. It is obvious that the perception of anatomical objects must grow more distinct as the magnifying power of the instrument is increased, and the field of sight is made brighter and clearer, but these things by themselves would not add much to real knowledge. In examining the structure of plants, as in every science, it is necessary to work with the mind upon the object seen with the eye of sense, to separate the important from the unimportant, to discover the logical connection between the several perceptions, and to have a special aim in the examination; but the aim of the phytotomist can only be to obtain so clear an idea of the whole inner structure of the plant in all its connections, that it can be reproduced by the imagination at any moment in full detail with the perfect distinctness of sense-perception. It is not easy to attain this end because the more the microscope magnifies, the smaller is the part of the whole object which it shows; skilful and well-considered preparation is required, careful combination of different objects and long practice. The history of phytotomy shows how difficult a task