PREFACE.

The source for all editions of Theophrastus’s History of Plants and Causes of Plants until the eighteenth year of this century was the Aldine edition in small folio, which appeared in 1496 with the works of Aristotle, presenting the first part of the fourth volume. It was closely followed by the Basel edition, which Oporinus managed in 1541 in folio. The third, which is called the smaller Aldine, the sixth volume of the works of Aristotle, revised by Camotio, appeared in 1552 at the house of the Aldine sons in octavo format. This was followed by the edition of Daniel Heinsius at Leiden in 1613 in folio. Bodaeus a Stapel published the History of Plants at Amsterdam in 1644 in folio, with a vast commentary illustrated by woodcut figures. John Stackhouse published a new edition of the same at Oxford in 1813 in octavo format. In the eighteenth year of this century, the edition of J. G. Schneider appeared, which is contained in five volumes: the first contains the text, the second a Latin translation, the third and fourth commentaries, and the fifth contains fragments and an index in addition to various critical aids and short notes. This was followed by mine, the first part of which, containing the History of Plants, I published at Breslau in 1842. The second, which will provide the Causes of Plants, has long been prepared for the press and still awaits its publisher. Regarding these editions, the following should be noted. The Basel edition accurately represented the Aldine, if one excepts a few printer's errors; at the margin, Oporinus noted some readings taken from the Latin version of Theodorus Gaza. The smaller Aldine, which we call the Camotiana, was also copied from the Aldine, but somewhat carelessly; the discrepancies originate from that same version by Gaza. The edition of Heinsius, copied from the Camotiana and increased by many printer's errors, is the worst of all: he told certain fables about the codices he used, and he contributed very little to the restoration of the text. The edition of Bodaeus rendered the text of Heinsius, but brought forward some things in the margin and in the Commentaries that are of good value. Stackhouse, a Briton, being more skilled in botanical science than in the Greek language, edited the text taken from Heinsius, having cleaned it here and there by comparison with the Aldine, but deformed it with his own bold and useless additions.