Page:History of botany (Sachs; Garnsey).djvu/287

 was proposed by persons who understood little of it, and who were unable to judge of what had been written about it; how else could they have placed the opinions of a Mustel and a Medicus side by side with those of Malpighi and Grew? Had Bernhardi or Mirbel set the question, it would certainly have been better conceived. It was in keeping that the three essays sent in, all inferior to Bernhardi's work already mentioned, though they contradicted one another on the most important points, were nevertheless all accepted; not less so that Treviranus' essay obtained only the second place, though it was decidedly better than the other two, and very much better than Rudolphi's. The best result of the whole affair was that it stirred up the phytotomists of the day, and led Mirbel to submit the three prize treatises to a searching criticism, especially that of Treviranus, which Mirbel with professional acumen recognised as the best. Link's essay appeared in 1807 under the title 'Grundlehren der Anatomie und Physiologie der Pflanzen,' that of Rudolphi as 'Anatomie der Pflanzen,' also in 1807, each forming a handsome octavo volume. The work of Treviranus had already appeared in 1806 with the title, 'Vom inwendigen Bau der Gewächse.'

If we compare the works of Link and Rudolphi, which both received a prize, and which had all the appearance of text-books of general vegetable phytotomy and physiology, we miss in both any clear exposition of the conceptions connected with the words used, and the train of thought therefore is constantly obscure and vacillating. Yet it is easy to see that they are opposed to one another in all essential points, Link