Rajesh Kochhar (2012) Journal of Biosciences, Vol. 37, No. 6 ( Dec.) pp. 937-947
DOI 10.1007/s12038-012-9272-9
The early success of its oceanic voyages brought contrary pulls to bear on Europe, with the practical needs of the hour standing in contradistinction to the age-old religious authority, sectarian antagonism and the recovered Greco-Roman intellectual tradition. How in course of time the former triumphed over the latter in the case of natural history is an interesting and instructive line of enquiry. This article examines in some detail how the Materia Medica of the Americas and India were incorporated into the European mainstream.