Botany, the study of plants, occupies a peculiar
position in the history of human knowledge.In fact, it is impossible to know today just what our
Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we
can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a
detailed learning of plants and their properties must be
extremely ancient.They have always been enormously important to the
welfare of peoples, not only for food, but also for clothing,
weapons, tools, dyes: medicines, shelter, and a great many
other purposes.Tribes living today in the jungles of the
Amazon recognize literally hundreds of plants and know
many properties of each.This is logical.