An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2024 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

16058 entries, 14142 authors and 1947 subjects. Updated: November 9, 2024

MERULA, Georgius

1 entries
  • 1783
  • 87.1

De historia et causis plantarum. Edited, with a table, by Georgius Merula. Translated by Theodorus Gaza.

Treviso: Bartholomaeus Confalonerius, 1483.

A student of Aristotle, Theophrastus succeeded his teacher as head of the Athens Peripatetic School. This is the earliest work of scientific botany, a subject not addressed in any of the writings of Aristotle. Theophrastus collated and systematized the existing botanical knowledge and described about 500 plants. His system of botanical classification was analogous to the zoological system in Aristotle’s Historia animalium. Part of the book is devoted to plant-lore and the gathering of drugs for medicinal purposes. Theophrastus noted the principle of drug tolerance, observing that the power of a drug taken over a long period diminishes in people who become accustomed to taking it. He was also aware of individual differences in assimilation.

 First edition in Greek in Aristotle, [Opera omnia], Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1495-98. ISTC No. it00155000. Digital facsimile of the 1483 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

 



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › Greece, BOTANY, BOTANY › Classification / Systemization of Plants, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines