Grew, Nehemiah
The anatomy of plants by Nehemiah Grew is a scientific treatise written in the late 17th century. It lays out a systematic, microscope-aided account of plant structure and life processes, contending that plants possess organized internal “organs” and mechanical operations comparable to those of animals. The work’s aim is a “philosophical history” of plants that connects anatomy, sap flow, and the sensory qualities of colors, odors, and tastes to their faculties and practical uses in medicine, cultivation, and the arts.The opening of this treatise presents a transcriber’s note on editorial choices and a helpful contents overview, followed by the Royal Society’s endorsement and a dedication to the monarch asserting the novelty and wonder of plant microstructure. Grew’s preface recounts how lecture work grew into a larger project, how peers in the Royal Society encouraged and licensed it, how it stood alongside Malpighi’s parallel studies, and how he combined naked-eye inspection with microscopy and explanatory plates. He then introduces his “Idea of a Philosophical History of Plants,” first surveying what botanists already know and where knowledge is deficient, and arguing why deeper inquiry is both possible and worthwhile. He proposes a multi-part program: comparative study of external features (figures, proportions, seasons, places, motions), rigorous anatomy of all parts with and without the microscope, and analysis of plant “contents” (sap, mucilages, milks, oils, gums) inc…
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