INTRODUCTION
frankincense. It has been a subject of some controversy whence he derived his accounts of plants whose habitat was nearer home. Kirchner, in an able tract, combats the contention of Sprengel that his observations even of the Greek flora were not made at first hand. Now at this period the Peripatetic School must have been a very important educational institution; Diogenes says that under Theophrastus it numbered two thousand pupils. Moreover we may fairly assume that Alexander, from his connexion with Aristotle, was interested in it, while we are told that at a later time Demetrius Phalereus assisted it financially. May we not hazard and guess that a number of the students were appropriately employed in the collection of facts and observations? The assumption that a number of 'travelling students' were so employed would at all events explain certain references in Theophrastus' botanical works. He says constantly 'The Macedonians say.' 'The men of Mount Ida say' and so forth. Now it seems hardly probable that he is quoting from written treatises by Macedonian or Idaean writers. It is at least a plausible suggestion that in such references he is referring to reports of the districts in question contributed by students of the school. In that case 'The Macedonians say' would mean 'This is what our representative was told in Macedonia.' It is further noticeable that the tense used is sometimes past, e.g. 'The men of Mount Ida said'; an obvious explanation of this is
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