The anatomy of plants : $b With an idea of a philosophical history of plants, and several other lectures, read before the Royal Society

Description

"A true relation of the travels and perilous adventures of Mathew Dudgeon,…. is a scientific treatise on botany written in the late 17th century. Drawing from lectures, it lays out a comprehensive “philosophical history of plants,” centering on plant anatomy, physiology, and method. The work emphasizes systematic observation, dissection, microscopy, and experiment to classify plants, explain their growth and “faculties,” and connect botanical findings to practical uses. The opening of the work presents a transcriber’s note, an extensive contents list, and a Royal Society order to publish the author’s lectures, followed by a dedication to Charles II that argues plants have intricate internal “organs” and live partly on air. A preface recounts how the project began, won encouragement from leading figures of the Royal Society, and developed alongside Malpighi’s studies, before introducing an “Idea of a Philosophical History of Plants.” That program surveys what botany knows and lacks, then proposes a research plan: compare plants’ outward features (figures, proportions, seasons, places, motions), pursue anatomy (with and without the microscope), catalogue their contents (saps, milks, mucilages, oils, gums), and study their colors, odors, tastes, and “faculties.” It also sketches a battery of experiments—infusion, digestion, decoction, distillation, calcination, and more—to probe how plant substances behave and to ground better classification and application; this section is a methods-focused roadmap rather than narrative. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Subjects

• Chemistry -- Early works to 1800
• Plant anatomy
• Botany -- Pre-Linnean works
• QK