Botany, the study of plants, occupies a peculiar position in the history of human knowledge. For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest of insights. It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but form what we can observe of pre- industrial societies that still exist a detailed learning of plants and their properties must be extremely ancient. This is logical. Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things even for other plants. They have always been enormously important to the welfare of people 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. To them, botany, as such, has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of "knowledge" at all.
Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge of botany grows. Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose, an apple, or an orchid. When our Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer yields the next season the first great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken. Grains were discovered and from them flowed the marvel of agriculture: cultivated crops. From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild- and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and intimacy with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.
植物學(xué)、植物的研究,在人類知識的歷史中占據(jù)了特殊的地位。數(shù)千年來,這是了解的領(lǐng)域之一,人類超越模糊的認知。今天是不可能知道什么我們石器時代的祖先知道植物,但形式我們可以觀察到的前工業(yè)社會仍然存在植物及其特性的詳細了解應(yīng)該是非常古老的。這是合乎邏輯的。植物食物金字塔的基礎(chǔ)為所有生物甚至其他植物。他們一直非常重要人的福利不僅對食物,也為服裝、武器、工具、染料、藥物、住所、和許多其他用途。今天在亞馬遜的叢林部落生活確實能夠辨識幾百種植物并知道每一種的許多特性。,對他們來說,植物學(xué)沒有名字,可能甚至根本不會被認為是“知識”的一個特殊分支。
不幸的是,工業(yè)化的程度越高,我們越遠我們從直接接觸植物,和不同的我們的植物學(xué)知識的增加也就越少。然而每個人在不知不覺中擁有大量的植物學(xué)知識,和一些人將無法識別玫瑰,一個蘋果,或者蘭花。中東的新時代的祖先們生活在大約10000年前,發(fā)現(xiàn)某些草能被收獲,它們的種子下一季耕種會收獲更多時第一大步,人類就邁出了人和植物之間的新關(guān)系。谷物被發(fā)現(xiàn)后,農(nóng)業(yè)的奇跡:種植農(nóng)作物。從那時起,人類越來越會控制生產(chǎn)生活的幾個工廠,而不是在這里有點小從有很多品種,野生,成千上萬年的積累的知識經(jīng)驗和親密與植物在野外將開始消失。
Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge of botany grows. Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose, an apple, or an orchid. When our Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer yields the next season the first great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken. Grains were discovered and from them flowed the marvel of agriculture: cultivated crops. From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild- and the accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and intimacy with plants in the wild would begin to fade away.
植物學(xué)、植物的研究,在人類知識的歷史中占據(jù)了特殊的地位。數(shù)千年來,這是了解的領(lǐng)域之一,人類超越模糊的認知。今天是不可能知道什么我們石器時代的祖先知道植物,但形式我們可以觀察到的前工業(yè)社會仍然存在植物及其特性的詳細了解應(yīng)該是非常古老的。這是合乎邏輯的。植物食物金字塔的基礎(chǔ)為所有生物甚至其他植物。他們一直非常重要人的福利不僅對食物,也為服裝、武器、工具、染料、藥物、住所、和許多其他用途。今天在亞馬遜的叢林部落生活確實能夠辨識幾百種植物并知道每一種的許多特性。,對他們來說,植物學(xué)沒有名字,可能甚至根本不會被認為是“知識”的一個特殊分支。
不幸的是,工業(yè)化的程度越高,我們越遠我們從直接接觸植物,和不同的我們的植物學(xué)知識的增加也就越少。然而每個人在不知不覺中擁有大量的植物學(xué)知識,和一些人將無法識別玫瑰,一個蘋果,或者蘭花。中東的新時代的祖先們生活在大約10000年前,發(fā)現(xiàn)某些草能被收獲,它們的種子下一季耕種會收獲更多時第一大步,人類就邁出了人和植物之間的新關(guān)系。谷物被發(fā)現(xiàn)后,農(nóng)業(yè)的奇跡:種植農(nóng)作物。從那時起,人類越來越會控制生產(chǎn)生活的幾個工廠,而不是在這里有點小從有很多品種,野生,成千上萬年的積累的知識經(jīng)驗和親密與植物在野外將開始消失。