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MEMOIES
OF THK
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHE
BKLOyGIKG TO THE
By the late HENRY FIELD, Esq.
eeviseb, corrected, alsd continued to tee present time,
By R. H. SEMPLE, M.D.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, PLANS OF THE GARDEN, AND I ' CATALOGUE OF THE PLANTS, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE NATURAL SYSTEM.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, CLER KEN WELL. 1878.
)
TO THE
MASTER, WAEDENS, COURT OF ASSISTANTS, AND MEMBERS
OP THE
Sodety of Jlpothccmes of yatl^)^l^l,
THESE
MEMOIRS OF THE CHELSEA GARDEN
ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY
THE EDITOR.
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MEMOIES
OP THE
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
Of the various and important events recorded to have taken place, during the two centuries and a half which have elapsed since the Society of Apothecaries became a separate and indepen- dent Corporation, there is none which reflects greater honour upon it as a Society, and more forcibly evinces the zeal, energy, and disin- terestedness of its early members in the pro- motion of science, than the establishment of a Botanic Garden at Chelsea.
Were not the fact indisputable, it would scarcely be credited by posterity that this expensive design was commenced at a time when the Society could not with propriety be said to have emerged from its state of infancy ; when it was totally destitute of any disposable funds which could be employed for that purpose ; and
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MEMOIRS OF THE
deofree of eminence, and continued to flourish with increasing energy and success during a long period, while its predecessors, above mentioned, had fallen into decay and had left scarcely a trace of their former existence.
Collections of plants, both native and exotic, in the gardens of private gentlemen and of scientific nurservmen, were no doubt at all times numerous and extensive, but the Society of Apothecaries for a lengthened period might justly claim the honour of possessing the only large garden devoted to Medical and general Scientific Botany in the vicinity of the metro- polis, and supported by a public body.
The advancement of Botany in its relation to Medicine, although the principal, was by no means the only object of the founders of the Society's Garden at Chelsea, who also aimed at introducing the vegetable productions of foreign climates into this country, and of placing them in such conditions, either natural or artificial, as might be necessary to acclimatise them and to present them, in the most favourable aspects and in the most enduring vigour, to the notice of botanical students. A further and no less useful object has always been kept in view by those who have maintained the Garden and have superintended its administration, namely, to classify as far as possible and in the most
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
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convenient manner, the multitudinous individual forms which constitute the Vegetable Kingdom, and so to render the collection at Chelsea a well- arranged and systematic epitome of most of the groups of plants which are spread over the surface of the globe.
The last-named object aimed at in the man- agement of the Chelsea Garden is of course difficult of attainment, and the modes in which it has been carried out have necessarily varied at different epochs. To discover a method of grouping, in distinct and definite subdivisions, the great host of vegetable productions of the earth and the sea is almost to penetrate into the mysterious secret of the plan of creation ; and it cannot be a matter of wonder that such a task, although it has occupied the minds of the greatest philosophers from the dawn of civilisa- tion down to the present day, has never been attended with complete success. Nevertheless, sufficient materials have been collected, and an adequate amount of conclusions have been already drawn, to demonstrate the beautiful simplicity, amidst apparently infinite diversity, which prevails in the vegetable world as in all other departments of Nature, and the successive labours of Ray, Tournefort, Linneeus, Jussieu, and others have not been in vain in unfoldiner to the admiration of mankind the wonderful
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MEMOIRS OF THE
uniformity of the elementary structures of plants and the ineffable skill with which these struc- tures have been wrought into myriads of shapes. All these shapes are linked together by alli- ances and afi&nities which it is the province of the philosophic botanist to discover and to describe, and the Systems, as they are called, of Botanical Classification are the feeble expres- sions of the human intellect to unravel the laws which govern the distribution of vegetable forms. As it is the duty of the scientific musi- cian to resolve a harmony into its component parts or notes, so it is the aim of the botanist to resolve the harmonies of the vegetable world into those primitive types or forms, the bound- less varieties and modifications of which consti- tute the verdant carpet of the earth.
The classification of plants, then, has been one of the main objects held in view by the founders and managers of the Chelsea Garden, and a large portion of the ground has long been, and still is devoted to the purpose of classical and scientific arrangement, apart from and independent of the general distribution of the plants for ornamental or useful purposes.
From the remarks above made it will be readily understood why the principles of classi- fication have varied in the Garden in different periods, for although the laws of Nature
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
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always remain the same, human systems are continually changing. Thus in the seventeenth century the crude but ingenious systems of Ray and Tournefort prevailed at Chelsea, to be succeeded towards the end of the eighteenth by the more precise but artificial classification of Linnaeus, which in its turn was to give way, towards the middle of the nineteenth century, to the Natueal System, sketched out indeed by Ray and even by Linnasus himself, but elaborately developed by Jussieu, Decandolle, Lindley, and others.
The system at present adopted at Chelsea Garden is the Natural one, and the existing classification was devised and superintended by Dr. Lindley, who for some years, as will be afterwards noticed, occupied the position of Prsefectus Horti and Professor of Botany to the Society of Apothecaries.
It appears that the Members of this Society, from the earliest periods of its history, have taken a very lively interest in the pursuit of botanical knowledge, for very shortly after their incorporation in the reign of James L, we find them engaging in periodical botanical excursions in the neighbourhood of London, and so early as the year 1632 the Society's " Herba- rizings" had become an established annual custom. Thomas Johnson, the learned Editor
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MEMOIRS OF THE
of " Gerard's Herbal," and a member of the Society, has left a graphic account of several of these early excursions, proving the devotion to Botany of the " Socii itinerantes," as they were termed, and also showing the participation in that devotion by the Society at large.
The interest thus developed in the science of Botany among the members of the Society appears to have strengthened with time, and within half a century of their incorporation they succeeded in securing for themselves increased opportunities for the prosecution of their favour- ite study by acquiring a Botanic Garden of their own, namely, that which is situated on the northern bank of the Thames at Chelsea and forms the subject of the present Memoirs.
For more than two centuries the Society of Apothecaries have maintained this Garden at their own charge and for the sole object of the advancement of Botany as a science. From the name applied to it in the language of the period in the original conveyance by Sir Hans Sloane, of the " Physic Garden," it might perhaps be supposed that one, if not its chief purpose, was to grow plants to be converted into drugs for pharmaceutical use ; but such an application of the contents of the Garden, al- though it was at one time partially contemplated, was afterwards expressly forbidden, and the
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word "Physic" was employed apparently in its general and etymological sense, as is in- deed explained by Sir Hans Sloane himself in the document referred to, where he states that the Garden is to be maintained " for the mani- festation of the power, wisdom, and glory of God in the works of creation."
It is true that one principal object of the Garden is to encourage the study of Botany on the part of medical practitioners and students, and the Society have always invited such, visi- tors; and they have also, at various periods, appointed, for the purpose of instruction. Pro- fessors of Botany, and Demonstrators of the plants. It is also true that experiments have been and are still conducted for the purpose of verifying the genera or species of plants em- ployed in medical practice, or of ascertaining the modifications or changes induced in medical plants by varieties of soil, temperature, and other similar conditions. But, in addition, the Garden has been always applied to general botanical purposes, and students of all Facul- ties have ready access to the advantages it affords for study, and, as will be seen in sub- sequent pages, ladies are now not only invited to visit and study in the Garden, but Prizes and Honorary Certificates are offered to such of them as are willing to enter into competition
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MEMOIRS OF THE
with members of tlieir own sex for these honourable marks of distinction.
But while stating that the supply of pharma- ceutical preparations forms no part of the design of the present Chelsea Garden, it is not improb- able that the Society of Apothecaries may have previously possessed some other garden else- where for the sole object of growing medicinal herbs for the use of their laboratory whicb had been formed some years before. That there was a Botanic Garden at Westminster about the middle of the seventeenth century is made quite certain from some passages in the " Memoirs of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, Esq.," the celebrated author of the " Sylva " and other works. In his Diary is the following statement : " 1658, June 10th, I went to see the medical garden at Westminster, well stored with plants, under Morgan, a skilful botanist." It is ex- tremely probable that this is the garden here alluded to, and that the Society of Apothecaries purchased the lease in order to obtain possession of the plants which it then contained, as it would thus certainly be a valuable acquisition for their new establishment at Chelsea.
It is much to be lamented that the early history of the Chelsea Botanic Garden is in- volved in great obscurity. The materials for forming such a history are extremely defective.
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
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but it is certain that the establishment of the Garden could not have been carried into effect without much previous deliberation and due investigation, by the appointment of committees, and by such other methods of proceeding as are usually adopted upon occasions of similar importance.
It would appear that the ground on which 1673 the Chelsea Garden is now situated was origin- ally taken by the Apothecaries' Society as a spot on which to build a convenient barge-house for the ornamental barge which the Society (like the other City Companies) then possessed. In the minutes of the Society, bearing date June 26, 1673, it was ordered that a convenient barge should be constructed, and a spot chosen for a barge-house ; and in July of the same year it was reported that no place could be found more convenient than that at Chelsea formerly pro- posed, and a lease of the ground was accordingly ordered to be taken.
That this order was carried out in the same year appears from a recital contained in the release of the ground, granted many years after this period by Sir Hans Sloane, in which document it is stated that Charles Cheyne, Esq., by his indenture of lease, bearing date the 29th of August, 1673, did demise and grant unto the
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MEMOIES OP THE
Master, Wardens, and Society of the Art and Mystery of Apothecaries of the City of London, their successors and assigns, the piece and parcel of ground and premises therein mentioned, to hold from Michaelmas then next ensuing, unto the full end and term of sixty- one years, at the yearly rent of hi. 1674 On the 21st of June of this year it is recorded in the minutes that several members, whose names are given in the succeeding paragraph, proposed to build a wall round Chelsea Garden at their own expense, with the assistance of such subscriptions as they might be able to pro- cure ; provided the Court of Assistants would agree to pay 21. every year for ever to each of the six Herbarizings. This proposal was accepted, and the proprietors of the Laboratory Stock gave towards the building of this wall on the condition that they were to be allowed a piece of ground in the garden for herbs.
It is only right that the names of these liberal-minded Members of the Society should be recorded. They were as follow : Messrs. Sykes, Gardner, Rouse, Stratton, Reeves, Power, Warner, Watts, Ja. Raud, Leigh, Gaunt, Hollingworth, Lowry, and Hull.
Nothing more occurs relative to the garden until after the lapse of two years, when a
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circumstance is mentioned the nature of which is now difficult to understand. In the month 1676 of June of this year it was stated that the Court of Assistants agreed to take Mrs. Gape's lease of the garden at Westminster off her hands for the remaining two years for the sum of 161. the rent being 21. per annum ; with the liberty of removing the plants to Chelsea garden.
The name of the first gardener employed by the Society appears to have been Piggott, of whom however nothing more is known, but that his services were discontinued on the 16th 1677 of December ; and it is recorded that Richard Pratt was chosen in his room, and was to be allowed lodging and a salary of 30Z. per annum. As this must have been a handsome remune- ration in those days, he was probably a man of considerable horticultural merit. In the 1678 autumn of this year directions were given that the garden was to be planted with the best fruit trees, and it is likewise stated that a good crop of herbs for the use of the Laboratory was furnished from the garden.
The management of this establishment began 1679 now to assume a more systematic form, a Committee being appointed for that purpose, consisting of twenty-one Assistants, thirty Liverymen, and twenty of the Yeomanry. It
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MEMOIRS OP THE
is difficult to conceive what could have been the motive for appointing so great a number of persons as are here mentioned to conduct such a concern, for it is sufficiently obvious that a numerous Committee is much more calculated to obstruct than to facilitate the despatch of business.
1680 In the month of January of this year, Mr. John Watts, a member of the Society, and one whose name has been mentioned as a contributor to the erection of the wall, was appointed to have the care and management of the Garden at 601. per annum, besides the allowance of one or two labourers ; and in the following year, a green-house or stove was erected in the Garden at an estimated expense of 138?. It was situated in the lower part of the ground, not far distant from the river.
1682 In the autumn of this year. Dr. Herman, Pro- fessor of Botany at Leyden, visited the Chelsea Garden, and proposed an exchange of plants, which proposal Mr. Watts went to Holland to
1683 carry into effect. About this time four cedar trees were planted in the garden near the river, being at the time of planting three feet high. Two of these remained healthy until lately ; the two others, after continuing to live about a century, were cut down in consequence of their
BOTANIC GAfiDEN AT CHELSEA.
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decayed state. One of the remaining trees died a few years since, and the only survivor is now (1878) unfortunately dying.
The expense of the garden, which is stated to have been 130Z. annually, exclusive of the gardener's salary of bOl., began now to be a matter of serious consideration, and in order to reduce this expense fresh proposals were made 1685 to Mr. Watts, the result of which was that he entered into articles of agreement (now in existence) with the Society, in which document he covenants to take upon himself the care, culture, and management of the garden, for the term of seven years from Michaelmas 1685; to repair and keep in repair the stove, green- house, and other buildings and utensils con- tained in it, and to make a catalogue of all the plants. For these services he was to be allowed by the Society the annual sum of lOOZ., besides such expenses as he might incur in cultivating that part of the ground allotted to the use of the Laboratory Stock, with liberty to dispose of the fruit and supernumerary plants for his own benefit.
An order was made that the Master, Wardens, and Assistants should each be allowed to have a key of the Garden, at his own expense.
It is gratifying to observe the degree of
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MEMOIRS OP THE
importance wMcli this garden had attained in little more than ten years from its establish- ment, and its value appears to be recognised in some expressions used by Mr. Evelyn, who, in another part of the above-mentioned Diary, writes thus : "1685 August 7th I went to see Mr. "Watts, keeper of the Apothecaries garden of simples at Chelsea, where there is a collection of innumerable varieties of that sort : parti- cularly, besides many rare annuals, the tree bearing Jesuit's bark, which had done such wonders in quartan agues. What was very ingenious was the subterraneous heat, conveyed by a stove under the conservatory, all vaulted with brick, so as he has the doores and windowes open in the hardest frosts, secluding only the snow."
1691 In a description of the gardens near London, given in December of this year and commu- nicated to the Society of Antiquarians by the Kev. Dr. Hamilton, Vice-President, 'from an original MS. in his possession, and afterwards published in the 12th Yolume of the Arch^eologia, the garden of the Apothecaries' Society is thus described : " Chelsea physick garden has great variety of plants both in and out of green- houses : their perennial green hedges, and rows of different coloured herbs are very pretty ; and
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so are tlie banks set witli shades of herbs in the Irish stitch- way ; but many plants in the Garden were not in so good order as might be expected, and as would have been answerable to other things in it. After I had been there, I learned that Mr. Watts, the keeper of it, was blamed for his neglect, and that he would be removed."
Of the occurrences during the interval from 1693 1685 to 1693 we have no information, but Mr. Watts' s lease having now expired, the question was agitated in the Court of Assistants in the summer of this year, whether the Society should continue to support the Garden or not. It must be presumed that some material diffi- culty, probably as to the expected charges of it, presented itself to several of the Members. The good sense, however, of the major part of the Assistants prevailed, and the continuance of the Garden was determined upon, when Mr. Samuel Doody, a Member of the Society, undertook the care and expense of it at 1001. per annum.
This arrangement, however, appears to have 1695 been of very short duration, for about two years afterwards, the state of the Garden having been taken into consideration, Mr. Doody was in- formed that the Court had reconsidered his proposals, and preferred giving him lOOZ. in lieu of his term, and of the agreement formerly
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MEMOIRS OF THE
made, instead of continuing the contract ; but that they would grant a lease to him, or to any other Members who might desire it, for a term of 21 years. In consequence of this determination, a lease of the Garden for that term is stated to have been granted to Messrs. Doody, Petiver, Dare, and Bromwich, and at the same time it was directed that a pair of stairs should be made for those gentlemen, the intention of which direction, it may be supposed, was to
facilitate communication with the river. This
t'
lease is not to be found among the archives of the Society, and it is probable, therefore, from this circumstance and from what followed in the succeeding year and subsequently, that its provisions were never carried out.
1696 The Minute Book of the Court of Assistants informs us that a treaty was now opened with Lord Cheyne relative to the Garden. As that nobleman had only a life-interest in the property,
1697 this treaty was not then completed ; but in the ensuing year it must have been renewed, for the Court agreed to accept Lord Cheyne' s offer to make their present term in the Garden sixty years for the sum of There were then about thirty- eight years unexpired, and this proposal must therefore have been intended as an addition of twenty-two years to the term. Notwithstanding
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the acceptance of this proposal by the Court as above stated, it is extremely doubtful whether such an agreement ever took effect. The original lease from Mr. Cheyne is not to be found, nor can any other writing upon the subject be discovered, and therefore whether this agreement was carried into effect by indorsement or by a separate deed cannot now be known. But what seems decisive upon the subject is, that Sir Hans Sloane's conveyance of the Garden, many years after, takes no notice of this extension of the lease, though the original lease of sixty-one years is distinctly recited. Had such an extension of the term then existed, it would have been too important a fact to be passed over in silence.
About this time a new proposal relating to the Garden was presented by Mr. Doody, and referred to a Committee, who reported that they approved the project, and agreed with him to carry it into effect. Of the nature of this proposal, however, nothing is now known.
A period of several years now elapses without 1706 any intimation of the passing events respecting the Garden, which must have continued under the principal management of Mr. Doody until his death. This event took place some time in the year 1706. It may be presumed that Mr. Doody' s
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skill and efficiency in the care of the Garden during all this time superseded the necessity of any particular interference on the part of the Society. As Mr. Doody was a man of con- siderable eminence both as a scientific medical practitioner and as a Botanist, a short biogra- phical notice of him may not be unacceptable. Mr. Samuel He was a native of Staffordshire, but he F E S^' settled in London as an Apothecary, and there is reason to beheve that he acquired considerable practice. His botanical studies must have been principally confined to the examination of the plants growing in the vicinity of the metropolis, but his diligence in this pursuit was unex- ampled, particularly in the investigation of the flowerless or cryptogamous plants, his knowledge of which was superior to that of any other person of his day.
The early editions of Ray's Synopsis bear ample testimony to his labours. In the preface to that work (2nd Edit.) Mr. Ray notices him in the following terms, and the commendation of so distinguished a naturalist is a sufficient proof of Mr. Doody's great merit : — ■
" Samuel Doody, Pharmacopceius Londinensis, qui et opus ipsum plurimis speciebus ditavit ; et alias, etiam tum species, turn observationes appendici reservavit. Non minus perspicax in
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plantis discernendis, quam industrius in inda- gandis; summis in liac Scientia viris gequi- parandus."
Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, the celebrated Professor of Botany in Paris, and the founder of tlie Natural System of Botany whicb. still bears bis name, calls Mr. Doody "Inter Pbarmaco- poeios Londinenses, sui temporis, Oorypbseus."
In 1695 Mr. Doody became a Fellow of tbe Royal Society, wbicb bad been recently estab- lished (1662) in the reign of Charles II. There is a case of Hydrops Pectoris, written by him, in the Royal Society's Transactions for 1697 ; and some MSS. of his, on Medical and Botanical Subjects, are said to be preserved in the British Museum.
The mention of Mr. Doody's name, and this short tribute to his merits, afford a suitable occasion to observe that many of the Members of the Apothecaries' Society in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were distinguished for their scientific attainments, as will particularly appear in the course of the following pages. That all of them were good citizens and honour- able men will be readily conceded from a consideration of the very constitution of the Society, and from a perusal of the Bye-laws by which the Society is governed, and there is every
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reason to believe that tliey were also efficient practitioners of tlie healing art. But it is not so generally known and acknowledged that some of them in their day held high positions in the scientific world, nor has sufficient commendation been bestowed upon the whole body, for their unselfish zeal in the promotion and encourage- ment of the study of Natural History, and especially Botany, as an essential element of medical education. 1707 In consequence of Mr. Doody's death, Messrs. Wyche, Andrews, and Petiver, were appointed to inspect the Garden, and a Committee was at the same time chosen to take into consideration its future disposal. This Committee made their Report in the month of March, but the docu- ment related solely to their treaty with Lord Cheyne, who it must be presumed had at this time an estate of inheritance in the Garden, for he offered to dispose of it to the Society for 400Z., which was eighty years' pui'chase of the ground-rent, but they refused to take it upon those terms. The Committee was then desired to consider whether it would be expedient to part with the Garden. In the month of June the Committee gave their opinion to the Court of Assistants that it was inexpedient to part with it, and it was ordered that the wharfing of
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it towards the river should be carried into effect as soon as it could conveniently be done.
JSTotwithstanding this determination to main- tain the Garden, the expense of it must have been found too great for the Society to support in their corporate capacity, for in the following January a Common Hall of the Members was held for the purpose of proposing a subscription for the Garden, which was acceded to, and ninety persons gave in their names as sub- scribers. A Committee of the Court was appointed to meet the subscribers and consult upon terms, in consequence of which an agree- ment was entered into, and in the spring of this year a lease was granted to the subscribers, to which the common seal was affixed. The fol- lowing are the conditions of this lease, which was made between the Society on the one part, • and the subjoined Members on the other part, namely, —
Eobert Gower, John Channing,
George Dare, John Perkins,
Joseph Mcholson, Thomas Eobinson,
Eichard Springate, Eobert Sheffield,
Samuel Eyley, James Petiver,
Joseph Miller, Zachary Allen,
Eobert Basket, Isaac Gamier, jun.
Benjamin Bouchier, Isaac Eand,
Henry SherbeU, Derrick Bamevelt,
Eichard Chapman, John Cox,
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on behalf of themselves, and divers other Mem- bers of the Society; who had agreed to sub- scribe for seven years from Michaelmas 1707, so much as to make up the yearly sum of lOOZ. and upwards, such money to be employed in maintaining and improving the Physic Garden, for the benefit of the Society ; and the above- mentioned subscribing Members were consti- tuted Trustees for carrying the plan into effect. The Society therefore granted them a lease for 'seven years at an annual rent of 51. upon con- dition that they repaired the buildings, and maintained, cultivated and supported the Garden in the best possible manner ; reserving to the Master, Wardens, and Assistants, and also to every Member of the Society, who may be, or shall become subscribers to the Garden, full liberty of walking therein, either for recreation or instruction. Provision is also made for an annual audit by the subscribers of the accounts of the Trustees in order to secure a faithful application of the moneys subscribed. 1713 The plan of exonerating the Society from the charge of the Garden, by placing it in the hands of individual Members, does not appear to have answered any useful purpose; and the result was such as might have been expected. In the month of August of this year, the Trustees for the management of the Garden reported to the
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 25
Court of Assistants, tliat from the defect in tlie payment of subscriptions, and tlie great expense of supporting tlie Garden, they would not be able to continue its maintenance beyond their present term. The Court, considering that it would be for the honour of the Society and the benefit of the yaunger Members that the Garden should be carried on, ordered the following payments to be applied to the support of it ; namely, that
£ s. d
Every Member should pay annually . . .020 A Master on binding an Apprentice . . .050 An Apprentice at the time of binding . . .050 One Shilling in the Pound of the Laboratory Dividend.
Every member dining at the private Herbarizing 0 10 Every fine payable to the Corporation to be
Guineas instead of Pounds. The total of these
■was estimated at 90Z. per Annum.
This year is memorable in the annals of the 1714 Garden, for affording the first intimation of a communication on its affairs with a gentleman, whose name and memory must always be held in high estimation by every lover of botanical knowledge, and especially by every friend to the scientific aspirations of the Society of Apothe- caries. On the 1st of July a proposition was submitted to the Court by the Garden Com- mittee, of waiting on Dr. Sloane (who had pur- chased the manor of Chelsea, of "William, Lord
26 MEMOIES OF THE
Clieyne in the year 1712) 'and inquiring liis sentiments as to a future interest in the Garden. The immediate result of this conference does not appear, but it probably opened the way to that amicable and liberal settlement between the parties which took place a few years afterwards. Sir Haus Dr. Sloane, afterwards Sir Hans Sloane, was Sloane, ^ -msiJi of SO much distinction in his day, and was so intimately concerned with the history of the Chelsea Garden, that a brief memoir of his life must be acceptable, not only to every member , of the Society of Apothecaries but to the scientific world in general.
He was born in Ireland in 1660, but was of Scotch parentage, and while young his health was delicate, for he was troubled with spitting of blood from his sixteenth to his nine- teenth year. As soon as his health permitted he came to London, and during four years devoted himself to the study of medicine and the collateral sciences. He was instructed in Chemistry by a disciple of Stahl, the celebrated inventor of the phlogistic hypothesis, and his fondness for Botany brought him the acquaint- ance of E-ay, the distinguished naturalist. In 1683 he went to Paris, and while in that city he attended the Anatomical Lectures of Duverney and those on Botany by Tournefort. He after-
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wards spent a year at Montpellier, having been furnislied with introductions by Tournefort to all the celebrated men of the University of that city, in the vicinity of which he passed much of his time in collecting plants, and, after travelling through Languedoc for the same purpose, returned to London in 1684.
