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BOTANIC GAKDEN. 343 BOTANY. many forms of vegetation as can prow in the oonditions of tlio garden; it may be to illus- trate some special phase of lioUiny, as natural relationships, eeology, economic botany, etc. ; or it may be to furnish material for instruction and research. The Benedictine monks of Italy are said to have established the first botanic gar- dens in the Xinth Century, but they were de- signed entirely for growing the various medicinal plants. It was not until the latter part of the Sixteenth Century that plants bes;an to be col- lected into gardens for scientific purposes. Since that time the botanic garden has been a grow- ing factor in connection with research work, until now a college or university does not seem properly equipped without the facilities of such a garden. The "Jardin des Plantes" of Paris, established in 1G33. probably contains the largest collection of living plants, the catalogue enumerating 15,000 species. One of the most famous gardens is the Royal Garden of Kew, near London, which has its branches in every English colony. It lays stress primarily upon the economic value of plants, the stations in the numerous colonies being almost entirely engaged in testing the economic qualities of plants. In addition to serving this purpose, the garden is a great pleas- ure-park; and its herbarium and library make it one of the great centres of work in systematic botany. The botanic garden which is most favorably situated and best equipped for scien- tific research is that of Buitenzorg, Java, estab- lished by the Government of Holland in 1817. Its original purpose was to test the economic value of plants for the East Indian colonies, but its rare contact with tropical vegetation and the scientific spirit of its director have made it a great centre of research. Notable and very old European gardens are those of Bologna, Leyden, Montpellier, Giessen, Strassburg. .lena. and Upsala. In Germany the botanic garden is an essential adjunct of the botanical insti- tutes, and in such conditions the most notable advances in botanical knowledge have been made. Conspicuous among those gardens, with their botanical institutes, which are prominently iden- tified with botanical progress, are those of Mu- nich, Wiirzburg, Tubingen, Gottingen, and Leip- zig. In the Lnited States a few botanic gardens are in the process of development, but their importance has never been appreciated by tho.se who are able to establish them. That they are necessary adjuncts to any university which pro- fesses to do research work is an idea whi<'h has never taken any hold upon boards of management. The few gardens which have been started in the United States, and which bid fair to get beyond the initial stage of elementary instruction, are as follows: the Missouri Botanical Garden (the old '"Shaw Gardens") at Saint Louis, in connec- tion with Washington University: the Botanical Garden at Cambridge, in connection with Har- vard University, where, upon an area of seven acres, there are about 5000 growing plants; the .Arnold .Arboretum at BrookJine. a public park of Boston, also in connection with Harvard Uni- versity, and devoted entirely to hardy trees and shruVis; and the New York Botanical Garden, the most re<ent and one of the most promising of garden establishments, occupying an area of 250 acres in Bronx Park, New York City. BOTANIC SOCIETT, Rotal. This society, incorporated in London in 1839, organized the Botanical Gardens in London, and has established a school of practical gardening, which annually distributes thousands of cut specimens among the various schools and colleges. The society holds exhibitions in the spring and fall. The Duke of Teck is president, and the library and oflice are at Inner Circle, Regent's Park, N. W. The society has issued a Quarterly liccord since 1880. For other English botanical societies, see Horti- cultural Societies. BOTANICAX GEOGRAPHY. See Distbi- butiox of Plants. BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. A national scientitic association organized in 1893 as an outgrowth of the Botanical Club of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The membership includes many of the best-known botanists of the country, BOTANY (Gk. jSoToWa, botania. or ^oTainj, hotane, grass, plant). The science which treats of plants. History. The history of the scientific study of plants probably begins with their classification by Aristotle and Theophrastus into trees, shrubs, and herbs. Tlie study was, however, scarcely carried any further until in the Sixteenth Cen- tury the authors of the oldest herbals, Brunfels, Fuchs, Bock, and others, made a beginning again of the scientific examination of plants. It is true that these old herbalists regarded plants chiefly as "the vehicles of medicinal virtues," and that their chief object was to discover the plants employed by the physicians of antiquity, the knowledge of which had been lost in later times. Unscientific as was the purpose, it never- theless led straight to nature and to a descrip- tion of the wild plants. As a result of this intimate contact with many plants there was a gradual perception of the truth that plants have many points of resemblance to one another, which have nothing to do with their medicinal powers or their usefulness to man. Thus the idea of natural alliances began, alliances which were distinctly felt but not technically defined. The first period of classification may be said to have culminated in the so-called 'artificial system' of Linna>us (1735). It was by no means the intention of Linn;pus and his predecessors to propose a merely artificial classification of plants, .1 sort of ready- reference arrangement: but in their philosophy tlie natural affinities are indicat- ed by certain predetermined marks, and therefore may be arbitrarily expressecT The system of Lin- naeus, which was really a better expression of the system of his i)redeeessors. had such an influence upon botanical science for a hundred years that it deserves some fuller statement. He grouped the plant kingdom into twenty-four classes, based ii])on the niunher, relative position, and union of the stamens with regard to each other, and also to the carpels. For example, his Class 1. (Jlonandria) comprises flowers with one sta- men, and up to Class X. (Dccandria) the classes succeed one another by the increment of a single stamen. Class XI. ( Dodecandria) lumps to- gether flowers with eleven to nineteen stamens. Class XII. (Icosandria) includes twenty or more stamens inserted on the calyx, and Class XIII. ( Polyandria) includes twenty or more stamens inserted on the receptacle. From this point on