Botany has been an intriguing science since the time of the Greeks and the Romans. In fact, many people like Aristotle studied plants for philosophical reasons and ranked plants between animate and inanimate beings. Pliny, The Older, studied plants for medicinal uses. The Egyptians had studied and cultivated many different kinds of plants such as fig trees, papyrus, olive trees and grapevines. During the Dark Ages, the popularity of botany was rapidly declining, compared to other sciences.
However, the real advances came in the renaissance when universities were being built with many different gardens for the studying plants. Universities with Botanical gardens for research (mostly in medicine) were founded. In 1532, Brunfels was established with 800 species in their research garden. Lonicer had 879 species in their garden. Dalechamp had more than 3,000 species of plants in their garden. Bauhin however had over 6,000 species. All of these large universities with large gardens clearly signify that during the renaissance, botany was becoming popular again.
With these new ground breaking universities with a large variety of species, came skilled researchers, like Leonard Fuchs, Heironymus Bock and Otto Brunfels.
Leonard Fuchs was a professor at Ingolstadt and then Tybingen. He wasn’t only a professor, but he also was a physician. He wrote the book called “De historia stirpium commentarii”. Hieronymus Bock was a teacher and was in charge of the ducal garden of Zweibr Ycken. He took many expeditions into far-off places such as the HunsrŸck, Eifel, Ardennes, Vosges, Jura, and Swiss Alps, to collect his specimens. During these expeditions, he collected many kinds of plants and made his own private garden. He then became a physician, and afterwards, he became a priest.
Otto Brunfels was a teacher and physician as well. He wrote the collection of indigenous plants published in both Latin and German. During the 17th and 18th century, because more people had access to plants, many local researches like Alendorf, Ingolstadt, Goegen, Danzig, Halle, Palatine, Leipzig and Nuremberg appeared.
When the microscope appeared in the 19th century, the study of plants was revolutionized. M. Schleiden, who is considered as the founder of the cell theory, said that plants are definitely made out of cells and was able to classify the different kinds of cells. H. V. Mohl discovered that plant cells divided to reproduce.
Key Leaders and Figures
Natural antibiotic agents were being found in the late 19th century, although they were used only to cure Cholera and Anthrax. In 1929, when Alexander Flemming discovered penicillin, he wasn’t able to separate it from the other forms of mold. Because of this, penicillin was forgotten until the 1940’s. Then a group of British researchers got samples from Fleming’s work, and were able to separate the Penicillin from the other molds. Because of the war, Penicillin was only used for soldiers. But when the American and British governments agreed to help produce Penicillin it was widely used without prescription. During this time, many synthetic antibiotics were being produced; however, they were all highly toxic with severe side effects. Only during the 1970’s was the danger of antibiotic resistance really noticed. Even though many different kinds of synthetic Penicillin were developed, people in the 1950’s had used too much of it, thinking it as a miracle drug. This overuse produced antibiotic-resistant forms of disease-causing bacteria. Researchers continued to try to find different forms which have not yet been overused.
Controversies and Key Terms
Our water is contaminated with many things including traces of antibiotics. While this might not affect humans directly, it will enter the plant’s water supply and cause them to mutate. Antibiotics may affect the growth of plants with extra leaves, longer stems, etc. These mutated crops will be served as food and the mutated food may affect our body and the way it functions. Certain antibiotics may have certain effects on plants and on our bodies. New diseases may occur as well as human mutations. Such transformations are possible and they may be used in genetic engineering to cure or destroy certain diseases and problems.
The main controversy is whether or not antibiotics can actually affect the growth of plants. Many researches say that effects the growth of plants drastically. They say that the antibiotics destroy the bacteria that help plants to grow. However other researches claim that it has no effect on plants whatsoever because the plants won’t absorb the antibiotics. Also they say that there are hardly any antibiotics that actually destroy the bacteria some researches say that some antibiotics can even help plants grow by destroying harmful bacteria. Other researches also claim that the soil affects the experiment greatly and that a sandy soil can amplify the effects because they don’t filter the antibiotics out. In addition researches claim that clay prevents any effects at all because all of the antibiotics are in the soil.
Another key controversy is whether or not it is possible to get any good data because all the plants are different. Plants may be stunted or many reasons including DNA or lack of sunshine.
Another controversy is whether the plants store the antibiotics in the leaves or fruit or roots or evenly spread throughout the plant. Or if the Antibiotic is active after a certain amount of time and whether it has any affects whatsoever. Many scientists say that although the antibiotic may be in the plant it is absolutely useless and is totally inactive.
Whether or not antibiotics can be transferred from fertilizer from animals fed antibiotics with their food. Some researches say that up to 75% can stay inside the fertilizer while other disagree totally and say that there is none.
Future of the Field
Botany will be changed because of genetics. The discovery of Genetics will introduce a large amount of variety in plants. Not only will the amount of plant species known today be affected by genetics but also by genetic engineering. This will create a whole new bread of plants that can literally be used for anything. Plants will be used now more than ever as tools not only for health but also for numerous uses. In the past, plants were mostly used for food, shelter and medicine, but in the world of tomorrow, plants will become the guinea pigs for genetics, becoming the first amongst many things to be changed. Plants might end up being engineered for defense or destruction. When genetics came into the equation, the possibilities are endless.
Antibiotics are a new field only created in the early 20th century. It may also be a field that dies especially fast because of the looming threat of antibiotic resistance. If there are Bacteria that cannot be treated by antibiotics, then antibiotics will be forgotten in search of new ways. Unless researchers are able to constantly produce different forms of antibiotics to kill Bacteria, antibiotics will become a thing of the past.