Page:History of botany (Sachs; Garnsey).djvu/379



that was known in the 16th and at the beginning of the 17th centuries of the phenomena of life in plants was scarcely more than had been learnt in the earliest times of human civilisation from agriculture, gardening, and other practical dealing with plants. It was known, for instance, that the roots serve to fix plants in the soil and to supply them with food; that certain kinds of manure, such as ashes and, under certain conditions, salt, strengthen vegetation; that buds develope into shoots; and that the blossom precedes the production of seeds and fruits. These and a variety of minor physiological phenomena were disclosed by the art of gardening. On the other hand, the physiological importance of leaves in the nourishment of plants was quite unknown, nor can we discover more than a very indistinct perception of the connection between the stamens and the production of fruitful seeds. That the food-material taken up from the soil must move inside the plant in order to nourish the upper parts was an obvious conclusion, which it was attempted to explain by comparing it with the movement of the blood in animals. Writers on the subject up to the end of the 17th century make very slight mention of the influence of light and warmth on the sustentation and growth of plants, though doubtless the operation of these agencies in the cultivation of plants, as in other matters, must have been early recognised.

So scanty was the stock of knowledge which the founders of vegetable physiology in the latter half of the 17th century found ready to their hand. While the physiological significance of the different organs of the human body and of most