He gave many of the plants and seeds he had collected to E;ay, who described them in his " Historia Plantarum." In 1685 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1687 a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London. His curiosity, which had long been excited to see the wonderful productions of tropical countries, was somewhat unexpectedly gratified by his appointment of Physician to the Duke of Albemarle, who was going out as Governor of Jamaica, and he set out from England with that nobleman in 1687, arriving at Port Royal at the end of the same year. The Duke, however, unfortunately died soon after his arrival, and Dr. Sloane was therefore obliged to hasten his return to Europe, but nevertheless he made, during his residence of fifteen months in Jamaica, a very large collec- tion of plants ia that and the neighbouring islands. The plants which he brought home amounted to 800 species.
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MEMOIRS OF THE
Dr. Sloane was appointed Physician to Clirist's Hospital in 1694, and held that ofl&ce for thirty- years. In 1695 he married a lady of consider- able wealth, the daughter of a London Alderman, and by her he had four children, two of whom died young, while two daughters survived then- parents, and carried their wealth to the noble families of Stanley and Cadogan. The present names (Sloane, Cadogan, Stanley, &c.) attached to several streets, and squares, and estates, in and about Chelsea, sufficiently attest the magni- tude and the value of the property thus derived from Sir Hans Sloane and his descendants.
In 1693 he was chosen Secretary to the Royal Society, in 1712 he was elected one of its Vice- Presidents, and in 1727 he succeeded the illus- trious Sir Isaac Newton in the Presidency of the Society. In the last-named year he was appointed Physician to the King. In 1716, he had been created a baronet by George I. and appointed Physician- General of the forces; in 1719 he was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians, and he held that office till 1735. Thus loaded with well-deserved honours, and in the possession of abundant means, he at length retired, when eighty years old, to an estate he had purchased at Chelsea in 1720, and passed the remainder of his life in entertaining scientific
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
29
men and in examining tlie treasures lie had collected. He died in January, 1753, in the ninety-third year of his age.
Sir Hans Sloane directed that at his decease his Museum should be offered to the nation for 20,000?., a sum which is said by him not to have amounted to a fourth part of its real value. At the time of his death. Sir Hans Sloane' s cabinet contained 200 volumes of dried plants, and 30,600 specimens of other objects of Natural History, besides a library of 50,000 volumes, and 3566 manuscripts. He was, however, also known as a distinguished author, for he contri- buted many papers to the Philosophical Trans- actions, he assisted Ray in compiling his " Historia Plantarum Generalis," and published a large work in two volumes folio, on the " Natural History of Jamaica," in which he describes, and illustrates with many plates, the island itself, and its products, both animal and vegetable, and also alludes to its chmate and the diseases of its inhabitants. He mentions in his preface that the whole undertaking had been submitted to Ray, and had met with his approval. A small Latin catalogue of the plants of J amaica had been published by Sir Hans Sloane in 1696, and serves as a sort of Index to the large work. This work on the Natural History of
30
MEMOIRS OF THE
Jamaica must have involved great expense as well as literary and scientific labour. The plates of the plants, many of which had never been previously figured or described, are exceedingly well executed, and the arrangement and de- scriptions followed are those of Tournefort, with whom, as has been before mentioned, Sir Hans was personally well acquainted.
The lease of the ground, granted in 1708, being now near its expiration, a Committee was 1714 appointed in October to examine into the state of the Garden and to consider how it might be best managed. This Committee appears to have occupied much time in deliberation, which the numerous dij0B.culties to be encoun- tered must have rendered necessary. It was not until the following September, that, by an order of the Court of Assistants, it was determined that the Garden should be kept up for the present by the Corporation.
In this year died Mr. James Petiver, a gentleman worthy of honourable mention in connexion with the history of the garden. The exact time of his birth is unknown. He was
Mr. James apprenticed to Mr. Feltham, Apothecary to St.
FE^S^^' Bartholomew's Hospital, and after his appren- ticeship he settled in business in Aldersgate Street, where he continued for the remainder of his life. He was in large practice, and became
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
31
Apothecary to tlie Charterhouse. He accumu- lated so large a collection of Natural History that, some time before his death, Sir Hans Sloans is said to have offered him 4000^. for it. After his death Sir Hans purchased it, and it came eventually to the British Museum. Mr. Petiver was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and among other labours he assisted Mr. Ray in arranging the second volume of his History of Plants, and that great naturalist gives this brief, but expressive and affectionate testimony to his merits. " Jacobus Petiver, non postremse notse botanicus, mei amicissimus."
Mr. Petiver must have been an extraordinary man, and it is almost incredible that, while busily occupied as a medical practitioner in the midst of London, he could contribute so largely as he did to the scientific literature of his day, and could accumulate such a multitude of specimens of all kinds in his museum. His writings, how- ever, which are still extant, speak for themselves, as do likewise his collections which are in the British Museum. A genus of plants is named after him, viz. Fetiveria^ belonging to the Natural Oxder of Chenopodiacege.
His works 'on all branches of Natural History are very numerous, but they were all collected together in the lifetime of the author in two volumes bearing the following title : —
32
MEMOIRS OP THE
" Jacobi Petiveri Opera, Historiam Naturalem Spectantia; containing several thousand figures of Birds, Beasts, Fisli, Reptiles, Insects, Shells, Corals, and Fossils ; also of Trees, Shrubs, Herbs, Fruits, Fungus's, Mosses, Sea-weeds, &c., from all parts, adapted to Ray's History of Plants, on above Three Hundred Copper-plates with English and Latin JSTames. N.B. — Above One Hundred of these Plates were never pub- lished before. To which are now added Seven- teen Curious Tracts, most of them so scarce as not to be purchased, which completes all he ever wrote upon Natural History."
The two volumes folio, of which this large work consists, contain an enormous amount of information, and the title-page states that the illustrations comprise no less than ten thousand articles engraved in the most accurate manner from originals which were the gifts of the most eminent persons in all nations. The letter-press contains a number of miscellaneous articles on different subjects, and essays on various matters connected with Natural History, some of which were contributed to the Royal Society. What Petiver calls his Gazophylacium^ Naturae et Artis, is a kind of Catalogue Baisonne of natural and
^ Gazophylacivim is a Greek word, or rather Greco-Persian word, Tat,o6vXdKLov, signifying a "depository of precious things."
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
33
artificial objects which he describes, dividing thera all into ten Decads. His Genturia Prima Musei Petiveriani is a description of the objects contained in his Museum, the variety and extent of which may be estimated by his own definition, " Rariora Natura8 continens, viz. Animalia, Fossilia, Plantas, ex variis Mundi Plagis advecta, Ordine digesta, et Nominibus pro- priis signata." This large work was published in 1702, and must have been considered in its day a prodigy of industry, and it may be stated with truth of the illustrations that although they are of course deficient in the exquisite neatness and finish of the engravings of the present day, they are wonderfully well executed as well as being very accurate. Some of them indeed are marvels of elegance and accuracy.
Mr. Petiver officiated as Demonstrator of Plants to the Society of Apothecaries as early as the year 1709, but how long before that period he had held the appointment cannot now be ascertained. He probably resigned it to, or at least was assisted in that office by, Mr. Rand, a member of the Society, and also a distinguished botanist. Mr. Petiver died on the 20th of April, 1718, Sir Hans Sloane and other eminent men, in token of their esteem, attending his funeral as paU-bearers.
The new ordinances of the Corporation con- 1718
D
34 • MEMOIES OF THE
tainiiig some provision for the support of the Garden, the Master, "Wardens, and three other members, were deputed to wait on Sir Hans Sloane, to acquaint him with the details. It must have been upon this occasion that the following statement, copied from a written paper among the Sloane MSS. in the British Museum, was sent to Sir Hans Sloane, probably for his approbation. As it differs materially from the estimate before mentioned, and is several years subsequent to it in date, it will be important to insert it. It is entitled, " a note of paragraphs forty-six and forty-seven, with a calculation of the produce, communibus annis."
To apply the following Fines to maintain the Garden at Chelsea, and the private Herharizings.
PEODTJCE.
£ s. d.
5s. on taking an Apprentice . . . | 30 0 0 7s. Qd. on "becoming an Apprentice . 3 10s. on being made free . . . , 8 0 0 20s. on admission as Assistant and . -\
Liveryman . . . . . > 20 0 0 40s. on a Foreigner admitted "by Eedemption ) A moiety of Quarterage from Members . 35 0 0
Is. in the Pound of Laboratory Dividends, but ") 15 q 0
ibis not to exceed 20?. in the whole 3 Eent from TaUow-chandlers' Company for-\
Barge-house, from Mr. Abbot, painter, [■ 4 10 0
Chelsea ......
£112 10 0
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
35
This interview with Sir Hans Sloane appears to have been attended with the best effects. When men of candour and public spirit meet together to promote designs of science and general utiHty the difficulties and obstacles, which readily present themselves to worldly- minded characters, soon vanish from view, and are never allowed to obstruct the progress of honourable and disinterested negotiations. Such was the case in the instance now referred to, and within the short space of a few weeks the Court of Assistants were informed that Sir Hans Sloane was ready to settle the Garden upon the Society on the terms proposed.
About this time it was ordered that a ticket of admission to the Garden should be given to each of the proprietors of the Laboratory Stock in consideration of their contributing 15Z. per annum from that stock towards the expense of the Garden. This sum of 161., corresponding with the statement given in the Sloane MS., is evidently the same as that referred to in the latter document.
The deed of conveyance of the Garden at 1722 Chelsea from Sir Hans Sloane was laid before a Court of Assistants on the 8th February, 1722, approved by them, and ordered to be sealed.
D 2
36
MEMOIRS OP THE
The most important covenants contained in this conveyance are the following, namely, —
The release is dated on the 20th of February, 1722, and is made between the Honourable Sir Hans Sloane, Baronet, President of the Royal College of Physicians on the one part, and the Master, Wardens, and Society of the art and mystery of Apothecaries of the City of London, on the other part. It recites the original lease from Lord Cheyne, and also the great expense which the Society had incurred, in furnishing and carrying on the Garden, as a Physic Garden, ever since that lease was granted. It states that the Fee and Inheritance of the ground and premises were then vested in Sir Hans Sloane and his heirs. It further declares, that to the end the said Garden may at all times hereafter be continued as a Physic Garden, and for the better encouraging and enabling the said Society to support the charge thereof, for the manifes- tation of the power, wisdom, and glory of God in the works of the creation, and that their apprentices and others may better distinguish good and useful plants from those that bear resemblance to them, and yet are hurtful, and other the like good purposes ; the said Sir Hans Sloane grants, releases and confirms unto the said Master, Wardens, and Society, and their
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
37
successors, all that piece or parcel of arable and pasture ground, situate at Chelsea in the county of Middlesex, at that time in their possession, containing three acres, one rood, and thirty- five perches, with the green-house, stoves, barge-houses, and other erections thereon, to have and to hold the same for ever, paying to Sir 'Rb^s Sloane, his heirs and assigns, the yearly rent of 61. and rendering yearly to the President, Council, and Fellows of the Royal Society of London, fifty specimens of distinct plants, well dried and preserved, which grew in their garden the same year, with their names or reputed names ; and those presented in each year to be specifically different from (those of) every former year until the number of two thousand shall have been delivered. It is further provided, that if these conditions be not fulfilled, or if the Society shall at any time con- vert the Garden into buildings for habitations, or to any other uses, save such as are necessary for a Physic Garden, for the culture, planting and preserving of trees, plants, and flowers, and such-like purposes : then it shall be lawful for Sir Hans Sloane, his heirs and assigns, to enter upon the premises, a,nd to hold the same for the use and benefit, and in trust for the said Presi- dent, Council, and Fellows of the Royal Society,
38 MEMOIRS OF THP3
subject to the same rent, and to the delivery of specimens of plants, as above mentioned, to the President of the College or Commonalty or Faculty of Physic in London ; and in case the Poyal Society shall refuse to comply with these conditions then in trust for the President and College of Physicians of London, subject to the same conditions as the Society of Apothecaries were originally charged with.
Power is also reserved for the President, or Vice-President of the Poyal Society, and for the President, or Vice-President of the Royal College of Physicians, once or oftener in every year, to visit the said Garden, and examine if the conditions above specified are duly observed and comphed with. 1722 In the spring of this year, a Committee con- sisting of the Master, Wardens, and nine other Members of the Court of Assistants, who had been appointed for the purpose of putting the Garden in order and taking upon themselves its management, reported to the Court their opinion that the present gardener should be dismissed, and upon their recommendation Mr. Philip Miller was appointed in his room. The name of the person discharged is not mentioned, but their choice of a successor was peculiarly happy, and reflected great credit upon the dis-
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
39
cernment of the Committee. The biographers of this great botanist and horticulturist, Philip Miller, say that he succeeded his father in the office, but it does not appear what autho- rity they have for this assertion. The records of the Society are silent upon the subject, and the statement is therefore probably a mistake.
Regulations for conducting the ajffairs of the Garden were drawn up by this Committee, and approved by the Court on the 21st of August. These regulations are entered at length in the Minute Book of the Garden Committee, dated the 26th October.
In the month of August of this year, the first presentation was made of fifty plants to the Royal Society, agreeably to one of the covenants contained in Sir Hans Sloane's deed of conveyance.
The Society having now obtained complete possession of the Garden and a permanent interest in its maintenance, promptly turned their attention to its state and condition, which it may readily be supposed must have now become, both as to repair and cultivation, very -unsatisfactory. It had been for many years before this time in the hands and under the management of private individuals, who could
40
MEMOIRS OF THE
-'not be expected to expend more upon it than was absolutely necessary ; and, when the So- ciety again resumed the control of it, the uncertainty of their tenure at that time would have deterred them from any material expen- diture.
To facilitate the means of repairing the Garden and putting it in order, recourse was again had to a Common Hall, or meeting of the Members at large. This was held on the 27th of June, when it was agreed that every Freeman should pay 2s. 6d. per quarter, 2s. of which was to be applied to the use of the Garden ; but as this payment was afterwards thought too large, it was by a subsequent Common Hall (16th January, 1723) reduced to 6s. per annum; and in order to complete the necessary sum, 401. was to be allowed annually by the Society from their corporate funds. Soon after this time the Royal College of Physicians of London very liberally presented the Society with 1001. for the use of the Garden. Though the amount of the sums raised by these means could not be very considerable as an immediate supply, yet it seems to have answered the desired purpose, as we meet with no com- plaint of pecuniary difficulties for some years afterwards.
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 41
The Garden Committee now recommended 1724 tliat some person should be appointed in the character of Prsefectus Horti, or Director of the Garden, whose duty it should be to visit it often, and to undertake its superintendence and inspection. Mr. Isaac Rand, a Member of the Mr. Isaac Society, was appointed for that purpose ; an eminently capable man, and one who had for several years been a very zealous cultivator of botanical science. By way of recompense for his services he was to be admitted a Member of the Court of Assistants without a fine, to be excused from all other offices, and to have a salary of bOl. As he was at the same time Demonstrator of Plants, this salary, it may be presumed, included the income derived from both offices, and to this sum was afterwards added 81. per annum, being the interest of a legacy of 200L bequeathed by Mr. John Meres, Clerk to the Society, for the benefit of the Demonstrator for the time being. The latter was to attend in the Garden during the six summer months, at least twice in each month, to demonstrate the plants to such persons as should then attend, and to execute such other matters as were enjoined by former orders.
From a Report of the Garden Committee, it 1727
42
MEMOIRS OF THE
appears that the whole expense of the Garden for this year was 1721. 13s. 7d.
1728 Directions had been given, so far back as the year 1707, for carrying into effect the wharfing of the Garden towards the river. Either this was not done at that time, or it was executed so imperfectly that the structure must have fallen into decay ; for we find an order now given that a wharf should be built along the river before Chelsea Garden, and that lOOOZ. be borrowed for that purpose on the Society's Bonds, from such of the Members as might be willing to contribute to the outlay.
1730 In this year appeared the first published catalogue of the officinal plants in the Chelsea Garden. It was drawn up by Mr. Philip Miller, the Gardener, and is entitled " Catalogus Plant- arum Officinalium, quae in Horto Botanico Chelseyano aluntur." It is a small book, and is written in Latin, but every plant mentioned has an English name appended to it, so that this catalogue must have been a very useful manual for those who wished to make themselves ac- quainted with the contents of the Garden and with plants in general. The division of the plants adopted by Mr. Miller is very simple, only two sections being admitted, namely, the Herbs and Undershrubs {Herboi et Suffrutices),
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
43
and ttie Trees and Shrubs (Arhores et Frutices). This crude arrangement is derived from Eay. Each section is classified alphabetically, the first section containing the names of 405 plants, and the second of 94. The plants are not described in detail, but references are given in each case to the authorities where descriptions or figures may be found, as, for instance, to Toumefort, Ray, Bauhinus, Boerhaave, Fuchsius, Lobel, Martyn, Gerarde, &c. ; and the numbers accom- panying each name in the Catalogue probably refer to corresponding numbers affixed to the plants in the Garden. The plants themselves are of a very miscellaneous character, but they comprise a great number of those which were employed at the time, and are still employed in medicine, or were supposed to possess some therapeutical virtue, together with ornamental herbs, shrubs, and trees, cultivated for the beauty of their flowers, the utility of their fruit, or other similar claims to the notice of botanists.
Among the acting Members of the Committee 1732 for conducting the affairs of the Garden there now occurs the name of James Sherard, a Botanist of eminence, who withdrew from the Society about this time, in consequence of having obtained a diploma of Doctor of Medi-
44
MEMOIRS OP THE
cine, and practising as a Physician. Dr. James Slierard was so distinguislied as a cultivator of science tliat no apology is necessary for tlie introduction of tlie following memoir of his life and that of his brother. Dr. James James Sherard was the son of George F^E^S^'^' Sherard of Bushby, in the county of Leicester, and was born probably about the year 1666, as it appears from the Court Books of the Society that he was bound apprentice to Mr. Charles Watts, on the 7th February, 1682. Mr. Watts, although in practice as an Apothecary, had been, about a year before the date referred to, appointed to the care and management of the Garden at Chelsea, which circumstance must have given his apprentice great opportunities for cultivating a taste for botanical pursuits, and no doubt laid the foundation of his future eminence. Mr. Sherard practised for some years as an Apothecary in Mark Lane, London, where he occasionally made a public exhibition of rare plants, in the study and cultivation of which he was a great proficient. He acquh-ed considerable wealth by his practice, and in the latter part of his life, having taken the degree of M.D., and having been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Royal College of Physicians, he retired to Eltham in Kent, where
BOTANIC QAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
45
lie continued to pursue liis favourite amusement, the cultivation of valuable and uncommon plants. The garden belonging to him in that locality became celebrated by the Catalogue of its contents, drawn up and arranged by Dillenius, Professor of Botany at Oxford, and published under the title of " Hortus Eltha- mensis, sive Plantarum Rariorum, quas in horto sao Blthami in Cantio coUegit vir ornatissimus et praestantissimus Jac. Sherard, M.D., Soc. Reg. et Coll. Med. Lond. Soc, Guilielmi P.M. f rater. Dehneationes et descriptiones, quarum historia vel plane non, vel imperfecte, rei her- barige scriptoribus tradita fuit. Auctore Jacobo Dillenio M.D. (London, 1732)." (The Garden of Eltham, or of the rarer plants which the most distinguished and excellent man, James Sherard, M.D., Fellow of the Royal Society and of the College of Physicians of London, brother of William (Sherard) of pious memory, collected in his garden at Eltham in Kent. Engravings and descriptions, the history of which has been altogether omitted or imperfectly described by writers on Botany. Edited by James Dil- lenius.)
This large and expensive book is in two folio volumes, and is illustrated by 324 plates, which, though uncoloured, are exceedingly well exe-
46
MEMOIES OF THE
cuted, and prove that tlie Eltliam garden was worthy of the admiration bestowed upon it. The descriptions of the plants, which are arranged alphabetically, are written in Latin. In a letter to Sir Hans Sloane, dated December, 1732, and published in the " Gentleman's Maga- zine," Dr. Sherard says " I send herewith a copy of the Hortus Elthamensis which Dr. Dillenius is now pubhshing. You will see that he has not studied to adorn either his book or my garden, his chief care having been to improve and advance the knowledge of Botany."
Although Dr. James Sherard did not appear himself as an author, he was an excellent scientific botanist, and he gave his liberal assistance towards the diffusion of knowledge by assisting the efforts of others. It is said that a Natural History of Carolina, by an author named Oatesby, was brought out by Dr. James Sherard' s pecuniary and scientific help ; and the costly Hortus Elthamensis was published by Dillenius under the same circumstances of friendly co-operation.
He died on the 12th of February, 1737, and was buried at Evington in Leicestershire ; and the following inscription appears on his monu- ment in Evington Church : —
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
47
M.S.
JACOBI SHEEAED, M.D.
Colleg. Medic. Lond. et Soc. Eeg. Soc.
viri multifaria doctrina cultissimi in reram naturalium Botanices imprimis scientia pene singularis et ne quid ad oblectandos amicos deesset artis Musicse peritissimi. Accepemnt illi in laudis cumtdum mores Christiani, vitae integritas, et erga omnes comitas et benevolentia. Obiit pridie id. Feb., a.d. mdccxxxyii annos natus Lxiii.
Uxor Susanna, Eicbardi Lockwood, Arm. filia Optimo marito hoc moniimentum moestissima posuit et sibi quEe ob. 27tb IsTov. 1741, aatat. 72. et juxta maritum sepulta est.
The name of James Slierard often occurs in tlie Synopsis of Ray, and in tlie Preface to the third edition of that work the author gives the following eulogy of Sherard in conjunction with another botanical friend. " Preecipuas vero, in hoc opere, partes occupant duumviri D. Richard- son et D. Jac. Sherardus, amici nostri hono- ratissimi, qui, de industria, crebris institutis itineribus botanicis, Plantarum Anglise familiam plurimum &,uxerunt, plantas dubias, earumque loca minus certa restituerunt, et species demum novas nondum descriptas, ipsi invenerunt."
48
MEMOIRS OP THE
In a MS. book (Sloane MSS. 3347) entitled Adversaria, by Mr. James Petiver, to wliom reference has already been made (page 30), is an entertaining description of a botani- cal excursion made by James Slierard and Mmself into Kent. These two distinguished botanists travelled in a chaise with two horses. At Winchelsea they were regaled at the Mayor's house, and, the place not affording any wine, they had several bowls of excellent punch made by the Mayoress, " each bowl of which," the account says, " was better than the former one."
James Sherard's name is perpetuated to botanists in a genus of plants called Sherardia, of the Natural Order of Rubiacese, a species of which, S. arvensis, is a common weed in our corn- fields, " a little insignificant weed," as it is designated in Loudon's Encyclopcedia of Plants^ " by no means worthy to be consecrated to the memory of so celebrated a man."
James Sherard was the younger brother of "William Sherard, D.C.L., also a distinguished botanist, and the two names are often con- founded together. William Sherard, however, was born in 1659, and died in 172S, and was buried at Eltham. He was a Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, but he devoted great attention to botanical pursuits both at home
BOTANIC GAEDBN AT CHELSEA.
49
and abroad, and in Sir Hans Sloane's Catalogue of Plants (MS.) tliere is a long list of seeds sent by him to Sir Hans ; and in another MS. are several of William Sherard's letters to Sir Hans from Ireland, Leyden, the Hague, Yenice, Rome, and Paris, chiefly on botanical subjects, and several both on Botany and Greek literature from Smyrna, where Sherard was Consul from 1704 to 1715. By his last will he left an endow- ment for the Professorship of Botany at Oxford, and appointed Dillenius the next Botany Professor, and he also left all his books on Botany and Natural History, together with all his drawings, paintings, and dried plants, (particularly his Herbarium and Pinax) to be deposited in the Library of the Physic Garden. The Sherardian Professorship of Botany (for so it is still called) and the beautiful Botanic Garden, now in the most flourishing condition, belonging to the University of Oxford, con- stitute worthy and lasting memorials of the scientific acquirements as well as of the liberality of Dr. William Sherard.
William Sherard and James Sherard were so intimately associated together, both by their close relationship and by the similarity of their scientific pursuits, that it is impossible to men- tion the life and labours of one without referring
E
60
MEMOIRS OF THE
to the other. "William was so distinguislied a botanist as to have acquired the name of Mag- nus ; and Linnaeus, who visited the OxfordGar- den in 1736, and inspected its contents together with the herbarium and library left by Sherard, alludes in the following eulogistic terms to the two distinguished brothers : — " Consul Grulielmus Sherardus, agnomine apud botanicos Magnus dum suam vitam, se ipsum, et omnia sua rei herbarige consecravit, immortalem apud botani- cos obtinuit gloriam, quae perennabit virens et florens dum vivunt et florent plant 86, dato prae- sertim a J. J. Dillenio Phytopinace Sherardiano, uti quoquequondamHortus Elthamensis Sherardi magni et Johannis^ fratrum, Dillenio authore, sine pari prodiit." (Consul WiUiam Sherard, called the Great among botanists since he de- voted his life, himself, and all his possessions to botanical pursuits, has obtained among botanists immortal glory, which will continue bright and flourishing as long as plants live and flourish, especially since the publication by J. J. Dillenius of Sherard' s Catalogue of Plants, as also, in former years, the Hortus Elthamensis of the brothers, the great Sherard and John,^ was without a rival.)
* It should be James (Jacobi).
BOTANIO GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 51
In reference to the Latin quotations (to wliicli translations are in most instances appended) so often introduced in tlie present Memoirs of tlie Chelsea Garden it is perhaps necessary to explain that the Roman language was the ordinary medium of communication between scientific and hterary men for many centuries after the revival of learning, and not only were scientific books written in that tongue, but it formed the means of conversation and corre- spondence between the learned of different coun- tries. Whether the disuse of Latin for this purpose in the present day is an advantage, may fairly be a matter of doubt, for it is now necessary for the scholar to learn a great number of modern European languages where a single ancient one formerly sufliced. Linnseus himself, whose acquirements in the whole range of science were no less than gigantic, under- stood only two languages, namely, Latin and his own, the Swedish, and, as the latter is but little spoken or read out of Sweden, all his letters to foreigners and most of his books were written in Latin. Although he visited many of the capitals and the coun- tries of Europe, including England, France, Lapland, and Holland, he learned the language of none of them, and he knew nothing even qf
E 2
52
MEMOIRS OF THE
Dutchj although, he spent three years in Holland superintending a large garden and engaging in scientific studies with other distinguished men such as Boerhaave, Gronovius, Van Swieten, Lieberkiihuj Albinus, &c. It is therefore not a matter of astonishment that the early members of the Apothecaries' Society were in general well acquainted with Latin, and that the more eminent among them wrote and spoke in that language. It is only an act of justice more- over to observe that the Society have consistently encouraged and even enforced the study of the Latin language upon their alumni. While the Society's legal jm'isdiction extended only to the education of their own members, a knowledge of Latin was indispensable in the case of candi- dates for examination; and since the existence of the Court of Examiners, under the Act of 1815, not only has Latin been a compulsory subject of examination for the Licence of the Society, but the present Examination in Arts, now rendered imperative on all medical students, originated in Regulations made by the Court of Examiners many years ago.
1732 We have now arrived at a period of great importance in the history of Chelsea Garden. We are totally ignorant as to the state of the
BOTANIO GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
53
buildings belonging to the garden before this period, whether in reference to the cultivation and preservation of the plants, or to the comfort and accommodation of the Gardener. But the Society at this time formed a design, and began to carry into effect a plan for erecting a fabric calculated to serve both these purposes, upon a scale of such extent and elegance as should be calculated to reflect honour upon their members, and should also embrace the most approved methods then known of raising and bringing to maturity the more delicate produc- tions of foreign countries, by imitating as nearly as possible the various temperatures enjoyed by such plants in their native climates.
As the outlay attending this extensive build- ing seemed likely to be much greater than the Society's funds could afford, a subscription among the members was again resorted to, which amounted to 649 L 14s,, the Corporation agreeing to contribute a sum not exceeding 500Z- for this important purpose.
A Court of Assistants, held on the 24th of August, approved the agreement entered into by the Garden Committee for building the green-house and two hot-houses for the sum of 1550Z. but the addition of some flues, proposed by Mr. Miller, the Gardener, caused an increased
54
MEMOIES OP THE
charge of 12 5Z. 18s., which sum was further augmented by the erection and completion of two staircases, the expense of which was esti- mated at 140L 18s. Thus the total expense, as far as can now be ascertained, including the sum of 76Z. 5s. paid to the Surveyors, .was 1891?. 16s.
The buildings were immediately undertaken, and were completed in less than two years.
In the bed of a Plinth to the middle break in the front of the present green-house lies, in- closed in lead, a copper plate, on which is engraven the following inscription, viz. : —
This was tlie first stone laid hj the hands of Sir Hans Sloans, Donor of this Garden to perpetuity, for the improve- ment of useful knowledge.
August 12f,h, 1732.
Mr. William Withers, Master of the Society of Apothecaries.
Mr. Ealph Forster, 7 -rrr j
' \ Wardens.
EoBT. Harris, Esq. )
Edward Oaklet, Architect.
During the present year the Court of Assist- ants made an order which still further evinced their zeal in forwarding the cultivation of botanical knowledge. It was to the effect that 201. per annum be paid by the Society towards the expense of sending a person to Georgia, to collect trees and plants, and to make experi-
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
65
ments concerning the best means of raising them in England; and this sum was in the following year ordered to be paid to the Trustees for that colony.
As a monument of gratitude to the munifi- l/^SS cence of Sir Hans Sloane, the Court of Assist- ants (August 23rd) came to a determination to cause a statue of him to be erected in marble, which was originally placed in the front of the green-house. Its position, however, was after- wards changed, and in 1748 it was removed and fixed on a pedestal in the garden, nearly in the centre, facing the principal building. The cause of this change seems to have been a doubt as to the strength of the front wall being equal to the weight of the statue, for it appears that the opinions of three surveyors were required upon this question. The statue was the work of the celebrated Michael Eysbrach, and was finished in the year 1737, at the cost of 2801.
Mr. Zachary Allen, a Member of the Society, 1736 and one of the lessees of the Garden in 1707, bequeathed bOl. for the service of the Garden.
In this year Linnseus visited the Chelsea Garden, and the circumstance is thus mentioned in his Diary : — " Miller of Chelsea permitted me
56 MEMOIES OP THE
to collect many plants in the Garden, and gave me several dried specimens collected in South America." This event is interesting, as show- ing the high estimation in which the Chelsea Garden was held by the scientific men of foreign countries as well as our own, and its value may be further appreciated by the fact that only two Botanic Gardens in England were mentioned or visited by Linnaeus, namely, that at Oxford, then under the care of Professor Dillenius, and that at Chelsea, under the management of E-and and Philip Miller, to both of whom, together with Hudson, also a Demonstrator at Chelsea Garden, Linnaeus often refers in the most com- mendatory terms.
As the researches and the writings of Lin- nasus soon effected a scientific revolution, not only in the Chelsea Garden, but in all the gardens of the civilised and educated world, and indeed in every region of the habitable globe, it would be unpardonable not to pause for a brief reference to the career of this distin- guished man, who might ask with ^neas, when recalling to mind his manifold adventures, —
" Quse regio in terris nostri noB plena laboris 1 "
and the remarks about to be made may not be amiss in the present day when perhaps too little
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
57
respect is paid to the memory of the Swedish natiirahst.
Carl Linn^us, or Carl von Linne, as he was Linnaeus, afterwards called when he was ennobled by the King of Sweden, rose by his own prodigious eJBforts to the very highest position in the scientific world. Being educated as a physician, and for some time practising that profession, he wrote largely on Medicine, and endeavoured to intro- duce the same principles of systematic arrange- ment into Pathology and Therapeutics as those he had so successfully appHed to the study of N"atural History. But it was in the latter de- partment that he particularly shone, and, as we have just intimated, there is not a botanical or zoological garden, nor a collection of botanical, mineralogical, or zoological specimens in any city or town in the world wherein the traces of his marvellous genius may not be discovered. It is not asserted, of course, that all his con- clusions were correct, or that any one of the numerous principles of classification he proposed was faultless, but it may be safely and truly said that he illuminated the whole domain of Natural History with new and striking obser- vations and discoveries, and arranged into har- mony and order a multitude of details which lay previously heaped together in chaotic confusion.
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It is not consistent witli the plan of these Memoirs to enter at large into the merits of LinnaBus and his multifarious labours ; and, even in reference to the study of Botany, the remarks made must be brief. It will suffice therefore at present to state that his knowledge of plants was most varied and extensive, that his labour in acquiring that knowledge was indefatigable and incessant, and that he seemed to grasp intui- tively the principles on which vegetable forms are constructed and the laws on which their classification is based. In making these remarks, it is not intended to institute a comparison between his System (the Linnsean) and that which is called the Natural System, of which something will be said hereafter. There can- not, however, be the slightest doubt that at the period which our history of the Chelsea Garden has now reached (namely the middle of the eighteenth century) the science of Botany was in its infancy, if indeed it could be said to exist, and that it was only after the publication of Linnasus's works that it began to assume the importance which it claims in the present day as one of the most delightful and engaging of intellectual pursuits.
Alluding, as briefly as possible, to the novel- ties introduced by Linnseus into the study of
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
59
plants, it may be stated that liis classification was founded, primarily, upon the presence or absence of the reproductive organs, namely the stamens and pistils, the true functions of which, before his time, were very imperfectly understood, if they were understood at all. Having then separated the plants having no stamens or pistils (or as he called them the Gryptogamic Plants ^) from those which possessed both (the PhcBnogamic Plants he divided the latter into Classes, founded upon the number, relative size, situation, and other peculiarities, of the Stamens ; and these classes again were sub- divided into Orders, founded upon the number of the Pistils, and upon other peculiarities of the reproductive organs. The Classes were only Twenty-four in number, and thus the Linnsean System possessed a merit which has never been denied to it, namely that of simplicity, and its principles could readily be learned almost by the merest tyro.
But the invention and promulgation of the Linngean, or Sexual System of Plants, was only
^ KpvTTTO), I conceal, ya/^os, a marriage ; ^aivw, I appear, ydfjio<;, a marriage. Linnaeus, whose ideas were always poetical, compared the union of stamens and pistils to a marriage ; and where no such organs were to be found he considered the marriage to be concealed, though he did not deny its existence.
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MEMOIRS OP THE
one out of many services rendered to Botany by tlie illustrious Professor of Upsala, for he re- volutionised and simplified tlie previously hete- rogeneous nomenclature of plants ; gave to all of them definite names, assigning to each plant a genus and a species ; threw into the same genus many forms which had before been distributed among several genera, and, vice versa, split up several single genera into different genera and species ; reduced varieties to species, and pointed out the true limits of varieties, species, and genera ; defined the characters by which genera might be distinguished from one another ; and in fine, conferred inestimable services upon the study of every department connected with the vegetable kingdom. The student of the present day, whenever he names in scientific language any tree or flower, and, it may be added, whenever he names in a similar way any member of the animal kingdom, consciously or unconsciously employs the language of Linnseus.
1737 The names of the subscribers to the building of the green-house were ordered to be painted on a suitable frame, and hung up in some conspicuous part of that edifice.
1739 In this year Mr. Isaac Kand, the Prsefectus
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61
Horti and Demonstrator in Botany, presented to the Court of Assistants his Catalogue of the 0£B.cinal Plants in the Garden, entitled " Horti Medici Chelseiani Index Compendiarius, exhi- bens Nomina Plantarum quas ad Rei Herbarise prgecipue Materise Medicse scientiam promo- vendam ali curavit Societas Pharmacopoeiorum Londinensium. Conscripsit Isaacus Rand, Pharmacopoeius Londinensis, Regise Societatis Socius, Horti Prsefectus et PrselectorBotanicus." (A compendious Index of the Chelsea Physic Garden, exhibiting the Names of the Plants, which the Society of Apothecaries of London have directed to be cultivated for the promotion of the science of Botany and especially of Materia Medica. By Isaac Rand, &c.)
It would appear from some passages in the biography of Mr. Philip MiUer, that Mr. Rand prepared this Index in consequence of his f eehng hurt at the publication of the Catalogue of the contents of the Garden by the former, who, as Mr. Rand considered, had encroached upon his province, he being the Prsefectus Horti and Botanical Demonstrator, while Mr. Miller was the Gardener. Both Mr. Miller and Mr. Rand, however, were excellent Botanists.
Rand's Index is a larger book than Philip Miller's Catalogue, and consists of 214 pages.
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MEMOIRS OP THE
wliile the Catalogue has only 152. The Index is written entirely in Latin, and does not give the English names of any of the plants, which omission must have diminished the value of the book very much in the eyes of the apprentices and the beginners in Botany, for whose use it is said to have been principally designed. It is very laboriously compiled, and gives a multitude of synonyms of all the plants. Ray and Tourne- f ort are the principal authorities referred to, but many others are also quoted. The arrangement is alphabetical, and no scientific classification is adopted, even into Herbs and Trees, as is the case in Plulip Miller's Catalogue. Although the title indicates that the chief plants described are those employed in Medicine, yet a very large proportion of them have no claim what- ever, at any rate in the present day, to the possession of any therapeutical powers. Many of such plants, however, though now regarded as inert, were once supposed to be useful as medicinal agents, and it must be admitted that a few, which were formerly regarded as useless, have been found to possess active principles which the researches of modern chemistry have discovered and developed into valuable drugs.
Mr. Hand was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and he enjoyed the friendship and esteem of
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
63
Linnaeus. A genus of plants was named after him Bandia, belonging to tlie Natural order of Rubiacese, and found in tropical countries.
Mr. Samuel Dale, a Member of the Society, 1739 author of a Pharmacologia, and some other works, left to the Society by his will a legacy of books which were ordered to be kept in proper presses to be provided by the Committee, and the clause in Mr. Dale's will relating to this bequest was ordered to be entered in their minutes.
A short biographical memoir of this gentle- man whose professional and literary abilities would have rendered him an ornam^ent to any sphere of hfe, must be regarded only as a just tribute of gratitude to one who was both a Member and benefactor of the Society of Apothecaries.
Samuel Dale was born about the year 1658, Dr- Samuel at Braintree in Essex, in which place he practised for some years as an apothecary. In 1693 he jGlrst published his Pharmacologia, in an octavo volume. This work was afterwards republished in quarto, and went through several editions both in England and in foreign countries. His first edition was among the
64
MEMOIRS OP THE
earliest scientific books written on the subject of drugs and medicinal preparations, and it specially displayed great botanical knowledge. Tlie subsequent editions were mucli imj)roved by the author, so as to render the book, not only at that time, but even at present, a work of considerable value.
The third edition, published in 1737, bears the following title : —
Samuelis Dalei M.L., Pharmacologia, sen Manuductio ad Materiam Medicam; in qua Medicamenta Officinalia Simplicia, hoc est Mineralia, Yegetabilia, Animalia eorumque partes in Medicinas Officinis usitata, in Metho- dum Naturalem digesta succincte et accurate describuntur. 1737.
(The Pharmacologia of Samuel Dale, Licen- tiate of Medicine, or Gruide to the Materia Medica ; in which the simple Officinal Medicines, namely Minerals, Vegetables, and Animals, and the parts of them used in'Medical establishments, brought together into a Natural Method, are succinctly and accurately described.)
In this edition the author states that his first edition appeared forty years previously. In the botanical part, which forms a very large part of the volume, Dr. Dale offers his thanks to many distinguished botanists for their assistance and
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
65
co-operation, and among others, to Sir Hans Sloane, John Raj, William Sherard, Samuel Doody, James Petiver. The work is written in Latin, but the English names are given to each substance. The System of Tournefort is adopted, as might be expected, for the third edition of Dale's Pharmacologia was published in 1737, and the Linnaean System had not then been generally promulgated. Dr. Dale's Pharmacologia dis- plays a great amount of learning and research, but much of the contents would be considered in the present day as involving a waste of labour, inasmuch as many of the substances described are now regarded as inert. But perhaps our own Systems of Pharmacology are not so thoroughly weeded of useless or superfluous matters as to justify the present generation in ridiculing the polypharmacy of their predecessors.
Mr. Dale also republished a work of Silas Taylor, entitled, "Antiquities of Harwich and Dovercourt," which is valuable for its very accurate notices on Natural History.
In 1730 Mr. Dale obtained the degree of Doctor in Medicine, became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and removed to Booking in Essex, where he practised until his death, on the 6th of June, 1739, in the eightieth year of his age. There is a portrait of him
F
66
MEMOIES OP THE
in tlie Court-room at Apothecaries' Hall. He was buried in the Dissenters' burial-ground at Booking.
The conditions stipulated by Dr. Dale, in relation to his devise of books and dried plants, were as follow, " That the Master and Wardens shall, within twelve months next after his decease, make or erect proper conveniences in their Physick Garden at Chelsea, for the recep- tion thereof, and under such regulations for the keeping and preserving them, as shall be agreed on and approved by Sir Hans Sloane and his executors after named." Sir Hans Sloane having been consulted on this occasion, his opinion was that it would be most proper to have a press or presses made sufficient to contain the whole of the books and plants, in order that they might be kept by themselves ; and a suitable inscription was to be placed over the collection, denoting that it was the donation of Dr. Dale.
Mrs. Elizabeth Blackwell, the celebrated authoress of the Herbal, which was pubHshed about this time, resided at Chelsea opposite the Physic Garden, for the convenience of having daily access to such rare and curious plants as could nowhere else be found. As her engi^av-
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHEI;SEA.
67
ings were stated to be executed after drawings taken from the life, tliis privilege of access to the Garden must have been of great importance to her.
It will excite no small surprise to find that 1741 the green-house, which had not been finished more than seven years, was at this time in such a state as to excite serious alarm for its safety. Such however appears to have been the case, for in the month of August, the opinion of two architects was taken upon the subject and dehvered to the Court of Assistants ; which opinion stated that the building required reparations to the amount of SOOl. to prevent it from falhng down.
Probably the danger in 1741 was not so 1743 imminent as to require immediate attention, for nothing important was done in the matter until the present year, when the repairs executed in the Garden amounted to 2161.
Mr. Joseph Miller, who served the office of Master in 1738, was chosen Demonstrator of plants, in the room of Mr. Isaac Eand deceased, with a salary of 34Z. exclusive of the interest of Mr. Meres' legacy, which amounted to 81. Mr. Joseph Miller does not appear to have been any relation to Mr. Phihp Miller, the distinguished
F 2
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MEMOIRS OF THE
Gardener of the Society, but lie was a botanist of considerable reputation.
He published a very good work on Botany, bearing the following title : — " Botanicum Officinale, or a Compendious Herbal, giving an Account of all such Plants as are now used in the Practice of Physick, with their Descriptions and Virtues. By Joseph Miller, 1722." This book is dedicated to Sir Hans Sloane, and in the Dedication allusion is made to the " noble Present of the Physick Garden at Chelsea to the Apothecaries' Company on condition of its being kept up to the improve- ment of Botany." A great number of plants are described, the Latin name being in each case given first, and the English one afterwards, the quantities of the Latin vowels, where they are doubtful, being very accurately given. As was usual with the Medico-botanical books writ- ten at this and previous periods, a great number of plants are included which have no claim to a place in the Pharmacopoeia. The arrangement is alphabetical, and no other classification is attempted, the names being adopted fi'om Bauhin, Gerard, and Parkinson, and the English plants being described after Ray, in his Synopsis.
Mr. Joseph Miller completed another work, in two volumes, now in the Library of the Apothe- caries' Hall, called " Icones Plantarum," which
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
69
consists of a series of coloured figures of plants, generally very well executed, although some of them are but rough sketches. Some are so accu- rately dehneated that they appear to be and pro- bably are fac-similes of the plants themselves, made by pressing the leaves on paper and subsequently colouring the impressions thus obtained. This book has no date, but the influ- ence of Linnseus is perceptible, f Or there is some attempt at arrangement, the Composite plants being ranged together, as are likewise theUmbel- liferge, the FiliceSj the Liliacese, the Leguminosse, the Ranunculacese, the Rosacese, the Labiatse, and many others. The work seems to have been all done by hand, and the names of the plants are written with a pen and ink. The book is in an excellent state of preservation, and the colours are still vivid and life-like.
An order was made that no person should be 1744 permitted to gather specimens from the Garden without leave from the Director or the Gardener, and that no person whatever, who was not a Member of the Society, should be permitted to walk in the Garden without tbe attendance of the Gardener. The improper conduct of some individual must be presumed to have been the cause of this prohibitory regulation, for it is stated that a certain gentleman, having exceeded
70
MEMOIRS OF THE
all bounds of reason and good manners in taking specimens from the garden, be in future excluded.
Mr. Joseph Miller produced a catalogue of Botanical books presented by the executrix of Mr. Isaac Rand. '45 Mr. Robert Nicholls presented twelve volumes of dried plants, which, were deposited in the green-house.
'46 Mr. Joseph Miller offered to reduce his salary as Demonstrator from 34L to 271. which with the addition of Mr. Meres' legacy amounted to 35L This offer the Court accepted, though no reason is assigned either for the proposal itself or for the acquiescence of the Court.
'47 The state of the green-house now became an object of immediate attention, and the discovery must have been made that its condition was much worse than was originally supposed, for towards the close of this year the Master acquainted the Court of Assistants, that he had waited upon Sir Hans Sloane with a statement of the very extensive repairs which appeared at this time to be necessary for the Garden, and of the esti- mated expense, which amounted to 933/. 15s. At this interview Sir Hans offered 100 guineas towards this sum, and he promised that he would endeavour to procure further assistance from some of his friends. These generous and Hberal offers the Court thankfully accepted, and
BOTANIO GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
71
the repairs immediately necessary, amounting to 1761., were ordered to be commenced as soon as tlie season would permit.
On the 21st of March of this year Sir Hans 1748 Sloane presented 150L towards the repairs of the Garden. It may be presumed that this very handsome donation included the 100 guineas above mentioned. Dr. John "Wilmer was ap- pointed Demonstrator of Botany, in the room of Mr. Joseph Miller deceased, and his salary was fixed at 30Z. per annum, including the interest of Mr. Meres' legacy.
The widow of Mr. Joseph Miller presented twenty-two volumes of dried plants, for which the thanks of the Court of Assistants were pre- sented to her.
It was again proposed to open a subscription among the Members, on account of the great expense to be incurred in repairing or rebuilding the green-house, but, as nothing more is said of this proposition, it was probably abandoned.
During the present year, the Committee 1750 reported that, having carefully examined the Garden, they found it in very good order, and that they were well satisfied with the appear- ance of a very large number of rare plants, many of which were non-descripts, namely, plants not yet described; and that these acqui- sitions to the Garden were due to Mr. Miller's
72
MEMOIES OF THE
great diligence in maintaining a foreign corre- spondence, and procuring seeds and plants from various parts of the world. 1751 The statue of Sir Hans Sloane having been lately removed from its original station in front of the gTeen-house, and placed upon a pedestal in the Garden (where it now stands), the following inscription in Latin, prepared by Mr. Warden Chase, was approved and executed : —
Hansio Sloane, Baronetto, Arcliiatro, Insignissimo Botanices Fautori, Hoc honoris causa Monimentum, Inque perpetuam ejus Memoriam, Sacrum voluit Societas Pharmacopoeiorum Londinensis. 1733.
On two other sides of the pedestal, are the following inscriptions : —
They heing sensible how necessary that branch of science is to the faithful discharging the duty of their Profession, with grateful
hearts and general consent, ordered this statue to be erected, in the year of our Lord 1733, that their Successors and Posterity may never forget their common Benefactor. Placed here in the year 1737. Sir Benjamin Pawling, Knt. Master.
Mr. Joseph Miller, j Mr. Joseph Eichards. j
BOTANIO GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
73
The Garden Committee whicli, in tlie year 1752 1722 was directed to consist of the Master, Wardens, and nine other Members of the Court, was continued with the same constitution as to the number of members, but it was now ordered that three of them should be changed every year.
The annual expense of the Garden, which for 1753 several years past had fluctuated between 200Z. and 220Z. was this year increased by an expen- diture of 108Z. in repairs. This increase of expense appears to have given rise to the following Minute of the Court of Assistants, namely : " A report of the expense of the Garden, for the last seven years, having been taken into consideration ; the Master and Wardens were directed to wait on the Earl of Macclesfield, President of the Royal Society, and to represent to him the great expense the Society sustained in maintaining the Botanical Garden at Chelsea; for which Sir Hans Sloane made no provision in his will ; and to consult with him as to the future measures the Society should take." This in- terview most probably took place, but of the result of it there is no account, nor of anything having been done in consequence of this repre- sentation. Sir Hans Sloane had died at the 1759 beginning of this year.
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MEMOIES OF THE
A legacy of lOOZ. was received from Mrs. Rand, in trust for the following special purposes ; namely, that two-thirds of the annual interest be paid to the Demonstrator for the time being, for placing twenty newly- dried specimens of plants yearly, in her late husband's collection, in the room of such as might be decayed, and the other third of such interest to be paid to the Master and Wardens for seeing this duty performed. This legacy was ordered to be in- vested in 3 per cent. Annuities. 1761 It must be presumed that there were at this time no suitable apartments in the green-house for the residence of the Grardener, as there had been for many years before ; for a memorial was now presented from Mr. Miller, requesting the Society to build him a dwelling in the Grarden. In consequence of this memorial. Dr. Wilmer and Mr. Miller were desired to procure a proper habitation for the latter and his family, until the Court should be able to provide some permanent and more suitable accommodation. What steps of a permanent natui^e were taken upon this business cannot at present be ascertained.
1764 tlie 25th of October of this year Dr. John Wilmer resigned his office of Prasfectus Horti and Botanical Demonstrator ; and on the 14th
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 75
of March following, Mr. William Hudson was 1765 elected to succeed him in those offices.
Mr. Miller presented a memorial to the Court 1767 of Assistants, setting forth his services from the time of his appointment in 1722 to the present period, and also the various expenses he had incurred for the improvement of the Garden, for which he had never been indemnified; these he represented as amounting to 62 Z, and he stated moreover that his present expenses were such as to consume the whole of his salary.
In consequence of this memorial, the Court of Assistants ordered that bOl. be given to him as a consideration for his expenditure in corre- spondence, &c. ; and that although his salary be not increased, such annual gratuity should be given to him as the Garden Committee shall recommend, and the Court approve.
The following document, extracted from the Minutes of the Garden Committee, and con- nected, doubtless, with the preceding memorial, is too curious to be omitted. It is certainly of a very singular description, and is by no means easy, at this distance of time, to be fully understood, particularly that part of it which relates to the payment of the men's wages out of the Gardener's salary. It is entitled
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MEMOIRS OP THE
" An exact account of all money received, and the money paid to ivorhnen from Christmas 1765 Christmas 1766, by Mr. Miller, Gardener, for keeping the Botanic Garden at Chelsea.
£ s. d.
To money paid by the "Worshipful Company of 1 qq q q
Apothecaries ..... J Taken at the gate for showing the Garden . 31 4 0
£81 4 0
Paid to 3 men, 52 weeks at 9s. per week . 70 0 0
to a fourth man at 10s. per week . 4 0 0
Charges of several parcels of seeds sent by the 1 ^ ^
Post, and also of plants sent per sea . j o o
£89 5 0
" By which it appears that I am a considerable loser, instead of having anything for myself. And from the in- clemency of the season, I have not received 4s. per week on an average since Christmas last."
768 A gratuity of 60L was ordered to Mr. Miller, as an acknowledgment of Ms various services to tlie Society, whicli were enumerated as the ground of sucli grant.
769 Mr. Stanesby Alchorne, having been requested to prepare a new Catalogue of the books remain- ing in the Library at Chelsea Garden, presented the volume in the following year to the Com- mittee for managing the Garden, and received their thanks.
From this Catalogue it appears that the
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
77
Library at that time consisted almost entirely of books confined to Botanical subjects, 266 in number, and of pamphlets and unbound books about 50 ; besides which there were, in the Library at Apothecaries' Hall, 238 volumes of books, the greater part of which were on sub- jects relating to Botany and other departments of Natural History, many of them having been at different times removed thither from Chelsea. The Society likewise possessed twenty volumes of dried plants, being the Hortus Siccus of Mr. Joseph Miller ; and a bundle of dried plants given by Dr. John Wilraer, who succeeded the former as Prsefectus Horti. Mr. Isaac Rand's collection is not here mentioned.
A Catalogue of the plants contained in the Garden, and an inventory of every particular of the Society's property there and in the green- house, was ordered to be made. This order was intrusted to a Committee, who were allowed to obtain such assistance as might be requisite, and considerable progress was made in their work, but in consequence of some opposition, said to be offered by Mr. Miller, great delay was occasioned; and after- 1770 wards a new Committee was appointed for the same purpose, in order to obviate the dijBBculties raised by Mr. Miller. Whatever these difficulties
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MEMOIRS OF THE
miglit have been, the new Committee were not more successful in their proceedings than the old one. Fresh complaints were made of Mr. Miller's conduct, and the differences terminated in a request by that gentleman to be allowed to resign the oflS.ce of Gardener, which resignation was accepted by the Court of Assistants. The Garden Committee were thereupon authorised to treat with Mr. William Forsyth, who had offered himself as a candidate for the vacant oflB.ce, and, after being approved, he was a^Dpointed Gar- dener. His salary was to be 601. per annum, with lodging-rooms in the green-house, and coals. He was likewise to be allowed 50L per annum for two or more under-gardeners to be provided by himself, but was prohibited from selling roots or plants. To these terms Mr. Forsyth agreed, and entered upon his duties accord- ingly.
Proper rules and directions for the conduct of the Gardener having been drawn up, they were entered at length in the Minute Book of the Committee (28th December, 1770), and a copy of them was ordered to be hung up in the Library.
It is greatly to be lamented that the last years of the services of such an eminent Botanist as PhiUp Miller, who had held his appointment
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
79
almost half a century, slioiild be overshadowed loj the differences which arose between the Society and himself in conducting the affairs of the Garden. On his part these differences may have arisen solely from the infirmities and the 1771 irritability consequent upon his great age ; and, on the part of the Committee, they may have been caused by too great an anxiety for the success of the Garden, a feeling influencing those gentlemen to show less forbearance with • respect to his infirmities than they would other- wise have done. Under these circumstances the resignation and its acceptance were highly commendable, and the grant to Mr. Miller of a retiring pension of 50Z. appears to have produced on both sides a cordial reconciliation. But he survived only a very short time to enjoy it.
The following Biographical sketch of this dis- tinguished Botanist cannot but be interesting to every cultivator of Horticultural and Botanical science.
Philip Miller was born in or near London in Mr. Philip 1691. He raised himself, by his own merit, JfS?^^' from a state of obscurity to a degree of eminence rarely attained by a person in his station of life, and arrived at the distinction of being considered by the most eminent authori-
80 MEMOIES OF THE
ties as tlie first Botanical Gardener of his time. In 1722, on the nomination of Sir Hans Sloane, he was appointed Gardener to the Botanic Garden at Chelsea, which office he filled with great reputation for the long space of forty- eight years. He was not only intimately ac- quainted with the indigenous vegetable produc- tions of Britain, but had an extensive knowledge of exotic plants. He added to his practical knowledge that of the structure and classifica- tion of plants, and was well acquainted with the writings of Ray and Tournefort. Habituated to the systems of these two great Botanists, it is not surprising that he was somewhat reluctantly brought to adopt the novel views of classification introduced during his lifetime by the illustrious Linnseus. But so learned and intelligent a man as Philip Miller could not fail to be struck with the profound sagacity and the far-reaching views of the Swedish naturalist, and we accordingly find that he not only re- nounced his allegiance to former authorities, but became an enthusiastic advocate of the new doctrines. In his " Short Introduction to the Knowledge of the Science of Botany, explaining the terms of Art made use of in the Linnfean System," published in 1760, Philip Miller writes as follows : —
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 81
" Doctor Linnoeus, tlie celebrated Professor of Botany at Upsal in Sweden, has prepared simple and proper terms, not only to express all the different parts of plants, but also the principal qualities, forms, figures, situations, directions, and manners of existing of eacli of these parts .... These principles have been alm,ost universally adopted by those who have
wrote after him The sexual method of
classing plants, established by Doctor Linnaeus, is much preferable to all the systems of Botany which have yet appeared. 1. Because of all those which have been proposed, there is not one of them which approaches so near to a natural method as this, most of the classes being very natural. 2. It is founded upon the parts of the plants which are the most constant, and least subject to variation, the stamina and pointals, which are the true organs of generation."
The first edition of his great work, " The Gardener's Dictionary," was published in 1724, and it afterwards appeared in 1731 in a folio volume ; the seventh edition was published in 1759, and in this the author adopted for the first time the system of Linnaeus. Besides these editions, several others in an abridged form were published in octavo, and one appeared in quarto.
The seventh edition of the Dictionary is
G
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generally esteemed the most complete, and is entitled " The Gardener's Dictionary ; Contain- ing the best and newest Methods of Cultivating and Improving the Kitchen, Fruit, Flower Garden, and Nursery : As also for performing the Practical Parts of Agriculture ; Including the Management of Vineyards, with the Methods of Making and Preserving the Wine, according to the present practice of the most skilful Yignerons in the several Wine Countries of Europe. Together with Directions for Pro- pagating and Improving, from real practice and experience, all sorts of Timber Trees. The seventh edition, revised and altered according to the latest system of Botany, and embellished with several copper-plates, which were not in the former editions. By Philip Miller, F.E.S., Gar- dener to the Worshipful Company of Apothe- caries, at their Botanic Garden at Chelsea, and Member of the Botanic Academy at Florence.
* Digna manet divini gloria ruris.' — Virg. Georg.
London, MDCCLIX." The eighth edition was published in 1768, and was the last which appeared in the author's lifetime.
The merit of this work is too well understood and recognized to render any detailed description necessary. It is sufficient to state that Miller's
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 83
Dictionary lias been translated into the Dutcli, German, and French, languages, and that a new and greatly improved edition of it, with consider- able additions, was published by Dr. Thomas Martyn, Regius Professor of Botany in the Uni- versity of Cambridge, in the year J 807, in four folio volumes. The Botanical and Horticultural information contained in these four large tomes is enormous, and even in the present day the work must be considered a prodigy of science, learning, industry, and research, as well as of practical skill.
Philip Miller wrote many other, but smaller works, and contributed many papers to the learned Societies of his time. Allusion has already been made to his Catalogue of the Plants of the Chelsea Garden, and to his " Short Introduction to the Science of Botany," the latter being an excellent little work on the principles of the Linngean nomenclature and classification. He wrote also the " Gardener's Kalendar," which directs what works are neces- sary to be done every month in the Kitchen, Fruit, and Pleasure Garden, as also in the Con- servatory and Nursery. The tenth edition appeared in 1754, and it is inscribed to the Master, Wardens, and Court of Assistants of the Apothecaries' Company.
G 2
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MEMOIRS OF THE
Mr. Miller passed some time in Holland in order to acquire a knowledge of the practice of the famous Florists of that country. The improvements he introduced into Horticulture were many and great, and he maintained a correspondence with the most eminent foreign Botanists, and particularly with Linnaeus, who said of his Dictionary, " ISTon erit Lexicon Hortulanorum, sed etiam Botanicorum." By other foreigners he was styled " Hortulanorum Princeps." He was a Member of the Botanic Academy at Florence, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, being occasionally elected one of their Council.
He had at various times several pupils under him, who afterwards attained eminence, and among them are to be enumerated Alton and Forsyth. The latter succeeded him in the care of Chelsea Garden. Mr. Miller's great age and in- firmities, together with other circumstances to which allusion has already been made, induced him to resign the office of Gardener a short time before his death, which took place at Chelsea, on the 18th December, 1771. He left a very large Herbarium of exotic plants, collected principally from the Chelsea Garden, and this valuable collection was purchased by Sir Joseph Banks. Mr. Miller was never a rich man, and he left
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
85
very little money, for he was of too generous and careless a disposition to accumulate wealth. He had, however, suflB.cient opportunities of doing so, for, besides the profits of his published works, he was consulted by various noblemen and gentlemen on the subjects of planting, laying out grounds, &c. ; particularly by the three noble Dukes of Bedford, JSTorthumberland, and Rich- mond. The small retiring pension awarded to him by the Society of Apothecaries, to which he was amply entitled by his long and dis- tinguished services,' must have been enjoyed by him for a very brief period indeed, for it was granted in 1770, and he died in 1771.
A small genus of plants of the Natural Order of Compositse, and discovered at Panama and Vera Cruz, is called Milleria, this name having been given to it by Linneeus, in honour of Mr. Miller.
Dr. Pulteney says that Mr. Miller was the only person he ever knew who remembered having seen Mr. Ray, and that he should not easily forget the pleasure which enlightened his countenance when he related the fact; it so strongly expressed the " Yirgilium tantiim vidi," when, in speaking of that revered man, Miller referred to this incident of his youth.
Philip Miller married the sister of Ehret, the
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MEMOIES OF THE
famous Botanical Painter, and had two sons, Philip and Charles. The former, after having worked some years under his father, went to the East Indies, where he died. The latter, Charles, was educated at Chelsea, and was ap- pointed by Dr. Walker, the Founder of the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, as his first Curator. After remaining some years at Cam- bridge, he also went to the East Indies, whence he returned after many years with an ample fortune, and became a resident in London. He was a good Botanist, and there are some papers, written by him, in the Philosophical Trans- actions. He died October 6th, 1817, at the age of seventy-eight, and was buried at Chelsea in the same grave with his father.
Nearly half a century subsequent to the decease of Philip Miller, the Members of the Linnsoan and Horticultural Societies, sensible of his great talents, determined, very highly to their honour, to leave some record of his merit, and to make it extensively known by erecting a monument to his memory, the expense of which memorial was to be defrayed by a private subscription among themselves.
This project was accordingly carried into execution, and a monument was erected, not immediately over the place of his interment, the
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
87
situation of wliicli would not conveniently admit it, but in a more conspicuous part of the cliurcli- yard. It is a Cenotaph in the pillar form, the pedestal being circular, and the upper part surmounted by an urn enriched with foliage ; and the whole is surrounded with an iron railing.
On the pedestal is the following inscription :
PHILIP MILLEE, sometime Curator of the Botanick Garden, Chelsea ;
and Author of the Gardener's Dictionary, died December 18th, 1771, aged 80, and was buried on the iN^orth side of this Church-yard, in a spot now covered by a Stone inscribed with his i^^ame. The FeUows of the Linnsean and Horticultural Societies of London, in grateful Eecollection of the eminent Services rendered to the Sciences of Botany and Horticulture by his Industry and Writings, have caused this Monument to be erected to his Memory, A.D. 1815.
In the summer of this year, it was agreed, 1771 with the consent of the Water-Bailiff on the part of the City of London as Conservators of
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MEMOIRS OF THE
the river, to embank tlie Garden towards tlie Thames, and tliis embankment was carried into effect at an expense exceeding 400Z. The first brick of this work was laid on the 7th of June, in the presence of the Committee, by John Lisle, Esq., Master of the Society, who placed under it two pieces of his Majesty's coin of the present year. This embankment was designed only in order to recover ground which had originally belonged to the Garden, but had in process of time been washed away by the river.
In the spring of this year Mr. William Hudson resigned the ojBSice of Demonstrator of Plants. Mr. Stanesby Alchorne, a Member of the Society, and Assay Master of his Majesty's Mint, was requested to supply his place, and kindly undertook the duty, ad interim, until another person should be elected. It was at the same time recommended to him to intro- duce a more scientific method at the Botanical Lectures than had been previously practised.
Mr. William William Hudson was a man whose rank as Hudson, ^ Botanist was too high to allow him to be
passed over in silence in these memoirs.
He was born at Kendal, in the county of
Westmoreland, about the year 1732. He served
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89
his apprenticesliip with, an Apothecary in Panton Street, whom he afterwards succeeded in business. The amiable and learned Benja- min Stillingfleet was his early friend in the study of Natural History, and directed his attention to the writings of Linnseus with such, effect that Hudson may be justly considered as having; been one of the earliest Linnsean Botanists in England, and he was probably the first author in this country who embraced that system, Philip Miller having adopted it subsequently.
Hudson's "Flora Anglica" was first published in 1762 in one volume, and a second edition in two volumes appeared in 1778. The elegant Preface to the first edition is said to have been from the pen of Stillingfleet.
The book is entitled " Gulielmi Hudsoni, Ilegi93 Societatis Socii et Pharmacopoeii Londi- nensis, Plora Anglica; exhibens Plantas per Regnum Britannige sponte crescentes, distributas secundum Systema Sexuale, cum Differentiis Specierum, Synonymis Auctorum, Nominibus Incolarum, Solo Locorum, Tempore Florendi, Officinalibus Pharmacopoeiorum." (The English Flora of William Hudson, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Apothecary of London ; describing the Plants growing wild in the Kingdom of
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MEMOIRS OP THE
Britain, and arranged according to the Sexual System ; together with the Differences of the Species, the Synonyms of Authors, the Names given by the Inhabitants, the Soil of the Localities, the Time of Flowering, and the Officinal Plants of Apothecaries.) This title sufficiently indicates the contents of the book, which is very creditable to Mr. Hudson's learn- ing and to his practical skill as a Botanist. It is written altogether in Latin, with the exception of giving the English names of the plants. In the arrangement of the materials Hudson acknowledges his obligations to the Synopsis of Ray, and he states in his Preface, that if the Science of Botany had received no additions since the times of that great Naturalist, nothing more would be wanted for distinguishing British plants except a new edition of his Synopsis, which, as Hudson remarks, was then out of print. But he goes on to say, " exortum est his diebus novum sidus, quod orbi Botanico lucem afPudit ne in somnis quidem antea visam : magnus scilicet ille Linnaeus, qui partes planta- rum minutissimas, vel prius neglectas, vel non omnino observatas in conspectum producendo, plene illustrando, et rite nominando fiinda- mentum jecit nov93 methodo simplici, com- pendiosae, certse : quam et constantia plane
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
91
admiranda toti regno vegetabili adlmc cog- nito feliciter applicuit." (A new star has arisen in our days wliich lias shed a light, not before seen even in dreams, on the Botanical world; namely that great Linnseus, who, by bringing to view, by fully illustrating, and by correctly naming, the most minute parts of plants which had either been previously neglected or had never been observed, has laid the foundation for a new and simple, concise, and certain method, which he has happily applied, with an admirable consistency, to the wbole vegetable kingdom hitherto known.)
The method of Linnseus is therefore followed in all respects by Hudson in his " Flora Anglica," the plants being all arranged in the Linn83an classes and orders. The cultivation of indi- genous Botany had long been a favourite pursuit in England before Hudson's time, and the "Flora Anglica" was no doubt a welcome addition to the existing knowledge of the subject. The descriptions are very clear, the collection of synonyms is very copious, the places of growth of the different plants are carefully indicated, and references to the Pharmacopoeia are given in the case of the medicinal plants. More than half of the second volume (in the second edition) is occupied by the Cryptogamic Plants, com-
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MEMOIRS OF THE
prising the Ferns (Filices), the Mosses (Musci), tlie Sea Weeds (Algge), and tlie Mushrooms (Fungi) ; and this part of the work must have been a very difficult task, the accurate descrip- tions, definitions, and distinctions of these forms of vegetation involving some very laborious problems, even in the present day. It cannot therefore be a matter of surprise that Hudson admits in his Preface that the Cryptogamic class was in his time an obscure one, and had caused him very great trouble. (Classis Cryp- togamia, quae ad hsec usque tempora, quantum scio, obscura manet, et mihi plurimum molesti^ creavit.)
This publication gave Mr. Hudson consider- able reputation as a Botanist, both at home and abroad. He had formed some very valuable connexions among the cultivators of Natural History, and was the correspondent of Linnaeus, Haller, and other eminent foreign Physicians and Naturalists. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on the 5th of November, 1761. He took an active part in the affairs of the Society -of Apothecaries, particularly as one of the Committee for the management . of Chelsea Garden, and in 1765 he was ap- pointed Pr^fectus Horti and Botanical Demon- strator to the Society, but he resigned those
BOTANIC GAKDEN AT CHELSEA.
93
offices in 1771. In tlie winter of 1783 his lionse and the greater part of his valuable treasures were destroyed by fire, which was generally believed to have been caused de- signedly by a servant who knew of a consider- able sum of money which Hudson had received a day or two before. Being at the time uninsured, his loss was very great, and it was not only severely felt by a man of his limited resources, but the calamity at the same time defeated a project he had entertained of pub- lishing a Fauna Britannica, for which he had long been collecting materials.
After the fire he removed to Jermyn Street, and, having retired from practice, and having never married, he resided with Mr. and Mrs. Hole, the latter of whom was the daughter of the gentleman to whose business he succeeded. In 1791 he became a Member of the Linnsean Society. He died in Jermyn Street on the 23rd of May, 1793, and was buried in St. James's Church, Piccadilly. He bequeathed to the Apothecaries' Society his dried specimens of plants. A rather rare genus of plants belong- ing to the Natural Order of Oistacese, was named Hudsonia by LinnsBus in honour of Mr. Hudson.
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At the recommendation of tlie Committee, the two northern cedar-trees, being in a de- cayed state, were cut down, together with several hme and elm-trees, and some others in the officinal quarter, which were consi- dered injurious to the growth of the other plants for which the Garden was more par- ticularly designed. Such a number, however, were left as were esteemed consistent with the beauty, well-being, and ornament of the whole Garden.
During the present and following year a great interchange of exotic plants took place between the Society and the following Noble- men, Gentlemen, and others ; namely, from H.R.H. the Princess Dowager's Garden at Kew ; His Grace the Duke of Northumber- land's at Sion; Mr. Ord's at Walham Green; Dr. William Pitcairn's at Islington ; Mr. Gor- don's Nursery Garden at Mile End ; Mr. Lee's Nursery Garden at Hammersmith ; Mr. Wat- son's Nursery Garden at Islington; Dr. John Pother gill's Garden at Upton ; the Pt. Hon. the Earl of Coventry's ; Richard Warner's, Esq., at Woodford ; Mr. Bewicke's at Clapham. A bag of seeds was presented by Joseph Banks, Esq., and Dr. Solander.
It may be recorded as a circumstance of some
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95
interest, that the produce and value of the two cedar-trees which had been cut down were, of the trunks 133f feet at 2s. 8d. per foot, and of the boughs, 84f feet at Is. M. per foot, amount- ino- altoo-ether to the value of 2dl. 9s. 8d. The
CD o
two remaining cedar-trees, with their stately branches meeting together, formed for many years a conspicuous object as seen from the river, but as has before been mentioned, one of them has lately died and the other is dying (1878).
Mr. Stanesby Alchorne, Honorary Demon- 1772 strator, produced the twenty dried plants which he had added to Mr. Rand's collection in the present year, agreeably to the will of the late Mrs. Rand. It must be presumed that this condition had been hitherto regularly com- plied with, though no previous notice occurs in the Minute Books concerning it. Mr. Alchorne also placed in the Garden nearly fifty new trees, particularly of the Genera Gratcegus, Mespilus, and Firms, which he presented to the Society, and the thanks of the Committee were given to him for the donation.
In addition to this donation he presented about forty tons of old stones, brought - from the Tower of London, for the purpose of raising an artificial rock, in order to cultivate those
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plants wliicli require sucli a soil, and to this rockwork was afterwards added a large quantity of flints and clialk given by Mr. John Ckandler, and also a large quantity of lava from a volcano in Iceland, presented by Joseph Banks, Esq. These materials being considered fully adequate to the purpose, the rockwork was undertaken, and was finished in the course of the summer of the following year.
It was ordered by the Court of Assistants, that each Member of the Garden Committee be allowed 2s. for coach-hire upon each attendance, and that the Committee should not exceed 220Z. per annum in the expenditure upon the Garden without the consent of the Court.
Mr. Alchorne, having officiated as Honorary Demonstrator of Plants about two years, since the resignation of Mr. Hudson, now resigned his office, and was presented with a piece of plate, value thirty guineas, as a small acknow- ledgment for his services. 1773 On the 15th of December, Mr. Wilham Curtis was elected to the vacant office of Demonstra- tor of Plants and Prsefectus Horti. The duties of this office were set forth at large by the Committee in the following terms : —
" 1st. The office of Botanical Demonstrator to this Society, is to superintend their Garden
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and Gardener, as also tlieir library, and all other matters upon their premises at Chelsea ; but with submission always to the superior direction of the General Committee for the management of the Society's Garden. His duty is to encourage and cultivate the know- ledge of Botany, as well theoretic as practical, among the students of this Society ; for which purpose, —
" 2iidly, He is to attend the Society's Garden at stated times, not less than once in every summer month (from April to September, both inclusive) to demonstrate the plants, especially in the officinal quarter, with their names and uses. The last Wednesday in each of the above months has been usually appropriated to this service, beginning at nine of the clock in the morning.
" 3rd. He is expected to make some annual excursion, for two days at least, preparatory to the Society's General Herborizing, inviting two or three of the ablest botanical members to his assistance, the intention being to collect such vegetables as are not commonly found in the environs of this metropolis, to be demonstrated by him at the meeting appointed for that, purpose, and he will receive SI. towards defray- ing the expensee of very such journey, pursuant.
H
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to the will of Mr. Eobert Loggan, a late worthy member.
" 4th. He is to accompany and conduct the Students of this Society in their search after indigenous plants, upon every day appointed for their private herborizings, which are only five in each summer ; when he is desired to use his best endeavours in preserving strict decorum among his pupils, and in directing and confining their attention solely to the intended business of the day. And as the regular lectures lately introduced on these occasions at the request of the Master and Wardens, have, on account of the times and places, appeared insufiicient for teaching accurately the elements of botanic science, it is now recommended for the de- monstrator' to consider of some more eff'ectual method of answering so desirable an end.
" 5th. He is yearly to prepare fifty dried specimens from plants, growing in the Society's Garden at Chelsea, which are to be presented to the Royal Society, by direction of the late Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., having been first approved by the Court of Assistants of this Society. Also to dry twenty other specimens, in lieu of so many plants which shall be found decayed in the collection of the late Mr. Eand, now in the library at Chelsea. These to be
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placed in tlie said Herbarium before the first day of May in every year, and there will be fifty shillings paid him for every such service, by appointment in the will of the late Mrs. Rand.
" 6th. He is to attend each private Court, at the Hall during the summer months, to give his advice (if required) relative to the private herborizings ; as likewise to be present at the several meetings of the General Committee for managing the Garden, where it has been custom- ary for him to act as Secretary. And in this capacity it is earnestly recommended to him to cultivate an extensive botanical correspondence, both at home and abroad ; and to keep copies of the same, as the most probable means for propagating the knowledge of this science ; for enlarging and improving the Garden under his inspection ; and for promoting the interest and honour of this Society in general."
These instructions were directed to be entered in the General Order Book at Chelsea, and a copy of them was to be delivered to Mr. Curtis for his private inspection. The Beadle of the Society was likewise ordered to give proper notice to the Demonstrator of every intended meeting of the Committee. During the present year various donations of seeds and plants were
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received from several of the nablemen and gentlemen before mentioned ; and also from Dr. Young, of St. Vincent's ; Captain Blake (seeds transmitted from his son in China) ; Dr. Hope, of Edinburgh; Mr. Malcolm, af Kennington ; Mr. Daniel Mildred.
Mr. Curtis' s proposal for giving lectm^es on Botany, at the HaU in Blackfriars, for the purpose of explaining systematically the Prin- cipia Botanica, was approved and recommended to be carried into effect on the first and third Wednesdays in the summer months, at nine in the morning, but, for some reason which does not now appear, this plan was not carried into effect.
774 During several days in the month af March very high tides occurred in the Thames, in con- sequence of which the water rose fifteen inches within the nursery in the Chelsea Garden, although every endeavour was made to prevent the effects of the accident by damming up the gates and by making trenches to carry off the water.
Mr. Forsyth, the Gardener, having complained that his salary was insufficient, the Committee proposed to recommend to the Court of Assist- ants, that, in order to augment it, he be allowed to dispose of supernumerary specimens of plants,
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101
under proper restrictions, for Ms own benefit, and this arrangement was accordingly permitted. Sucli a permission, however, is of so objection- able a nature, that it is difficult to conceive how the managers could have been induced to sanc- tion it.
The subjoined statement of the expenses of 1775 the Garden, from the year 1741 to the pre-- sent year, is copied from a paper drawn up by Mr. John Field, an active and intelligent member of the Society in this and otber depart- ments.
From this statement it will appear that the average annual charge, exclusive of the extra- ^ ordinary expenses of those years in which, important repairs or erections were made, did not exceed 240L This calculation will be applicable only to the first thirty years of this period, subsequently to which tbe annual charge was rapidly increasing.
1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747
£> s. d.
289 14 1
195 12 5
355 1 9
238 4 11
163 19 11
212 1 0
245 19 7
Eepairs £196
£1700 13 8
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1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754
1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761
1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768
1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775
d. 9 7 1
£ 6.
388 6 221 10 234 11 210 19 11 202 19 4 322 18 7 200 16 11
L s. 197 17
213 6 278 14
1
4
219 215 252 10 233 16
£j s. 204 19 256 15 240 13 195 15 221 17 226 9 322 10
Total amount in thirty-five years
383 291 15 306 4 339 13
d.
3 8 4 9 3 9 0
£ s. d. 282 11 11 269 5 6 917 16 2
Eepairs XI 75
£1782 3 2
d.
4 7 5 5 8 5 6
£1610 11 4
£1669 1 0
£2790 9 1 . £9552 18
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The very large expenditure of the year 1771 arose from the expense of embankment, and other extra charges connected with this work, as well as from necessary repairs.
The Court of Assistants directed that every 1776 Member of that Court, who had served the office of Master, be a standing Member of the Garden Committee, and that each Member of that Committee be allowed 5*. for every attendance.
Mr. Forsyth, the Gardener, having complained of the insecurity and inconvenience of his resi- dence, the Committee were directed to examine into the subject and to consider what altera- tions might be made to improve the building; upon which an estimate was presented of such improvements as appeared necessary, amounting to 87^., exclusive of iron work. This estimate was adopted, and the alterations were carried into effect ; and to the expense incurred there was afterwards added 91. for rebuilding two decayed buttresses in the green-house.
On the 27th of August, Mr. William Curtis 1777 resigned his office of Botanic Demonstrator, and on the 18th of March following Mr. Thomas 1778 Wheeler, F.L.S. was appointed to succeed him, with an additional allowance of 21. for the July Herborizing excursion.
The merits of the former Demonstrator, as
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a Botanist, justly demand some biographical tribute to his memory, and the following record will be read with satisfaction by all cultivators of botanical science. William William Curtis was born at Alton, in Hamp- Ciutis. shire, in the year 1746, His father was a tanner in that town, and in the vicinity of it young Curtis received his education, which was of a very hmited nature. He was placed as an ap- prentice to his grandfather, who practised as an Apothecary in the same place. He was early led into the study of Botany in the following rather curious manner. He happened to be residing next to the Crown Inn at Alton, the ostler of which, John Lagg, a steady and sober man, had acquired, by means of the well-known works of Parkinson and Gerarde, a considerable knowledge of plants ; and his taste in this direction so forcibly impressed the mind of young Curtis, as to lay the foundation for a development in the latter of that love of Natm-al History which afterwards made him so de- servedly conspicuous. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he came to the metropolis, and entered into the service of Mr. Thomas Talwyn, a medical practitioner in Gracechurch Street. Mr. Talwyn was a Member of the Society of Eriends, to which religious persuasion the
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
105
parents of Curtis also belonged. After some time tlie latter succeeded his employer in business, but his botanical pursuits interfered too much with professional duties to allow him to obtain an extensive medical practice, for which there is reason to believe he was otherwise well qualified.
The oflB.ce of Demonstrator of Botany to the Society of Apothecaries being vacant in the year 1773, Mr. Curtis, who had obtained the favour- able opinion of many persons eminent for their knowledge of Natural History, and among the rest Mr. Alchorne, was strongly recommended to the Society by that gentleman as a proper candidate to fill up the vacancy, and he was ac- cordingly elected to the ofl&ce, having previously been admitted a Member of the Society. He continued in this post about five years, when his other avocations induced him to resign it. He had united to the study of Botany that of Entomology, and in 1771 he published " Instructions for the collecting and preserving Insects," and, in the following year, a transla- tion of Linnaeus' s Fundamenta Entomologise.
Soon after his appointment as Botanical Demonstrator to the Society of Apothecaries, he commenced lecturing publicly on Botany, both as to the principles and practice of that science. For the use of his pupils at these
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MEMOIRS OP THE
lectures, he occupied a piece of ground as a garden, first in the Grange Koad, afterwards in Lambeth Marsh, and subsequently at Brompton, which last garden he continued to cultivate until his death, the soil and situation being there much more suitable to his purpose than at Lambeth. The principal object he had in view in cultivating these gardens was the growth of the indigenous plants of Britain.
In 1777 he commenced his great work the *' Flora Londinensis," which was extended to six Fasciculi, of seventy-two plants each. The author originally intended that the plan should embrace all the plants growing within ten miles of London ; and the work was conducted, so far as it went, with the greatest care and accuracy. But the sale of it, which never exceeded 300 copies, was not equal to the expense, and the undertaking was therefore necessarily abandoned, a result which in a national and scientific point of view is much to be regretted.
The full title of this work was " Flora Londi- nensis, or Plates and Descriptions of such Plants as grow wild in the Environs of London, with their Places of growth, their times of flowering, their several names according to Linn^us and other authors ; with a particular description of
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
107
eacli Plant in Latin and English, to which are added their several uses in Medicine, Agricul- ture, Rural Economy, and other Arts. By William Curtis, Demonstrator of Botany to the Company of Apothecaries. In 6 yols., Lon- don, 1777."
These handsome volumes are in the highest degree creditable to the botanical acquirements of Mr. Curtis and to the skill of the artists whom he employed. The descriptions of the plants are placed opposite to the coloured plates, in parallel columns of Latin and English, and it is impossible to speak too highly, even now, after an interval of more than a hundred years, of the beauty and accuracy of the illustrations. Being executed on large folio sheets they re- present the plants, in most instances, of their natural dimensions ; the colours are as fresh and bright as if the objects were painted in the present day, and the artists have not only imitated exactly the structural peculiarities of the specimens, but they have gracefully repre- sented what may be called the natural habit of each, and the drooping, or waving, or curving, or other characters of leaves, or stems, or flowers, are all depicted with the most finished taste and skill. Although it is perhaps not to be wondered at that so expensive a work, as this
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MEMOIES OP THE
must liave been, did not receive sujOGicient pecuniary encouragement, the six volumes whicli exist constitute a splendid specimen of the botanical publications of England in the last century.
But although this undertaking failed, Mr. Curtis very happily projected another, which although it was in many respects inferior to the former, yet it was more captivating to the pub- lic at large. The " Botanical Magazine " im- mediately became popular. It commenced its existence about 1787, soon attained a monthly sale of 3000 numbers, and was steadily con- tinued until the death of the founder. Mr. Curtis had neither fortune nor patrimony, but he here found a valuable estate, although the continued produce of it depended entirely upon the regularity of publication.
After Mr. Ourtis's death, the "Botanical Magazine," was continued under the management of Dr. Sims; and after him by Sir William Hooker ; and after the death of the latter by his son, the present Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who still conducts it. 103 volumes of this valuable and popular work have already appeared, each containing from sixty to seventy plates, and the work fully sustains its former reputation.
Mr. Curtis' s friendships were very numerous,
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
109
and among liis most esteemed patrons and friends maj be enumerated the names of Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. John Sims, (who continued the " Magazine,") Dryander, "Withering, Hunter, Dickson, Sibthorp, and Lightfoot.
Besides the published works already men- tioned there are several minor publications of his, as also some papers in the Transactions of the Linnjean Society. A large tree, growing in Africa, from which the Hottentots and Caffres make the shafts of their javelins, is named after him Gurtisia.
Mr. Curtis laboured for nearly a twelvemonth before his death under a disease of the chest, which put a period to his life on the 7th of July, 1799, in the 63rd year of his age. He was buried at Battersea, and left behind him the character of an excellent Botanist, both practi- cal and theoretical, an honest and friendly man, a lively, entertaining companion, and a good teacher, always ready to encourage novices, and to render the science of Botany as attractive as possible.
During this summer, above 100 packets of seeds were presented to the Apothecaries' Society from Joseph Banks, Esq. (afterwards Sir Joseph Banks), and Dr. Ryan of Santa Croix.
110 MEMOIES OF THE
Tlie sum of 25Z. was paid to Mr. Forsyth, as an indemnity for the expenses he had incurred from the bad state of his apartments.
1779 The little stove in the Garden being too much decayed to be capable of repair, a new one with several improvements was built, the estimated expense being 491. lis. lOd.
1780 The Committee for the management of the Garden were allowed to expend 6L for refresh- ments at each of their meetings. It was likewise ordered that they do not exceed 2501. in the expenses of the Garden for the ensuing year.
1781 The liberal benefactor of the Society, Sir Joseph Banks, who is said to have commenced his botanical studies in the Garden under the tuition of the venerable Philip Miller, presented more than 500 different kinds of seeds, collected in his recent voyage round the globe. Mr. Alexander Anderson also presented above 100 packets of seeds from St. Lucia.
1782 The Committee reported to the Court of Assistants, that they had considered Mr. For- syth's plan for reducing the charges of the Garden, and found, that, if adopted, it would not save more than thirty or forty pounds annually, and as they considered the main- tenance of the Garden in a respectable manner to be necessary for the honour of the Society,
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
Ill
they judged it right to propose some plan of augmenting the income of the Corporation in order to enable them better to support this expense. This object they thought would be best attained by charging the rents, paid by the two commercial stocks, with such a certain annual proportion of their profits as might be a reasonable compensation for the lands and other advantages enjoyed by them from the Cor- poration, and which payment, varying according to the profit of each year, would be more equit- able than a fixed annual sum. This plan was approved by the Court of Assistants, and the Clerk of the Society was ordered to give the necessary information to the Managers of the Navy and Laboratory Stocks.
From subsequent proceedings it appears that this scheme, though approved by the Court on the behalf of the JSTavy Stock, was not agreed to either by the Committee or by the pro- prietors of the Laboratory Stock. These two latter consented only to add 25?. per annum to their allowance for the Garden, which proposal, after being considered by the Court, was declined.
Mr. Thomas Wheeler, the Botanical Demon- 1784 strator, commenced a series of lectures at tlxe Hall, on the Principles of Botany, and carried
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them on for about two years, but as lie did not meet with due encouragement in tbe attendance of pupils tliej were tlien discontinued.
Mr. William Forsytb, tbe Gardener, gave in his resignation in the spring of this year, in consequence of having been appointed to a similar situation in His Majesty's Garden at Kensington. He received the thanks of the Committee for his great care of the Garden while he was in the Society's service. • ^^^^^^ Wilham Forsyth, F.A.S. and L.S. was born at Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, in the year 1737, and came to London in 1763, when he became a pupil of Philip Miller in the Garden of the Apothecaries' Society. He succeeded his instructor in his oJQ&ce of Gardener, in 1771, having been some time before that period in the service of the Duke of jN^orthumberland at Sion. He continued, until his death, July 25th, 1804, to occupy the post of Chief Superintendent of the Royal Gardens at Kensington and St. James's.
Mr. Forsyth, having for many years given attention to the cultivation of fruit and forest trees, and to the diseases and injuries to which they are liable, succeeded in preparing a composition which was calculated to remedy those evils. In 1789, the success of his
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 113
experiments attracted the notice of the Com- missioners of the Land Revenue, and in consequence of their recommendation he obtained a Parliamentary reward for his discovery. Though the originality of his invention was doubted in some quarters, and occasioned considerable controversy, yet the issue of the inquiries made was upon the whole favourable to him. He published in 1791 his " Observations on the Diseases, Defects, and Injuries of Fruit and Forest Trees," and in 1802 the final result of his labours appeared in a " Treatise^ on the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees," which was sufficiently esteemed to pass through three editions in a very short time. A genus of plants, belonging to the Natural Order of Oleace^e, is named Forsythia after this botanist.
The Committee for Chelsea Garden being at this time composed of Members of the Court of Assistants only, it was judged that the addition of some members of the Livery would be useful,, and three of the latter body were accordingly appointed on the Committee.
Mr. John Fairbairn was elected to the office of Gardener, and he was directed to make the apartments over the green-house his residence,
I
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MEMOIRS OF THE
and he was requested to comply witli tlie rules and directions for his conduct which were then read to him.
1785 Some considerable repairs were carried into effect during this summer, particularly the new slating of the green-house, repairing the glass- work of the various lights, and also the Gardener's apartments, the expense of all which amounted to about 140^. The tan- stove also being greatly decayed, a new one was erected in its place upon the most improved plan, at an estimated charge of 180Z.
In consequence of this- great expense, and the numerous reparations now required for the various buildings in the Garden, the propriety of asking assistance from the Society at large was taken into consideration ; when it was resolved that a subscription for that purpose should be opened forthwith. This determi- nation was communicated to the Members at the usual Common Hall held in the month of October, and being approved, it was acted upon accordingly.
It is a most gratifying feature in the history of the Garden, that the Members of the Society have stepped forward with the utmost alacrity, on every occasion when pecuniary exertions were necessary for the support of this valuable
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
115
establishment. Their zeal and energy were at no time more conspicuous than at the present time, for in the following summer the Court of 1786 Assistants were informed that the subscription for the Garden had been so successful as to amount to 539L 19.9., and that, after discharging the several workmen's bills, the remainder had been sufficient to purchase 530Z. in the 4 per cent. Bank Annuities, as a fund for future buildings.
To facilitate the free admission of Members of the Society into their Botanic Garden, and to enable the Gardener and his servants to distinguish such Members from strangers, an engraved card suitably ornamented, and en- dorsed by the Master and Wardens for the time being, was directed to be given to every present and future Member, to which document the Gardener and his servants were to pay due regard : but it was understood that all persons visiting the Garden were to be attended by the Gardener, or one of his servants, and that the plants should not be taken away or damaged.
A quantity of loam was procured for the use 1787 of the Garden from Sion, with the consent of the Duke of ISTorthumberland, and several loads of black mould from Wimbledon, with the approbation of Earl Spencer.
T ^
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1789 Two new stoves were erected in the Garden at an estimated expense of 176L lis.
1790 Several donations of seeds were received this year from the following gentlemen ; namely, Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. ; James Edward Smith, M.D. ; Mr. James Dixon, of the British Museum ; Wilham Pitcairn, M.D. ; Professor Jacquin, of Vienna; Mr. Hare, St. James's Street; Mr. Chapman, at Mr. Secretary Stephens, Fulham; Mr. William Hudson ; Commodore Gardner, of the Admiralty.
It was now proposed to erect two new tan- pits in front of the little tan-stove, and new glass cases in the room of the old tan-pits now fallen into decay. This proposal was approved by the Committee, but as they desired to pro- ceed with caution, they directed that only one of them should be built at present, in order that they might have the opportunity of ascertaining the efficiency of one, before they incurred the expense of both, which would amount to about
1791 101. This first erection gave so much satisfac- tion that in the following year the plan was completed by the addition of the second tan-pit.
1792 A new dry stove was erected at the west end of the green-house, in the room of the old one, which was in a ruinous state. The estimated expense was 170L, 9s. exclusive of
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
117
the cliarge of 121. for a leaden cistern to be placed in it.
The following valuable donations are recorded 1793 in the present year ; namely, Commodore Gard- ner, seeds from Port Jackson and Norfolk Island; Dr. James Edward Smith, bulbs and seeds from Sierra Leone ; Robert Sherson, Esq ; seeds from Port Jackson; Dr. Buxton, bulbs ind seeds from the Cape of Good Hope; Mr. Willis, seeds from Africa; Mr. Salisbury, of Leeds, seeds from Madrid ; Mr. Dixon, of Covent Garden, seeds from Germany,
The salary of theBotanic Demonstrator, which 1796 had been for many years B71. 10s., was increased to 4ibl. 10s. per annum,
Mr. John Tutton, the proprietor of the wall on the south-west boundary of the Garden, hav- ing agreed to cede his right to that wall for the term of seventy-two years in consideration of the Society paying the expense of rebuilding it, amounting to 61. 12s., his proposal was acceded to, under the advice of the Society's Solicitor, and on the 22nd June, 1797, the Corporation seal was affixed to the Lease.
Some encroachment appears in this year to 1801 have been made on the Barge-house, which, how- ever, must have been of a very trivial nature, for it was ordered at a Court of Assistants
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(30tli January) that 2s. 6d. should be paid for this encroachment, and the matter was settled. 1804 Two new water-troughs Hned with lead, for the cultivation of aquatic plants, were provided at a cost of 24Z., and placed in a convenient part of the Garden near the centre.
1806 The dried plants bequeathed to the Society by the late Mr. William Hudson, were presented to Mr. Thomas Wheeler, the Demonstrator.
The two Barge-houses were let on Lease to the Goldsmiths' Company for twenty-one years at the net annual rent of 101. for each Barge- house, the tenants to make all repairs and altera- tions at their own expense.
1807 It was directed by the Committee, that no person be allowed to borrow any book fi^om the Library without their leave, and that no book be retained longer than three months, and the Library was to be annually inspected at the Committee meeting in the month of August.
1808 Lord Yalentia was permitted to be supplied with plants of the true Ginger (Amomum Zinzi- her), Turmeric (Curcuma longa)^ and Arrow Root {Maranta arundinacea).
1809 In this year the cedar-trees were much damaged by the heavy falls of snow which took place during the previous winter. Several rare plants were presented by James Vere, Esq.,
BOTANIO GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
119
from the collection in his Garden at Kensing- ton Gore.
It was now ordered that the regular meet- 1810 ings of the Garden Committee be held in the months of April, June, August, and September.
In accordance with a recommendation of the 1811 Committee, it was ordered by the Court of Assistants, that each Member of the Society pay in future ten shillings and sixpence annually towards the support of the Garden, instead of six shillings as heretofore. The former sum is still (1878) paid annually by every Member of the Society.
In the month of December died Mr. John 1814 Fairbairn, who had held the office of Gardener upwards of thirty years. His great age and consequent infirmities had occasioned some neglect in the management of the Garden during the latter years of his life, and the consequences were very detrimental to the well-being of the establishment. The Court of Assistants determined to be influenced in the appointment of a successor solely by the merits of the respective candidates.
Sir Joseph Banks, and Sir James Edward Smith, having honoured the Court with letters, recommending Mr. William Anderson, at that time principal gardener to James Yere, Esq.,
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MEMOIES OF THE
as a person eminently qualified to fill the office of Gardener, lie was elected accordingly, with a salary of lOOZ. per annum and the usual apart- ments for his residence. At the same time, a pension of 40Z. per annum was given to the widow of the late Gardener, with permission, by Mr. Anderson's consent, of her continuing in her apartments, but she did not hve long to enjoy these benefits. 1815 The Garden was now in such a state as to require immediate attention, both from the great degree of dilapidation which had taken place in the different buildings, and from the long- continued neglect of cultivation. The Court of Assistants being determined to maintain the es- tabhshment with energy, prepared to adopt such measures as appeared to them best calculated to restore its former state of eminence, and even to advance it to as high a rank in the scale of exotic gardening as the improved state of that art would require.
Mr. Anderson, the Gardener, having been desired to give his opinion as to the best methods to be adopted for this purpose, recom- mended the following alterations ; namely, that the old building immediately behind Sir Hans Sloan e's statue, which had long ceased to be useful even as a tool-house, be pulled down,
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
121
and the materials of it employed in erecting a room behind the little green-house, for the under- gardeners to sleep in, in which situation the apartment would be particularly useful to them, being near the flues, which, in the winter season, require the constant attention of one man during the night. That the flues in the several houses in the Garden, being badly constructed, be rebuilt on an improved principle, which would cause a considerable saving in the article of coal. That a pump be fixed in the Garden for a supply of Thames water, spring water being found to be injurious to plants. That the internal Garden formerly employed for culinary uses be appropriated to the purposes of Instructive Horticulture, a branch of Botanical Science which may be made very useful to society.
These recommendations obtained the appro- bation of the Committee, and, together with a general repair of the buildings, were directed to be carried into immediate effect.
The funds of the Society, however, being con- sidered inadequate to accomplish these exten- sive designs in a suitable manner, a subscription among the Members was again proposed, and with the usual readiness was agreed to, accord- ing to the subjoined scale of payment ; namely,
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MEMOIES OP THE
£ s. d.
Members of the Court of Assistants, each . .330
„ of the Livery 2 2 0
„ of the Yeomanry . . . .110
The total sum raised by these Subscriptions was 494Z. 2s,
About this time, the Horticultural Society of London, being desirous to obtain and naturalise, as far as the climate would permit, all the culti- vated varieties of vegetables employed as human food and as condiments, were anxious to possess the use of a garden to enable them to raise and increase all such rare and improved esculent plants and fruits as their extensive intercourse promised to supply, and which they proposed should be gratuitously distributed.
They therefore made the following proposal to the Court of Assistants ; namely, that they might be allowed to use a part of the Physic Garden for the above purpose, under the entire government of the Court of Assistants and under the direction of their principal Gardener. They were ready to pay all the expenses attending the plan, together with the charge of an assistant Gardener.
The Committee, having maturely considered this proposal, declined accepting it on the terms above mentioned, but at the same time they expressed their readiness to direct any experi-
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 123
ments to be made by their Gardener, in the science of Horticultural Gardening, upon ap- phcation being made to them for that purpose. A part of the Garden, near the river, was consequently employed in promoting this design, which was carried out by planting various fruit- trees and esculent vegetables.
In consequence of a representation made to the Lord Mayor, by the Clerk of the Society, as to various depredations made on the shore before the wall of the Garden, the Water Bailiff examined into the complaint, and engaged that no further encroachment should take place.
The superintendence and direction of the great 1816 improvements and repairs which had lately been carried out, having devolved chiefly on William Simons, Esq., Upper Warden, the thanks of the Committee were given to him for his judicious and economical application of the moneys so liberally contributed by the Members of the Society, in the construction of the dif- ferent hot-houses, flues, &c., in the Garden. The total amount of money expended in these repairs, alterations, and new erections, was 574Z. 13s. lOd.
The ordinary expenditure of the Garden this 1817 year was, 535Z. 85. 11c?.
The Barge-house lately occupied by the 1818
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MEMOIRS OF THE
Society for tlieir own use, being no longer required for that purpose, was let on lease to Mr. Lyall, of tlie Swan Brewhouse, for twenty- one years, from Micliaelmas 1818, at a rent of 10/. per annum. Tliat gentleman was permitted to open a window overlooking tlie Society's Gar- den, on paying annually 5^. for this privilege, and signing an agreement to stop it up, whenever required to do so, by a previous notice of three months. It appeared afterwards that the wall of this Barge-house was in so ruinous a state, in consequence of a common sewer running close to, and forming a part of it, that consider- able repairs were necessary to be done to the wall. These repairs were therefore executed at the expense of the Society.
The Commissioners of Sewers having been applied to, and being requested to direct the course of the sewer to be altered in order to avoid future injury to the building, they gave directions accordingly. The expenditure of the Garden this year was 505/. 5^. Sd., according to the subjoined statement.
Labourers' Wages Gardener's Salary Sundry Bills Ground Eent Taxes
Committee Expenses
£ s. d.
130 15 6
100 0 0
158 10 4
5 0 0
63 6 2
47 13 3
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125
Writing in the year 1820, Mr. Field, in 1820 reference to tlie tenure on which the Garden is held by the Society of Apothecaries, states that by the deed of conveyance from Sir Hans Sloane, two thousand plants were required to be presented to the Royal Society (see p. 37), but that this condition had been long before fulfilled. A much larger number, he proceeds to state, had been given than the condition demanded, but it was not easy to ascertain when the presentation ceased.
By an extract from the minutes of the Royal Society, furnished by William Thomas Brande, Esq.,^ one of their Secretaries, it would appear that the last presentation of plants took place on the 17th February, 1774, being the 51st annual presentation, the whole amounting in all to 2550 plants. It is perfectly certain that the plants were presented long subsequently to that time, but the delivery must either have taken place at irregular periods, or if otherwise, the minute books of the Society of Apothecaries have not regularly noticed it. The last
^ Professor Brande, D.C.L., F.E.S., the distinguished chemist, the friend and colleague of Sir Humphry Davy, and predecessor and afterwards colleague of Faraday ; a Member of the Society of Apothecaries, of which he held in due time the office of Master, and in which he occupied for a long seiie^ of years the Professorship of Chemistry and Materia Medica.
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MEMOIRS OP THE
presentation of fifty plants, mentioned in tliose minutes, is in October 1794, the last preceding that being in October 1791. The entries of former years appear to have been equally irregular.
The former respected Editor of these Memoirs, Mr. Henry Field, in drawing his work to a con- clusion in the year 1820, offers a general view of the state and condition of the Garden at that period. He comments upon the many dif- ficulties in its management which the Society of Apothecaries had been from time to time called upon to surmount, and the repeated struggles made in various ways to maintain even the very existence of the Garden ; and he expresses his gratification at the eminent position which the establishment at Chelsea then occupied. It had within a few years revived from circumstances of great depression, and indeed from a state almost bordering on dissolution, and had at last attained a degree of reputation as a scientific undertaking which the warmest aspirations of its most cordial supporters could have scarcely anticipated. He attributes, and with justice, its flourishing condition to the steady support it had always received from the Society of Apothecaries, and he bestows a warm tribute of
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
127
praise on tlie skilful managoment of tlie Gardener, Mr. Anderson.
A considerable number of new plants, he says, liave been introduced, and many thousands of seeds sown in the Grarden within the few years since Mr. Anderson's appointment. Various improvements suggested by him have been already mentioned, and, in addition to these, the employment of sand as a medium of conveying warmth to the plants, instead of tan bark, had given promise of a permanent improve- ment, as a means of producing a more equable diffusion of heat, and at the same time causing a diminution of expense, both of which are important desiderata in exotic gardening.
In previous pages due credit has been accorded to the merits of the officials, who, in the respective capacities of Manager, or of Prsefectus Horti and Botanical Demonstrator, or as Gardener, up to the period at which we have now arrived, had presided over the cultiva- tion of the Plants, or promoted the advance- ment of Botanical knowledge ; but it may not be superfluous to repeat that the names of James Petiver, James Sherard, Isaac Rand, Phihp Miller, Joseph Miller, William Hudson, William Curtis, and William Forsyth, will always be memorable no less in the annals of
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MEMOIRS OF THE
horticultural and botanical science in general, than in the history of the rise and progress of the Botanic Garden at Chelsea. Nearly all these gentlemen are immortalised in the scien- tific world by the plants which bear theii* names, and the genera, Petiveria, Sherardia, Randia, Milleria, Hudsonia, Curtisia, and Forsythia will perpetuate to future generations the memory of the men who in various capacities have directed the progress of this Garden.
To another distinguished Botanist, who now appears as a veteran actor on the scene, Mr. Thomas Wheeler, the former Editor offers his well-merited tribute of admiration and re- spect ; and to Mr. Wheeler and to others who have succeeded him as Officers of the Garden, the ensuing pages will in due course refer, to such an extent as the limited space of the present work will admit, and in such language as pub- lished or private records, aided in many respects by personal recollection, may supply.
In the year 1820, Mr. Wheeler had already filled for upwards of forty years the offices of Prsefectus Horti and Botanical Demonstrator, and Mr. Field truly observes that in knowledge of practical Botany, and in the kind and familiar manner in which he communicated information to the students of the Society, he had been
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 129
excelled by none of his predecessors, and had probably been equalled by few. For the truth of this eulogy Mr. Field thinks it only necessary to appeal to a great proportion of the then existing members of the Society who had been Mr. Wheeler's pupils, many of whom were good botanists, and who readily acknowledged the advantages they had gained from his instruction. Mr. Wheeler lived for many years after these passages were written, and there are many members hving in the present day who can amply vouch for their justice and truth.
The plan of instruction in Botany in the Chelsea Garden at the period now referred to, was for the Demonstrator to discourse in the open air, at certain fixed periods during the summer months, to the members of the Society and their apprentices. The Medical plants were then, as they are now, arranged in systematic order in a certain part of the Garden, and the Demonstrator showed them to his pupils, explaining, as he went from bed to bed, their botanical characters, their place in the Linnaean classification, and their uses in Medi- cine. Most of the species in question are still collected together in the same part of the Gar- den, although the Linnsean classification has been replaced by the Natural Orders. At the period
K
L30
MEMOIRS OP THE
when these Memoirs first appeared (1820) the apprentices were allowed tea in the afternoons after tlie Demonstrations, which were held once a month.
In reference to a subject intimately connected with the history of the Garden and its Demon- strators and Professors, and with the efforts made by the Society of Apothecaries to promote the knowledge of Botany, the present opportunity is an appropriate one for a brief notice of the Herbo- RiziNG Excursions which for many years were conducted in the vicinity of London for the purpose of collecting and demonstrating indi- genous plants. It is almost needless to remark that the physical conditions of the metropolitan suburbs are now so entirely changed, that similar excursions in the present day would be useless or unprofitable ; while the facilities afforded by the establishment of railways have supphed a ready method of conveying naturalists to rural districts formerly in a great measure inaccessible to the majority of the inhabitants of London. But up to and for some years after the period now referred to, the suburbs of London were by no means destitute of picturesque scenery and were rich in indis:enous vesretation, and no better region could be selected, especially for the in-
BOTANIC GAKDEN AT CHELSEA.
131
struction of the botanical tyro, than the belt of country which surrounds the dwellings of our metropolitan population.
The first institution of Herborizing walks by the Society of Apothecaries was in the year 1683, at which time only one such walk was appointed to take place in each year, although other ex- cursions were made by individual members of the Society for their own instruction. These walks seem to have been established for the benefit espe- cially of the younger members of the Society and their apprentices. Thomas Johnson, the learned editor of the once-renowned " Gerard's Herbal," and a member of the Society, has left graphic accounts of some of these early excursions in some small volumes entitled " Iter in Agrum Cantianum" (1629), "Ericetum Hamstedianum" (1632), "Mercurius Botanicus, sive Plantarum gratia suscepti Itineris, anno MDOXXXIV, Descriptio," and a fourth entitled "Mercuri Botanici Pars Altera," bearing the date of 1641. These books are written in Latin, like most other scientific works of the period, the mem- bers of the Society who took part in the excur- sions calling themselves " Socii Itinerantes," and they appear to have been joined in their rambles by some of the Physicians of London and the provinces, and by others. Mr. Johnson, in his
K 2
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MEMOIRS OF THE
Mercurius Bofcanicus, after alluding to liis pre- vious excursion in Kent, relates, in his first journey, his adventures and those of his com- panions in the south-western parts of England, travelling to Reading, and thence to Bath and Bristol, on to Southampton and the Isle of Wight, and home by Portsmouth and Guildford, the whole excursion occupying twelve days. The plants found on their way are enumerated, their Latin and English names being given, and the natural features of the country are briefly described. That Mr. Johnson and the other " Socii Itinerantes " were not insensible to the influence of hospitality is sufficiently clear from the gratitude expressed for kindness received in their wanderings, and that they did not despise the good things of the table is shown by the following quotation given by the author, from Yirgil, when referring to his reception at a friend's house at Mangersfield.
" Turn dapibus mensas onerant et pocula ponunt. Postquam prima quies epulis, mensaeque remote, Crateras magnos statuunt et viiia coronant."
Which, in Mr. Johnson's sense of the passage,
may perhaps be rendered as follows : —
" Spread direction of the generous lord, A copious banquet loads the festive board, And when from solid fare the guests have ceased, With bumper cujis they crown the jovial feast."
.V
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 133
In the second excursion recorded by John- son, the travellers explored the botany of Wales, then' course being taken by Chester, a,nd thence to Flint, Carnarvon, tlie Isle of Anglesea, Bangor, and home by liudlow, Hereford, Gloucester, and Oxford. Many plants are described which did not appear in the jSrst catalogue, some being collected under some- what dangerous circumstances on the heights of Snowdon. The same pleasant style is observable in the description of the objects seen, the places visited, the persons met, and the hospitalities received. A rather amusing incident is recorded of a learned Doctor of Divinity, very fond of Botany, and who joined the other " Socii Itinerantes " at Chester, but who had been so ill-received at an inn at Stockport that, on departing in the morning, he left the following verses on the wall of his bedroom ; but as the landlord probably knew nothing of Latin, the broad hint may never have reached him.
Si mores cupias venustiores Si lectum placidum, dapes salubres, Si stunptum modicum, hospitem facetum, Ancillam nitidam, impigrmn ministrum, Hue diverte, viator dolebis. 0 Domina dignos, forma et foetore miaistros Stock-portse, si cui sordida grata, cubet,"
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MEMOIES OF THE
Which lines may be thus freely rendered : —
" If, Traveller, you seek for quiet,
An easy couch, a wholesome diet,
A landlord with a smiling mien,
A chambermaid whose face is clean.
At Stockport you will never stay
But turn your steps another way ; But if in dirt and filth your soul delights. At Stockport you may pass some pleasant nights."
A brief allusion has been made in a previous page (p. 48) to a botanical excursion made by James Sherard and Petiver. This took place in August, 1704, and the two botanists travelled in a chaise with two horses, and a servant rode a spare horse to change or put to as occasion offered. They went from London to Riverhead, thence to Sevenoaks, where they visited Dr. Fuller, author of the Pharmacopoeia Extem- p'oranea, "who entertained us," says Mr. Petiver, " with Yenison pasty and the strongest drink in the county." At Tunbridge Wells "after botanizing all day, in the evening we visited the Wells incog., then refreshed with a bottle of pretty good Madeira and a couple of large Rabbits well dressed. Next morning we visited some friends, and for an hour showed our plants publickly, dined privately about eleven, and then left to encounter a rugged road (by Ticehurst and Wadhurst) which neither coach nor chaise
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
135
had visited, it is said, in twenty years before. From such narrow ways Libera nos Domine, although, God be thanked, after many jostles and one small tumble we got safe in the evening to Brede." The account further says, "we had no opportunity of simpling" (gathering plants) "by the way, being in haste to reach our lodgings." Thence they went to Hastings, Rye, Lydd, New Romney, Sand gate Castle, Folkstone ("a base rugged town inhabited chiefly by fishermen "), Dover, Waldeshare, Knowlton, Deal, Sandwich, Isle of Thanet, Canterbury, Faversham, the Marshes near Sheppey, Rochester, and North- fleet, and so back to London. The account gives the names of the principal plants met with and the places where each plant was found. " We were in expectation of meeting Orchis flo. conglomerato, but the season was so far spent, and doubtless had we made this Yoyage a Month or two sooner we should have met with more variety of rare and curious plants .... On the Banks of the Deep way near the Gravel Pitts on Blackheath we observed Hyacinthus autumnalis in seed and the flower all gone." (Sloane MSS. 3340.)
The following letter from Mr. James Petiver to Dr. Dale (see p. 63), announces an intended herborizing excursion in company with James Sherard : —
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MEMOIRS OF THE
" Sir,
"Mr, James Sherard and I designing a Botanical Itine- rary thro' some of the Hundreds, and in hopes of y"" good company and information, he desires me to acquaint you that we intend God willing to be at Braintree on Tuesday next before noon for y^ remaining part of y^ day, when we shall steer our course in our Journey further, we designing for Suffolk, Norfolk, &c. I also give myself no small pleasure in expectation of seeing Mr. Cateshy's late acquisitions from Jamaica, and w*"^ I hope I shall he able to give you some light into, having just printed something you have not yet seen relating to y^ Trees of those parts, which I shall bring with me, who am
" S' y^ most humble Serv*,
"J. P."
It would appear that the excursions of Mr. Johnson, the details of which include the earliest local botanical catalogues pub- lished in England, gave an impulse to similar excursions for educational purposes, not only in England but in other parts of Europe, and by the most distinguished Professors, as by Bernard de Jussieu at Paris, by the celebrated Haller at Gottingen, and by Strumph at Halle, and by Linn^us himself in the vicinity of Upsala. The last-named great naturalist writes a paper on the subject in his " Amoenitates Academicse," founded on the botanical surveys he made with his students, and which were about eight in number every year. He remarks on the obvious utility of
BOTAKIO GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
137
these excursions, which afford to students opportunities of seeing plants in their native places of growth, and also of making additions to the indigenous species already ascertained.
Dr. Pultenej, the learned Editor of the " General View of the "Writings of Linnasus," refers to Thomas Johnson as the first promoter of what he calls " this laudable custom," and he alludes to the fact that the London Society of Apothecaries, after the endowment of Chelsea Garden, placed their botanical excursions under due regulations and fixed the periods for the " herborizations," and he particularly specifies the cu*cumstances under which these excursions were made, as will be described in a future page.
The herborizations instituted by Linnseus at Upsala seem to have been conducted under circumstances peculiarly advantageous to those who attended them, and a considerable degree of eclat attended the proceedings. In Linneeus's Diary we are informed that that distinguished Professor, during his summer lectures, took out with him about 200 pupils, who collected plants and insects, made observations, shot birds, kept minutes, and, after having botanised from seven o'clock in the morning until nine in the evening, every Wednesday and Saturday, returned with flowers in their hats, and accompanied their
13S
MBMOIES OF THE
leader with drums and trumpets through the city to the garden ; and several foreigners and people of distinction from Stockholm used to attend these excursions. The drums and trumpets were used on the rambles for the purpose of calling the students together, and the evening procession was a kind of triumphal one, the excursionists being loaded with natural productions collected during the day.
" It is much to be wished," remarks Dr. Pulteney, " that a recreation in all respects so rational were established in other similar places of education, as it would at least diminish the number of votaries to other amusements which involve intemperance and prodigality."
These Botanical excursions are still main- tained in almost all schools where Natural Science is taught, and they constitute an admi- rable method of making the student acquainted with the habits, the mode of growth, and the aspects of plants ; and on the principle that what is seen makes a greater impression than what is merely described, the plan is better adapted than any other mode of instruction to teach the practical details of the Science of Botany.
" Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus."
Horace.
r
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 139
The lierborizing excursions of the Society of Apothecaries were continued for the long period of two hundred years, but instead of one, as at first, the number was increased to six every year. Five of them were attended by the Apprentices of the Society, under the super- intendence of the Demonstrator ; and one of them, called the General Herborizing, was confined to the members only.^ Of the former, two were held in the month of May, one in June, one in July, and one in August, and the walks were limited to the vicinity of the metropolis ; the latter excursion was not so limited, but was extended, at the discretion of the Demonstrator, to the distance of thirty to forty or fifty miles, and generally occupied two or more days.
The object of this longer excursion was to collect a large number of indigenous plants, in- cluding those which grow near the sea, and the districts for collecting them were varied in different years. The plants so collected were exhibited on a fixed day in July to the Members of the Society, and some chosen guests, who consisted of the Office-bearers of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, and other
^ The duties of the Demonstrator at these herborizings are set forth at p. 97.
140
MEMOIRS OF THE
distinguislied visitors ; and a general descrip- tion of the nature and properties of the specimens was given by the Botanical Demon- strator, in whose duties this annual discourse was included. In former years the annual exhibition of Plants was held in some suburban hostelry, as at Blackheath, Putney, Hackney, &c., and after it had taken place the assembled company dined together at the expense of Stewards, who were chosen from the Members in rotation.^ At these dinners haunches of venison formed conspicuous elements of the entertainment. In recent years, although the Annual Dinner has been continued, the Botanical Demonstration has been omitted, a circumstance very much to be regretted by all cultivators of
^ In Petiver's " Adversaria," among the Sloane MSS. 3340, is a letter inviting Dr. Sloane (Sir Hans Sloane) to one of these banquets at the beginning of the eighteenth century, —
"Worthy Sir, —
"The Master and Wardens having appointed me Steward for y' next Herborizing, and Putney Heath being a place not this year visited, I have determined y* Bowling Green there for y* lecture of Botany, where we shall dine on Tuesday next, and if your leisure will permitt I shall take it as a great favour to be honoured with y"" Presence and will add it to the many others you have, most worthy Sir, been pleased to confer on
" y most obedient and humble Serv*,
"J. P."
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 141
Botanical Science, especially in its connexion, long insisted upon, and still acknowledged, with the study and practice of Medicine.
The other herborizing excursions, five in number in each summer, were open to the Apprentices of every Member of the Apothe- caries' Society ; and many are still living, to whom these summer rambles afford the most agreeable reminiscences. Days spent in healthy walks in the open country, in the company of youthful friends, and under the superintendence of kind and intelligent guides, must under any circumstances be regarded as affording one of the best and purest kinds of human enjoyment ; but, when to the ordinary interest of these rambles is added a love for the beautiful pro- ductions of Nature which spring unbidden from the soil, the enjoyment is enhanced a hundred- fold. As time rolls on in such pursuits, and as a taste for Botany is more and more developed, the aspect of the country becomes every day more familiar, and every tree and flower is enrolled as it were among the number of personal acquaintances, and the discovery of some new or unusual form of vegetation affords an agree- able variety to the pleasure of former acquisi- tions.
The custom was for the Apprentices to as-
142 MEMOIES OF THE
semble punctually at six o'clock in the morn- ing at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, while Mr. Thomas Wheeler held the post of Apothecary at that institution. But after his resignation of the Demonstrator's post, and when his son had succeeded him in the office, the youths met at Apothecaries' Hall, where they were received by the Botanical Demonstrator. An official of the Society carried a large metal box for the collec- tion of the specimens, and each student carried a similar though smaller box, slung round his shoulder, for the same purpose. None carried umbrellas or great-coats, such incumbrances being considered useless and superfluous, and if the rain came down, the clothes were allowed to dry when the sun shone again.
The first appearance of Mr. Thomas Wheeler was certainly striking. A short, wiry, and thin old man (for at the time to which these remi- niscences refer he was between seventy and eighty years of age) he entered with the alacrity of youth upon the scene, with an old hat in one hand, and a botanical knife in the other, with a pair of massive spectacles covering his grey and keen eyes, and clad in an old thread- bare black coat and waistcoat and breeches, and a pair of long leather gaiters. But those who might be inclined to smile at his somewhat outre
-
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 143
appearance were soon convinced that they were in the presence of no common person, and that the rough outer husk covered as true and genuine a man as ever adorned the profession of Medicine, or by his scientific and hterary attainments shed lustre upon the Society of Apo- thecaries. More of this gentleman will be said hereafter, but it is impossible, even at the risk of incurring the charge of repetition, to dissociate his name from a record of the Society's Herbo- rizings, which he superintended and personally conducted for the long space of fifty- five years.
It is true that, for the last thirteen years of that period, his son, Mr. James Lowe "Wheeler, occupied the position of Botanical Demon- strator; but the veteran always accompanied the excursions to the last, was the prominent figure in the procession, was the guiding star of the botanical party, and excelled all the rest in the brightness of his intelligence, the extent of his information, and the activity of his movements. Looking back at the period now referred to, and recollecting the extent of the walks which are about to be described, it is really wonderful how this octogenarian pre- served his animal spirits throughout those long yet delightful summer days, and how his physical energies enabled him to overcome the
144
MEMOIES OF THE
fatigue wliicli might have wearied many a younger and more robust man.
He was an excellent, and indeed for his period, a profound Botanist, and withal a classical scholar, and he conveyed his infor- mation most readily in all departments of learning ; and probably many of his, peripatetic discourses may have left beneficial remem- brances in the minds of his hearers on other matters besides the knowledge of indigenous plants. He was very particular about what is called the quantity of Greek and Latin words, and he seemed to be, or perhaps really was, horrified at hearing any pupil make a mistake in this respect. If any of them, for instance, unluckily pronounced Anemone for Anemone, or Arhores for Arhdres, he would suddenly stop, and, summoning all the students, would shout with a loud voice the proper pronunciation of the word, warning them to be particular in future, and laying stress upon the difference between a scholar and an ignoramus. On the other hand, he was delighted when he found any of the youths giving evidence of a sound classical education, and he would frequently halt on the way in order to deliver some moral axiom illustrated from the vast stores of his own extensive learning. This was all done,
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
145
however, in siicli a humorous and good-natured manner that a journey on foot of twenty miles during the day was made attractive, and secured the attention of the pupils, who were at first amused by his eccentricities, but after- wards impressed by his varied stores of infor- mation. On the subject of Botany, and especially indigenous Botany, as has just been mentioned, his knowledge was profound, and on such difficult matters, for instance, as the distinctions of the Grasses, the Sedges, the TJmbelliferge, the Compositse, the Rushes, he was never at fault, but he both gave to every specimen its right name and explained minutely the points on which each species difi'ered from another. Those who have experienced the difficulty of acquiring correct information on such points will understand what must have been the value of Mr. Wheeler's instructions.
The Students, having thus assembled in the bright summer mornings, pursued different routes on different occasions. Sometimes the excursion was to the north-west, passing through Islington,' and what were then known
^ It is amusing to find in an old botanical book (anterior, however, in date to the period now referred to) that the Deadly Nightshade {Atropa belladonna) is described as growing wild in a ditch in Goswell Street on the road to Islington I
L
146
MEMOIES OF THE
as White Conduit Fields (now covered witli houses) then to the Copenhagen Fields, now converted into streets ; thence to Kentish Town, and through the fields (now fields no longer) to the lower part of Hampstead Heath, and on to " Jack Straw's Castle," which still preserves its name and its reputation ; and there the company sat down to a homely but abun- dant breakfast of tea and rolls and butter. After this repast the Demonstrator and the pupils scattered themselves about the Heath, gathering the ferns and the heath-plants which are still to be found there although in dimi- nished number, and thence extending their rambles round Finchley, or Hendon, or Caen Wood, and returning to the Castle to dinner, which consisted of substantial joints of meat and pudding, and a moderate allowance of table ale. (Formerly, the apprentices were once a year at least indulged in wine, for at a Committee held at Chelsea Garden in the year 1823, it was ordered " that the pupils at the private Herborizings should be allowed a bottle of wine among four, and a bottle of cyder between two, but that no porter or other malt liquor should be allowed except table beer.") Immediately after dinner the large metal box carried by the attendant was opened, and the
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 147
plants collected during the excursion were pro- duced and exhibited to the students, who were seated on each side of a long table. The name of each plant was given, together with the peculiarities of form or structure by which it was distinguished, and if it possessed any medicinal qualities it would receive special attention as to its therapeutical uses. Thus an hour or two were pleasantly and profitably spent, after which tea was provided and the company dispersed, the students finding their way home as best they could, the return journey being generally performed, like the rest of the excursion, on foot, for at that time rail- roads and omnibuses were not in existence. Sometimes a spare, seat might be obtained on the top of a stage-coach, and when the excur- sion was up or down the river, the youths would perhaps row themselves or be rowed home in a boat in the evening twilight.
The other excursions were to the south-east and the south-west, and always included the banks of the river, and thus a more varied collec- tion of plants could be obtained. One route lay along the Kent Road and to Deptford, and on to Greenwich and to Blackheath, where break- fast was provided at the " Green Man," which has long been deprived of the rural character
L 2
148
MEMOIRS OF THE
it once presented, the premises and grounds being now built over. The extensive heath, still fortunately preserved as one of the lungs of the metropolis, afforded an abundant supply of plants peculiar to such a locality, and the walk was continued to the banks of the river be- tween Greenwich, and Charlton, thence towards Shooter's Hill, and back by the heath to dinner at the " Green Man," with the roast joints, pudding, and table ale, the demonstration of plants, the tea, and the return journey.
The excursion to the south-west was directed from Blackfriars, along the south bank of the river by Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Palace, Vauxhall, and into Battersea Fields, then a rich field of indigenous vegetation, where such rarities in British Botany as the beautiful Fritillaria meleagris, the Polygonum historta, and the Stratlotes aloides would reward the search of the zealous student. Thence the morning walk was extended through Wandsworth, and the fields along the waterside, and on to Putney, where, at the *' Star and Garter," then a noted house, and still retaining some of its ancient renown, the company was received by the genial host and regaled with the usual liberal supply of hot rolls and tea. After breakfast the ramble was directed along the
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
149
towing-path between Putney and Hammersmitli, and an abundance of plants were found both on the banks of the river and in the marshes and ditches lying parallel to the course of the stream. Diverging from the Thames at Hammersmith the party struck across the common to Wimbledon and towards Richmond, and thence back to Putney to dine, the pieces de resistance at this meal being always eel pies, then a favourite luxury at this and other waterside resorts, before the introduction of steamboats had disturbed the fishery and compelled the eel-pie houses to seek their supply of fish at Billingsgate or elsewhere, instead of in the river running alongside. The eel-fishing is still continued in the upper part of the Thames, but the supply is greatly diminished.
During the Demonstratorship of Mr. Thomas Wheeler a prize, consisting of a copy of Hudson's " Flora Anglica," was presented at the close of each season to the young man who had been most successful in discovering and describing the greatest number of plants.
In drawing to a conclusion these reminis- cences of the " Herborizings," now a thing of the past, of the Apothecaries' Society, it must be remarked that although the abandonment of
150
MEMOIRS OF THE
the excursions was inevitable from the altered condition of the environs of London, yet the discontinuance of such means of instruction in Botany must be a matter of regret. By the demonstration of plants growing in their natural habitations, whether as stately trees or as lowly herbs ; on the heaths and the commons ; in the hedges and the ditches ; by the side of rivers and subsidiary streams ; among the grass of meadows ; in the shade of woods and forests; on the bosom or in the recesses of lakes and ponds; amidst fields of standing corn ; on old walls or the trunks of trees ; or even on heaps of rubbish ; — by such means a far more accurate idea is conveyed to the mind of the richness and the inexhaustible variety of the Vegetable Kingdom than could be com- municated by any mere verbal or written description however accurate, or by pictorial representations however faithful, while the bene- fits conferred by such researches on the bodily health are too obvious to be insisted upon. With regard, also, to the Flora surrounding the metropolis, that is to say, the vegetable pro- ductions growing wild within a distance of ten or twenty miles from the centre, it may be interesting to observe that specimens of at least one hundred Natural Orders may be
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 151
found witMn this area, and tlie botanist wliose sphere of inquiry is limited by local circilm- stances may still find abundant materials for his study at no great distance from the busy and crowded haunts in which he is perhaps compelled habitually to reside. The wild plants are indeed banished to a rather greater distance than formerly, but the railroads and the steamboats have bridged over the inter- vening space, and now afford abundant facilities for visits to the country.
The Editor of the present Memoirs has himself found wild specimens of the following Natural Orders within the area above mentioned, and probably other explorers might add to the list. The primary divisions adopted are those of Jussieu.
1. Acotyledones. Filices Equisetaceae Characeas Musci Lichenes Fungi Algae
2. Monocotyledones. Alismacese Butomacese Hydrocharidaceae
Ainaryllidacese
IridaceaB
Liliaceae
Orcliidaceae
Juncaceae
Dioscoreaceae
Pistiaceae
Orontiaceae
IS'aiadaceae
Typhaceae
Araceae
Cyperaceae
Graminaceas
3. Dicotyledones. Ranunculaceae Papaveraceas aSTympliaeaceae Cruciferae Pumariaceas Umbelliferse Malvaceffi Geraniaceaa Tiliaceas Hypericaceae Saxifragaceae Onagraceae
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MEMOIES OF THE
|
3. Dicotyledones |
Violacese |
Vacciniaceas |
|
(contintied). |
Droseraceae |
Campanulaceae |
|
Cil'cseacese |
Linacese |
Plantaginaceae |
|
Haloragacese |
Alsinacese |
Plumbaginacea3 |
|
Salicaceae |
Silenaceai |
Dipsacaceae |
|
Corylacese |
Crassulacese |
Valerianaceae |
|
Betulacese |
Chenopodiacese |
Cicboraceae |
|
CistaceEe |
Polygonacese |
Cynaraceae |
|
Eosacese |
Primulaceee |
Asteraceae |
|
PomaceEe |
Solanacese |
Eubiacese |
|
Amygdalese |
Callitrichacese |
Cincbonaceae |
|
Leguminosse |
Cucurbitacese |
Caprifoliaceae |
|
Urticacese |
AristolocMacese |
Gentianaceae |
|
Ulmaceae |
Scleranthacese |
Convolvulaceae |
|
EuphorbiaceEe |
Lytkracese |
Oleacese |
|
Eesedaceae |
Coniferas |
Orobancbaceae |
|
Ehanmacese |
Rliinanthaceae |
Scropbulariaceae |
|
Aceracese |
Apocynacese |
Yerbenaceae |
|
Oxalidaceae |
Ilicacese |
Labiate |
|
Polygalacese |
Ericaceae |
Boraginaceae |
1820 At the close of this year Mr. Thomas Wheeler resigned the Demonstratorship of Botany, which he had held for the long period of forty-two years, and a cordial vote of thanks was presented to him by the Court of Assistants for his valu- able services.
Mr. Tbomas The following memoir, the first we believe meeler, presented to the public, with the exception of a short and in some respects incorrect obituary notice in the Journal of the Linn^an Society, will be read with some interest by those who still remember this
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 153
very remarkable man, and it may not be deemed out of place even by the general reader. Mr. Thomas Wheeler was born in the year 1754, and received his elementary education under Mr. Garrow, the father of the eminent lawyer, Sir William Garrow, and he was afterwards a pupil at St. Paul's School. At this institution, celebrated as it always was, and is still, as a first-rate classical school, Thomas Wheeler had to endure the very severe discipline on the part of the head-master which was formerly con- sidered a necessary part of a boy's education. This severity, of which corporal chastisement formed one of the main features, has now been happily relaxed in all educational establishments, but it cannot be denied that under such rigorous treatment some of the most eminent scholars have been fostered and developed. Be this as it may, and whether in consequence, or in spite of the discipline to which he was subjected. Wheeler became an excellent classical scholar, and to a great proficiency in the Greek and Latin languages he added a knowledge of Hebrew.
After leaving St. Paul's he was apprenticed to tlie Messrs. Walker, of St. James's Street, then Apothecaries to the King and Queen, but he does not seem to have enjoyed this period of his life much more than he did that of his pupilage under the strict and severe head-
154
MEMOIRS OP THE
master of St. Paul's. In those days the duties of an apprentice were irksome, and to a certain extent degrading, and one of the foibles of Mr. Wheeler's character was an impatience of control. After being emancipated from what he con- sidered, whether rightly or wrongly, the " house of bondage," he studied Medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital, attending the anatomical lectures of Mr. Hewson, and the Chemical and Medical courses of Dr. Fordyce, from the latter of whom he received great personal kindness, which lasted through life. At an early period he evinced a great fondness for the study of Botany, in which he was much encouraged by Wilham Hudson, Botanical Demonstrator to the Apothecaries' Society, to whom reference has ah^eady been made in these pages, and after the resignation of Mr. Hudson and his successor Mr. Curtis, he was appointed to the vacant office in 1778, being then only twenty-four years old, and he held it for forty- two years. In 1800 he was elected Apothecary to Christ's Hospital, and six years afterwards to the similar, but far more impor- tant and responsible post, at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he remained for fourteen years, discharging most creditably and faithfully his onerous duties in that great institution. In 1820, he resigned the Apothecaryship of St. Bartholomew's and also the Botanical Demon-
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
155
stratorship of the Apothecaries' Society, but, as has before been mentioned, he continued to accompany the Herborizing excursions until they were abandoned, at which time (1834) he was eighty-one years of age. After this latter period he resided alternately with one or other of his sons, and having enjoyed a peaceful and happy old age, he died without a struggle, and from a mere decay of nature, in his 94th year at the house of his eldest son, Mr. Thomas Wheeler. He had filled the usual honourable offices in the Apothecaries' Society, of which he became Master in due course of time, and he was moreover a member of the first Court of Examiners appointed by the Society under the Act of 1815. He had married early in hfe, but was left a widower at the age of forty, with six children. The following entry, relating to this event and taken from his family Bible, will convey some idea of his simple piety which, with other good quahties, formed a leading feature in his character : — " The light of my eyes and the joy of my heart, my dear wife, was this day taken from me. Lord, Thy' will, not mine, be done." He did not marry a second time.
As a botanist, Mr. Wheeler's attainments were of a very high order, and he might be con- sidered as one of the best botanists of his day. He was enthusiastically attached to the doc-
156
MEMOIRS OF THE
trines of Linn^us, the "novum sidus," as Wil- liam Hudson designated Mm, wliicli had then just illuminated the botanical world, and he, of course, taught and admired the Linnsean System, which in Mr. Wheeler's time was the only pos- sible method of teaching the science of Botany to the rising generation ; for the views of Jussieu were not propounded until 1789, and were not at first received with much favour, owing to the diflB-Culty of learning the system of that distin- guished Professor. As a teacher of Botany Mr. Wheeler was eminently successful, and he had the faculty of inspiring his pupils with his own enthusiasm for his favourite pursuit.
Many anecdotes, some of a humorous and others of a serious and touching character, are extant in reference to Mr. Wheeler, and some of these will now be offered to notice.
During the early part of his long life he was enrolled among the Volunteer Military Forces, and was ordered out during a period of pubHc disaffection to quell a riot which was appre- hended, and in reference to this circumstance he used to say, " If I had been ordered to fire upon the people, I should certainly have done so, offering up at the same time a prayer that my bullet might not take effect."
He was very tenacious of his professional
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
157
dignity, and once when a Eeverend Prelate seemed to question the treatment of a patient under his care at the Hospital, and expressed his own opinion in a somewhat inflated manner, Wheeler replied by imitating in his answer the pompous and arrogant tone of the Bishop, whereupon a bystander said, "Wliy, Mr. Wheeler, what a proud man you are ! " and he replied at once, " Inter superbos tantum, superbus." So it was indeed with him, he was " proud, only among the proud," and to the poor he was the kindest of the kind. Once discussing with his wife the expediency of devoting some rather large portion of their limited means to the relief of a necessitous object, he said, " We are too poor, my dear, to curtail our charities."
The following anecdote illustrates his promp- titude and energy when human life was at stake. On one occasion of the Herborizing excursions, when the route lay along the banks of the Thames, and he and the students were searching for botanical specimens, they witnessed the acci- dental upsetting of a boat on the river, the rowers being chiefly young lads. It was anxiously asked by all the party whether the boys were all saved, and the reply was, " Yes, we are all here ;" but- Mr. Wheeler would not be so easily satisfied,
158
MEMOIES OP THE
and seeing tlie boat floating keel uppermost, lie shouted at the top of his voice, which was a very loud one, " Turn up the boat, for Heaven's sake, turn up the boat ! " which was accord- ingly done, and a youth of fourteen was found under the thwarts insensible, whose life would have been lost but for Mr. Wheeler's determina- tion and presence of mind.
Some other incidents were of a different and humorous character. It has been already men- tioned that he was very pecuHar in his style of dress, carrying simplicity in this respect almost to extremes, and a friend, once speaking to him on the subject, remarked in the words of Alexander the Great, " Ah, Diogenes, thy pride peeps out of every button-hole of thy coat !" A story is told that he was one evening sitting in a room at the back of the "shop," as the Surgery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital was called, with a number of Students who were bantering him and one another, and he was descanting on the folly of superfluities in dress, &c. Young Lawrence (afterwards the distin- guished Sir William Lawrence, Bart.) said with his usual assumed gravity, "Well, but Mr. Wheeler, how can you support such a doctrine while you wear such a superfluity as this ! " lifting up the small queue or pigtail which
r
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 159
Wlieeler wore. Thus taken aback, the old man confessed that it was superfluous : " Yes, my dear sir, you are right, we are too prone to preach one thing and to practise another. I never thought of it ; cut it off, sir, pray cut it off," and Lawrence forthwith performed the ■amputation requested.
Another story is in connexion with the Herborizings previously described. At one of these, called the " Grand Herborizing," which took place once a year, the Demonstrator ac- companied by one or two other persons, was exploring some localities in Kent in search of plants for the annual lecture. On this occasion they were in the neighbourhood of Maidstone, and the party were driving in an open barouche. Mr. Hurlock, a well-known member of the Apothecaries' Society, was inside with James Lowe Wheeler and two others, and Mr. Wheeler was seated on the box by the side of the driver. Mr. Hurlock, who told the story, described the appearance of Mr. Wheeler (which all who knew the old gentleman will readily recognise) with his hat off, his thin light hair blowing about his face and his large spectacles on his nose, alter- nately laughing and chatting with the driver, and diving into his hat with his huge pocket- knife, separating and examining a bundle of wild
160
MEMOIRS OF THE
plants. Such, a figure naturally attracted atten- tion along the road, and, when stopping at a turnpike-gate, the party were rather surprised by the evident interest and eagerness of the toll- keeper, as he scratched his head, and, pointing to Mr. Wheeler, exclaimed in his blunt Kentish dialect, "So ye ha got him at last ! " This was incomprehensible to all the party until they arrived at a small inn close to the parish of B arming, where they read a placard offering a reward for the capture of an escaped lunatic !
From the age of forty to the period of his death at the age of 94, Mr. Wheeler entirely abstained from fermented liquors, but not from any ascetic feeling, as he never morahsed on what is called teetotalism or objected to the moderate use of alcohol by other people. He often explained the reason of his singularity in this respect, which was merely that he had left off such beverages on the occasion of a very serious illness, and ever afterwards had found himself better without them. His appetite how- ever was excellent, and at the breakfasts and dinners of the Herborizing excursions, the heartiness with which he attacked the plain but abundant fare always provided was not surpassed by the youngest student, with whom, as before remarked, his own walking powers might
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
161
advantageously to himself be compared. In fact he deserved his breakfast and dinner quite as much as any of the juvenile party.
It is stated in the brief obituary record to which a slight allusion has been made (p. 152), that " in manners and habits he was distin- guished for child-like simpHcity," and this is in a great measure true. He never jested with sacred things, and never nttered a joke which could raise a blush on the most modest cheek. His discourses, which, like those of Plato, were delivered as he walked, were not confined to the science of Botany, and he never lost an oppor- tunity of saying a wise and instructive word to his young disciples, some of whom may even now confess that not a few of the principles which guided them in mature years were early instilled into their minds by the earnest teach- ings of this simple-hearted old botanist. " Maxima reverentia debetur pueris " he thought and practised, and he fully carried out the precept of Horace, —
" Nil dictu foedum visuve hssc limina tangat Intra quaa puer est."
To such teachings as Mr. Wheeler's those who remember them may apply the hnes of Thackeray, —
M
162
MEMOIES OF THE
" And if in time of sacred youth "We early learn to love and pray, Pray Heaven that early love and truth May never wholly pass away."
diaries Kingsley's ideal character of the perfect Naturalist in a remarkable manner describes Mr. Thomas Wheeler : —
" As one who should combine in himself the very essence of true cliivalry, namely, self-devotion, whose moral character, like the true knight of old, must he gentle and courteous, hrave and enterprising, and withal patient and undaunted in investigation, knowing (as Lord Bacon would have put it) that the kingdom of Nature, like the kingdom of Heaven, must be taken by violence, and that only to those who knock earnestly and long, does the Great Mother open the doors of her sanctuary. He must be of a reverent turn of mind too . . . . always reverent yet never superstitious, wondering at the commonest, yet not surprised at the most strange : free from the idols of size and sensuous loveliness .... holding every phenomenon worth the noting down ; believing that every pebble holds a treasure, every bud a revelation ; making it a point of conscience to pass over nothing through laziness or hastiness, lest the vision once offered and despised should be withdrawn, and looking at every object as if he were never to behold it more ....
" He must have that solemn and scrupulous reverence for truth, the habit of mind which regards each fact and discovery not as our own possession, but as the possession of its Creator independent of us, our needs, our tastes — it is the very essence of a naturalist's faculty, the very tenure of his existence ; and without truthfulness, science would be as impossible now as chivalry was of old." — Life of Charles Kingsley, vol. i. pp. 406, 407.
An excellent portrait of Mr. \Yheeler by
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
163
Henry Briggs, R.A., is placed in tlie great parlour of Apothecaries' Hall.
Among other pleasurable feelings connected with the preparation of the present Memoirs, one of the most agreeable to the Editor is the opportunity offered him for paying the above imperfect tribute to the memory of one of his earliest and best instructors.
Mr. Wheeler had six sons, all of whom were brought up to his own profession. He loved them all intensely, and his love was as fondly returned. They were Mr. Thomas Lowe Wheeler, for several years Chairman of the Court of Examiners, Dr. Charles West Wheeler, Mr. James Lowe Wheeler,Mr. William Lowe Wheeler, Mr. Lowe Wheeler, and Mr, Joseph Wheeler.
All of these, most of whom filled the usual
honourable positions in the Apothecaries' Society,
having led blameless Hves, and each attaining
to a ripe though not extreme old age, are now
dead, and not many descendants remain.
Among the few survivors are Mr. Thomas
Rivington Wheeler, F.R.C.S. who worthily
occupies the position of Secretary to the
present Court of Examiners, and Mrs. T. R.
Wheeler, daughter of Dr. Charles W. Wheeler,
who, with her husband, inherits the literary and
scientific tastes of their grandfather.
M 2
164
MEMOIES OF THE
1821 On the resignation of Mr. Thomas Wheeler, the post of Demonstrator was filled by the appointment of that gentleman's tliird son, Mr. James Lowe Wheeler, who commenced his duties in this year. He followed very closely in the footsteps of his father, who, as has just been mentioned, accompanied him in all the Herborizing excursions and attended his other demonstrations and lectures. Mr. J. L. Wheeler, hke all his brothers, was a thoroughly well educated man and a classical scholar, and though not so enthusiastically devoted to Botany as his father, he was not only very fairly ac- quainted with the principles and practice of that science, but he was also an excellent chemist, the science of Chemistry having begun to dawn upon the world at the period to which these Memoirs have now reached. Just as LinnsBus in the middle of the last century had converted Botany from a chaotic assem- blage of facts into a definite science, so at i;he beginning of the present century had Sir Humphry Davy performed a similar service for Chemistry; and the discovery of the metallic bases of the alkalies and earths, and the brilliant applications of Galvanism and Elec- tricity to the synthesis and analysis of bodies, laid the foundation of the extensive mass of
BOTANIO GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 165
knowledge wliich, spreading its domain over all creation, "from the heavens above" (for the composition of the sun, moon, and stars is now known) "to the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth," constitutes the modern science of Chemistry.
Mr. J. L. Wheeler for many years lectured on Chemistry and Materia Medica at a private Medical school near St. Bartholomew's Hos- pital, and was there associated with his brother Mr. Lowe Wheeler, who lectured on Anatomy.
For some years after the appointment of Mr. J. L. Wheeler as Demonstrator of Botany, no very striking event is recorded in reference to the history of the Garden, and it must be taken for granted that the Demonstrations at the Garden, and the breakfasts or " teas " of the Apprentices, and the Herborizing excursions, were regularly held, and that the Garden itself was kept up in a state of efi&ciency.
It may perhaps, however, be interesting to present an abstract of the yearly expenses of the establishment for fifteen years, as recorded in the Minutes of the Garden Committee, contrasted with the funds available for the purpose, by which account it will be seen that the Society were compelled to meet a heavy deficiency every year. The ordinary sources
166
MEMOIRS OF THE
from "wliicli tlie Garden is maintained are set forth in former pages of these Memoirs, and consist of fixed annual payments (called Quarterage) from each Member of the Society, of fines upon admission to certain offices of the Society, of proportion of fees from Appren- tices, &c. The deficiency, therefore, represents the difference between these ordinary sources of income and the actual expenses of the Garden, consisting of Salaries to Demonstrator, Gardener, labourers, and taxes, coals, repairs, &c.
|
£ s. d. |
£ s. d. |
|||
|
1820 the |
expenses |
were 463 19 11 deficiency 211 16 5 |
||
|
1821 |
» |
529 5 2 |
j> |
273 18 2 |
|
1823 ' |
)} |
555 5 3 |
)) |
284 7 9 |
|
1824 |
j> |
511 6 10 |
)! |
285 7 4 |
|
1825 |
}) |
662 5 9 |
)> |
419 18 3 |
|
1826 |
5> |
590 11 1 |
J> |
340 3 1 |
|
1827 |
J> |
692 18 6 |
}) |
456 18 6 |
|
1828 |
J> |
590 18 7 |
)} |
363 6 7 |
|
1829 |
J? |
753 5 2 |
>} |
518 5 2 |
|
1830 |
)) |
613 16 11 |
}> |
374 10 5 |
|
1831 |
)) |
893 5 10 |
5> |
640 6 4 |
|
1832 |
» |
721 16 10 |
>> |
469 14 10 |
|
1833 |
» |
688 8 2 |
5> |
444 11 8 |
|
1834 |
>> |
771 6 0 |
>J |
504 2 0 |
|
1835 |
735 11 6 |
>> |
470 5 0 |
The deficiency was supplied, as it still is,
from the corporate funds of the Society.
' By some omission, not accounted for, the receipts and expenditure for 1822 do not appear in the Minutes.
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
167
Before the election of a successor to Mr. 1821 Thomas "Wheeler in the post of Demonstrator to the Garden, a Committee was appointed to consider the duties of that office and to report upon the subject to the Court of Assistants. This Report was accordingly made in January 1821, and the recommendations made were founded essentially on the former minute relating to the same subject in the year 1773, as recited at page 97. Some alterations and additions, however, were suggested in order to render the office of Demonstrator as beneficial to the Members of the Society and their apprentices as the advanced state of science now required. The chief suggestions were that the Demon- strations in the Garden should be held on the last Wednesday in the summer months at nine o'clock in the morning; and that the Demon- strator -was expected on each such occasion, or on other occasions if so directed, to employ some time " in explaining to the Students the systems of Botany, both Sexual and Natural, as taught by Linnaeus and Jussieu; together with the principles of vegetable life, and the Structure, Physiology, and Medical Virtues of Plants, their Natural Climate, the alterations produced by culture, and the parts of them employed whether medicinally or as food for
168
MEMOIRS OF THE
man and other animals." The other sugges- tions are on minor points, such as the direc- tion of the Herborizing excursions, the Super- intendence of the Apprentices, the dehvery of the annual Lecture to the Members of the Society in July, the attendance at the meet- ings of the Garden Committee, and some other similar matters.
This Report was approved and confirmed by the Court of Assistants, and the Salary of the Demonstrator and Professor of Botany (as he was now called for the first time) was fixed at t>OL per annum. At a subsequent meeting of the Court of Assistants, in March of the same year, Mr. James Lowe Wheeler was elected to the vacant oflBce.
The language quoted in the above Report of the Garden Committee proves that the Man- agers of the Garden were aware of the advances now being made in the Science of Botany, and that they wished their recommendations to be in keeping with the spirit of the times. It shows, for the first time in the history of the Garden, that the Natural System of arrange- ment was beginning to make itself known and understood ; and it may be necessary briefly to allude to the principles on which that System is founded.
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
169
It has already been mentioned tliat very great difficulties exist in every attempt to classify the objects of the Vegetable Kingdom, and in- deed for a great number of years any plan of systematic arrangement of plants presented only a hopeless enigma. Linnaeus, however, happily hit upon a character which distin- guished plants into two great divisions, accord- ing as they did or did not possess Stamens and Pistils, or, in other words, as they were Flowering or Flowerless Plants {Phasnogamic and Gryptogamic). He further subdivided the Flowering Plants into twenty- three Classes, and these again were subdivided into a number of Orders. This arrangement, founded mainly on certain arrangements of the Stamens and Pistils, and which has been briefly explained at p. 59, was avowedly artificial, but it was founded upon Nature, for Linnaeus proved to the satisfaction of the scientific world that every Flowering Plant, without exception, possessed Stamens and Pistils, either or both, Avhich are as essential to the continuance of the species as the sexes are in animals. The error, if error it were, in the System of Linnaeus was, that this arrangement was founded exclu- sively upon the peculiarities of a single set of organs, and neglected the rest, such as the
170
MEMOIRS OP THE
stem, tlie leaves, the fruit, and the seeds. Lin- naeus, however, was fully aware of the imper- fection of his own system, and he himself pro- posed a Natural one, which he was unable to complete during his lifetime, partly in conse- quence of his imperfect resources, residing as he did in a small University town in Sweden, and partly from the inherent complexity and diflBculty of the task.
But almost contemporaneously with the labours and the discoveries of Linngeus, a dis- tinguished family of Botanists in France were labouring to establish what was, and is still known, as the Natural System, which aimed at founding a Classification, not on the pecuharities of one set of organs, but on the general arrange- ment of the whole, and which should associate the configuration and structure of plants with their medicinal, dietetic, economic or other similar properties. The The family here referred to is that of the
Jussieus. Jijgsieus, who were for nearly a hundred and fifty years distinguished in the annals of Botany, and one of whose descendants held till lately the Professorship of that science in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. Antoine de Jussieu was born in 1686, was a physician in Paris, and was Professor of Botany in the Jardin du Roi,
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
171
founded by Louis XV. He published various papers on Botany, and died in 1758. Bernard de Jussieu, Ms younger brother, was Demon- strator of Plants at the same Garden. He was born in 1698, and died in 1777. He also wrote various papers on Botany, and published an arrangement of the plants growing in the Garden of the Trianon at Versailles. Joseph de Jussieu, a third brother, was born in 1704, and died in 1779. He was sent to South America by Louis XV., remained there for thirty-six years, and made many discoveries and brought home many new plants. Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, the son of Bernard, was born in 1748, became Professor of Botany at the Jardin du Roi (now called Jardin des Plantes), was member of the Institute and of nearly every learned body in Europe. In the Genera Plantarum, pubHshed by him in 1789, he deve- loped, to a fuller extent than ever had been done before, the Natural System of Botany, which had been sketched out by Tournefort and by Linngeus, and by the elder Jussieus. He attained the advanced age of eighty-nine, and died at Paris. The writer of the present Memoirs, when a student in that city, witnessed the funeral of this great Botanist, which was conducted with great pomp, the coffin being
172
MEMOIES OF THE
surmounted by the deceased Professor's cap and the Cross and Sword of the Legion of Honour, and the ceremony being attended by all the Professors of the Jardin des Plantes in full costume, and also by the Dean and the Professors of the Faculty of Medicine, together with the usual military escort of a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Antoine Laurent de Jussieu was succeeded in his Professorship of Botany at the Jardin des Plantes by his son Adrien de Jussieu, who died in 1858.
As the limits of these Memoirs forbad the introduction of a full description of the LinnsBan System, the same reason exists for the omission of any extended reference to the System first clearly developed by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. It may, however, be stated briefly that the main feature of the latter system was the division of plants into three sections, founded on the presence or absence of the seed-lobes (cotyle- dons) and the single or double nature of those organs. Hence the names of these sections were Acotyledons,^ Monocotyledons and Dico- tyledons.^ Nothing can be more simple) than this arrangement ; but the classes, which were fifteen in number, were founded on characters
' a, without; fiovos, single; 8t?, twice; and KOTvXrjBwv, a seed-lobe.
BOTANIO GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
173
far more complicated, and they were subdivided into a great number of Orders, arranged accord- ing to tbeir general structure, and hence called Natural Orders. The Genera Plantarum of Jussieu is written in Latin, and in the Introduc- tion the author very ably shows the imperfections of the LinnsDan System of classification, but he is not so successful in proving the faultless- ness of his own. Still his system displays great ingenuity and profound learning, and unques- tionably forms the basis on which all subsequent Natural Systems of Botany have been esta- blished.
As demonstrating the great difficulty of esta- bhshing a comprehensive and unobjectionable Natural System of Botany, it is sufficient to remark that the System of Jussieu was soon materially modified, though not essentially changed, by another great botanist, Auguste DecandoUe, who was born in 1778, passed many years in France, where he studied and taught, and finally became established a.t Geneva, as Professor of Botany in that city and Superin- tendent of the well-known Botanic Garden in the immediate vicinity. Decandolle was a man of indefatigable industry, and he set himself the Herculean labour of describing the whole of the Vegetable Kingdom according to the Natural
174
MEMOIRS OF THE
System, and lie actually commenced a work entitled " Systema Naturale" in 1818. But lie soon found that the task was beyond his powers, or indeed those of any other human being, and he accordingly contented himself with writing an abstract of the proposed greater work, and which he termed " Prodromus Systematis Natu- ralis Regni Vegetabilis, sive Enumeratio Con- tracta Ordinum Generum Specierumque Plan- tarum hucusque cognitarum, juxta method! naturalis normas digesta." (Outline of the Natural System of the Vegetable Kingdom, or abbreviated Enumeration of the Orders, Genera, and Species of Plants hitherto known, arranged according to the rules of the natural method.) This abbreviated work was begun in 1824, and though extending to fifteen volumes was left unfinished at Decandolle's death, which took place in 1841. The work was continued by his son Alphonse Decandolle, and by his grandson Adrien Decandolle, both of whom are still living, but the task is not yet finished.
The System of Decandolle is a modification of that of Jussieu, and is an improvement upon it. Decandolle adopts LinnaDus's name of Crypto- gamcB as synonymous with the Acotyledones of Jussieu; and the Monocotyledones and the Dicoty- ledones of the latter are synonymous respectively
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 175
witli the Endogence and Exogence of DecandoUe, wliicli names are founded on the arrangement of the woody layers of the stem. The Exogense are divided into four sub-classes, according (1) as the stamens are inserted into the receptacle {thalamus), (2) as they are inserted into the calyx, (3) as they are attached to the corolla, and (4) as there are no petals in the flower ; and these sub-classes are accordingly termed ThalamijiorcB, Galyciflorce, Gorolliflorce, and Ape- talce. The Endogenee have no definite sub- classes, but the Cryptogamee are divided into Acrogens, which have an upright stem, and Thallogens, in which there is no proper stem and the whole structure consists only of cells. The system of DecandoUe, although very far from perfect or unobjectionable, is perhaps the best and simplest of the Natural Systems hitherto proposed, and is even now most generally adopted.
The above remarks are essential as explaining the principles of the Natural System of Botany, and as introductory to the proceedings which occurred in the history of the Chelsea Garden between 1821 and 1829.
176
MEMOIES OP THE
1829 For several years after 1821, however, tlie affairs of Chelsea Gardeu were conducted in the usual manner, and no occurrence of any im- portance is recorded. But a feeling appears to have gradually arisen in the minds of the Garden Committee that the establishment at Chelsea was hardly fuelling sufficiently the objects of its founders. The Demonstrations and the Herborizings were limited entirely to the members of the Apothecaries' Society and their Apprentices, who were, in proportion to the whole Profession, comparatively few in number, whereas the Licentiates who had received quali- fications to practise from the Court of Examiners since the year 1815 were now very numerous, and the students preparing for examination were increasing in number every year. The science of Botany, also, had made enormous strides during the last and present century.
It was therefore resolved at a Garden Com- mittee held in 1829 that, in the opinion of the Committee, the Botanical Garden might with propriety be made more useful to the Profession at large than it had hitherto been ; and the Master andWardensoftheSociety were requested to form a plan for carrying such intentions into effect.
The first effect of this movement was a recommendation that the Garden should be
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
177
opened on Friday tlie 3rd of July of this year between nine and eleven, and on every succeed- ing Friday at the same time ; and that admission should be given by tickets to all such Medical Students as were pupils to the established Professors and Tutors in the Metropolis in Medicine, Chemistry, Materia Medica, or Botany. It was only necessary in order to procure admission that the pupil should bring a letter of recommendation from his Teacher, stating that such pupil had been attentive to his studies, and was desirous of improving himself in Medi- cal Botany.
These recommendations were adopted, "and the Garden was accordingly thrown open to the Students of the Metropolitan Schools of Medicine, and the result was so successful during the first summer when the experiment was tried, that a further Report was made on the subject, with a view of still more facilitating the acquisi- tion of Botanical Science by the Students of Medicine.
The Report now alluded to was as follows : —
To THE Master, Waedens, and Assistants of the Society of Apothecaries.
Gentlemen, —
Your Committee, appointed to take into consideiation the best method of rendering the Society's Garden at Chelsea more generally useful to the student in medicine by increasing
N
178
MEMOIKS OTP THE
his opportunity of improvement in the science of Botany, particularly as connected -with the Medical Profession, have much satisfaction in referring to a Minute of the Court of Assistants held on the 23rd day of June last, containing a plan for admitting into their Garden under certain limitations all such Medical students as are pupils to the established professors and tutors in the metropolis, whether in Medicine, Chemistry, Materia Medica, or Botany.
This design having been carried into effect during the last summer, was received by the several professors and lecturers in the most gratifying manner, and thankfully embraced by more than 100 pupils. In consequence of this, your Com- mittee recommend that a similar plan upon a more enlarged scale be in future adopted ; the particulars of which design are contained in the following regulations : —
That the Garden be open every Wednesday during the months of May, June, July, August, and September, from 9 o'clock in the morning until 12 at noon, and. that admission be given to all such medical students as are pupils to the established professors and lecturers in the metropolis, whether in Medicine, Chemistry, Materia Medica, or Botany, and also to the Apprentices of the several Members of the Society.
That there be every week a demonstration of all the plants contained in the Materia Medica department of the Garden, and of such other plants as the Demonstrator may think proper. Such demonstration to commence at 10 o'clock punctually, and that after such demonstration is finished there be a lecture delivered by the Demonstrator in some part of the building attached to the Garden, upon one or more of the following subjects, so as to form during each summer season a regular Coiirse of Botanic Study, namely, —
1. The different systems of Botany, both natural and
artificial, particularly those of Linnasus and Jussieu.
2. The Structure and Growth of Plants.
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
179
3. The different parts of Plants witli their description
and uses in the process of Vegetation.
4. The natural and chemical analysis of vegetable
matter.
5. The medicinal uses of the most important articles
in the Materia Medica, with observations on the best modes of preparing them. These remarks may be made either at the lectures or at the demonstrations at the discretion of the lecturer. That the conducting these demonstrations and lectures be committed to the Society's Demonstrator of Botany, and that the monthly lectures hitherto delivered by him at the Garden be discontinued, as merging in and more effectually provided for in the lectures now proposed, to be adopted.
That in order to give encouragement to diligence and talent, there be an annual examination of such students as may think proper to become candidates for the prizes intended to be given on these occasions. The examinations to be upon some or all of the subjects stated in the foregoing series of lectures, as well as upon their skill in the nomenclature of plants. !No person to be admitted a candidate who has not attended these lectures and demonstrations at least eighteen days in one summer, or thirty days in two succeeding summers, nor shall any prize be awarded unless his examina- tion be performed to the complete satisfaction of the examiner or examiners for the time being.
To prevent partiality or undue preference, no public professor or lecturer whose pupils are admitted to the Garden can be appointed an examiner.
The apprentices to Members of the Society having an annual opportunity of being candidates for prizes upon the ancient establishment, cannot be admitted candidates on these occasions either during the period of their apprenticeship, or subsequently to the conclusion of it.
That two medals, the one being of gold of ten guineas value, and the other of sUver or bronze, be annually awarded to the
N 2
180
MEMOIRS OF THE
two candidates who shall have passed the best and second best examination in manner hereinbefore mentioned, but no medal to be given unless in the opinion of the examiner or examiners the candidate shall be deemed deserving of it.
That in consequence of the additional service occasioned by these lectures the salary of the Botanical Demonstrator be increased.
(Then follow some regulations as to the mode of admission, the reception of the students, &c.)
That these Resolutions or such parts of them as are necessary for the information of the medical students be printed and a copy sent to each member of the Society, and to the several hospitals and medical schools of the metropolis.
Apothecaries Hah, \2th December, 1829.
Joseph Hurlock, Master,
W. E. MacDonald,
John Hunteb,
Hen. Field.
John Nusset.
Wm. King.
^' I Wardens.
1830 These recommendations were approved, and the salary of the Demonstrator and Pro- fessor was raised to 80L per annum. The new regulations came into operation in the ensuing summer, and the Lectures were regularly de- hvered every Wednesday morning by Mr. J. L. Wheeler. The number of Students who availed themselves of the new privilege was very great, and from every Medical School in London numbers of youths flocked to the Garden either on foot, or (what was a very favourite mode of
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
181.
conveyance) in rowing boats from Westminster, thus combining liealtliy recreation and exercise with intellectual improvement.
In this year Mr. J. L. Wheeler, the Professor of Botany, published a Catalogue of the Medi- cinal plants in the Garden. It is written in Latin and is entitled, " Catalogus Rationalis Plantarum Medicinalium, in horto Societatis Pharmaceutic93 Londinensis, apud vicum Chel- sea, cultarum. Curante Jacobo L. Wheeler, So- cietatis Botanices Professore, Soc. Linn. Socio, et in Chemia et Materia Medica Pr^electore." It was by far the best catalogue of the medicinal plants in the Chelsea Garden ever published, and is, even now, an excellent practical guide to Medical Botany. The plants described are those admitted into the Pharmacopoeias of Lon- don, Edinburgh and Dublin (all now consoli- dated into one, the British Pharmacopoeia of 1867), and the properties and doses of the medi- cinal products of each are briefly but distinctly specified. The arrangement followed is that of Linnseus, but a Synopsis is also given of the plants according to the system of Jussieu. In the first part of the Catalogue, which consists of the classification and description of the plants according to the Sexual System of LinnaBus, the Natural Order of that great Botanist is also
182
MEMOIRS OP THE
given to each plant, and then the Natural Order of Jussieu.
It is not generally known that many of the Natural Orders, now supposed to have been invented by Jussieu and DecandoUe were really first established by Linnseus, though sometimes under slightly different names. Thus, the TJmhellatoe of Linnaeus are the JJmbelliferod of Jussieu ; the Gucurbitacece are common to both, and so are the Coniferce; the Gramina of Linnaeus are the Graminece of Jussieu ; the Filices, Algce, and Fungi are names adopted by both. Again, the Siliquosce, the Verticillatm, the Luridce, the Stellatce of Linnaeus correspond respectively to the GrucifercB, the Labiatce, the 8olanecB, and the JRuhiacece of Jussieu, and a great number of similar instances might be adduced.
Towards the close of the year, when the Apothecaries' Society had done so much to promote the Science of Botany among Medical Students, Mr, Lindley, who had lately become eminent by his appointment as the first Professor of Botany at the then University of London (now University College), appropriately dedi- cated to the Court of Examiners the first edition of his " Introduction to the Natural System of Botany." In the Dedication he says, Mea- sures have lately been taken by the Society of
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
183
Apothecaries, wliicli cannot fail to exercise a most beneficial influence upon Botany, and which must have been viewed with feehngs of deep interest by all friends of the Science. As a humble individual, whose life is devoted to its investigation, I am anxious to take the present opportunity of expressing iny sentiments upon the subject, by very respectfully offering for your acceptance a "Work, which it is hoped will be found useful to the Student of Medical Botany."
The lectures at the Garden were now regu- larly delivered every Wednesday morning during the summer months, and the weekly visits of the Students became enrolled among the established institutions of the Medical curriculum. At the same time the " Herborizing " excursions were continued as usual, five for the Apprentices, and one, the " Grand Herborizing," with the subse- quent Demonstration and Dinner, for the Mem- bers of the Society.
Three prizes were also awarded for proficiency in Botanical Science, two being offered to the Medical Students in general, and one to the Apprentices of the Society, Mr. J. L. Wheeler being the adjudicator of the awards.
Thus matters went on until the close of the 1884. year 1834, when a brother of Mr. Thomas
184
MEMOIRS OF THE
Wheeler died, leaving a large fortune to be divided among the six sons of the latter. The property was so considerable as to super- sede the necessity of any further exertion on the part of these gentlemen to gain their living, and most of them relinquished the public appoint- ments they had previously held, and retired into a position of ease and competence. Among these was Mr. James Lowe Wheeler, who resigned his Lectureship of Chemistry and Materia Medica in a Medical School, and also the Professorship of Botany at the Chelsea Garden. From that period he devoted his leisure time to the indulgence of literary and scientific tastes, to the healthy amusement of yachting, and to the patronage of music, of which he was very fond; but he passed through the usual honourable oflSices of the Society of Apothecaries, and was also ap- pointed Superintendent of their Chemical Depart- ment, in succession to Professor Brande. He became in his turn Master of the Society, and died at a ripe old age in 1870. He left behind him the reputation of being a kind and amiable man, an accomplished scholar, a Natu- ralist of no mean pretensions, and an excellent Chemist, having learned and taught the science of Chemistry when it was still in its infancy, and being devoted to it to the latest period of his life.
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. J 85
On the resignation of Mr. J. L. Wlieeler, it was resolved at a meeting of the Court of Assistants that the best thanks of the Court be sfiven to that gentleman for his valuable ser- vices as Professor of Botany during a period of thirteen years, and this vote was accompanied by the sincere wishes of the Court for his long- continued health and happiness.
At the same Court it was resolved that a Committee should be appointed to consider the duties, and emoluments attached to the Profes- sorship of Botany.
This Committee was accordingly appointed, and a Report was presented on the 23rd of December, 1834. The recommendations made were founded on those of former Reports, but with some modifications, the chief of which was that in consequence of the great alteration which had taken place in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis within the previous half-century, the same benefit did not result, as it formerly did, from Botanical Excursions, and that the Herborizings be therefore for the future dis- continued. It was also suggested that in consequence of the impoverished and un- productive state of the soil of the Chelsea Garden, some means should be taken, and some expense allowed, for improvements in this
186
MEMOIES OF THE
respect. Some other suggestions were made as to the admission of Teachers of Botany and their Classes into the Grarden, but as these sug- gestions were not adopted, it is unnecessary to refer to them more particularly.
1835 On the 17th March, 1835, Mr. Gilbert Thomas Burnett was elected Professor of Botany in the place of Mr. J. L. Wheeler, and he commenced his duties in the ensuing summer. ISlv. Gilbert Mr. Burnett's career as Professor of Botany, r L^.**' ^ brief and a painful one. He
was the last descendant of the celebrated Bishop Burnet, was the son of a medical man practising in London, and was also an Appren- tice of the Apothecaries' Hall. He was distin- guished in his student career for his zeal in acquir- ingBotanical knowledge, and by his assiduous at- tention at the Herborizing excursions he attracted the notice and secured the friendship of Mr. Thomas Wheeler. He became so distinguished for his acquirements in Botany that he was appointed the first Professor of that science in King's College, London, which commenced its career soon after the opening of the University of London (now University College). Mr. Burnett's father dying at an early age, the
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
187
new Professor was obliged, in addition to his laborious scientific duties, to carry on a general practice for his own support and that of his widowed mother and his sisters. As if these burdens and sorrows were not sufiicient for him, his own serious illness supervened, and when in 1835 he was appointed to the Professor- ship of Botany at the Chelsea Garden, a post for which he was eminently qualified and in which he evidently took great delight, he was already doomed to a premature death. He lectured regularly at the appointed times, and charmed his audiences by his eloquence and his learning, but the labour of public speaking was obviously an onerous one and too much for his strength. Although the Herborizings for the Apprentices had been abolished, he con- ducted, though on a limited scale, the " Grand Herborizing," riding on a pony, as he was unable to walk, and a few days after the de- livery of his last lecture in the Garden in Sep- tember he was no more. His emaciated figure and frequent cough had indicated for a long time only too plainly the malady under which he was suffering.
Mr. Burnett was the author or editor of many works connected with Botany. The principal of these was entitled " Outlines of Botany, in-
]88
MEMOIRS OP THE
, F.L.S
eluding a general History of the Vegetable King- dom, in wliich Plants are arranged according to the System of Natural Affinities," in two volumes. This is a most able and laborious work, con- taining a vast amount of information, both literary and scientific, but rather too abstruse for the use of Students. David^ In this year the duty of conducting the Exa- mination for Prizes in Botany, previously per- formed by Mr. James Lowe Wheeler, was con- fided to Mr. David Don, a distinguished Botanist, for many years Librarian of the Linngean Society, author of a great number of papers on botanical subjects, and, on Mr. Burnett's death, Professor of Botany at King's College, London. He held the examinership on Botany at Apothecaries' Hall only one year. He also died prematurely, being cut off by a malignant disease of his tongue in 1841, aged 41. In the same year, the distinguished Swiss Botanist DecandoUe died, aged 63.
At the close of the year 1835, the Court of Assistants met to elect a Professor of Botany in the room of Mr. Burnett, and out of a con- siderable number of candidates the lot fell upon Dr. Lindley, then in the zenith of his reputation
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
189
as one of the greatest Botanists in England, or indeed in Europe. He held the office for seven- teen years, and exhibited the same energy in performing the duties as he showed in his other public appointments. The present seems to be a fitting opportunity of offering a brief Memoir of this distinguished man.
John Lindley was born in the year 1799, near Lindlej^, Norwich, his father being a nurseryman in good business. He appears to have received only an ordinary school education, and whatever hte- rary acquirements he possessed, and they were considerable, must have been subsequently self- taught. When he left school he at once followed his father's occupation, but he was very early thrown upon his own resources owing to his father's failure in business, and he suc- ceeded to nothing but some paternal debts which he very honourably discharged. In a pecuniary sense, therefore, Lindley began his life under a heavy cloud, and notwithstanding his enormous industry and his great reputation it is doubtful whether he ever was rich.
At the age of twenty he became assistant librarian to the distinguished naturalist and ' patron of science. Sir Joseph Banks, and at the same early age he published a translation of Richard's " Analyse du Eruit." In 1822 he
190
MEMOIES OP THE
was appointed Garden Assistant Secretary to the Horticultural Society, and in 1826 lie became sole Assistant Secretary, and his connexion with that Society, and their well-known Gardens at Turnham Green, and at South Kensington, lasted throughout his whole working life. In 1829 he was appointed first Professor of Botany in the then University of London, and he held this appointment for thirty years, being asso- ciated there with some of the most distinguished teachers of the age ; such as Sir Charles Bell, in Physiology and Surgery ; Dr. Turner and Pro- fessor Graham, in Chemistry; Dr. Grant, in Com- parative. Anatomy ; Dr. Elliotson, in Medicine ; Mr. Listen and Mr. Samuel Cooper, in Surgery ; and many others. He was a remarkably exact, clear, and impressive lecturer, possessed an admirable faculty of lucid exposition, and was most copious in illustration. It cannot be said that he possessed exactly the gift of eloquence, or that he ever showed any enthusiasm, but as a teacher of Botany in its pm'ely scientific aspects he was unrivalled. Probably owing to the diffi- culties he had himself experienced in acquiring knowledge, he was minutely particular in his explanations of every fact which could impress the minds of students, and besides the abundant diagrams by which his lectures were illustrated,
BOTANIC GAfiDEN AT CHELSEA.
191
he took care to draw upon the board any pecu- harity of structure he wished to explain, and he wrote out in large letters any unusual word which he employed. In the description of the Natural Orders he was remarkably successful, being abundantly supplied from the Horticultural Gardens with fresh specimens which were dis- tributed to each student and carefully explained. Soon after his appointment as Professor at University College, he published his " Intro- duction to the Natural System of Botany," a work consisting of 374 pages, dividing all plants into 272 Natural Orders, and which has been already referred to as containing a dedica- tion to the Court of Examiners of the Society of Apothecaries. This work was subsequently expanded into his " Vegetable Kingdom," a large and very able production containing a multitude of illustrations and distributing the Vegetable World into 303 Natural Orders, the third edition appearing in 1853. He published, how- ever, a host of other books, besides monographs and anonymous articles, on almost every branch of botanical science. The list of his published works occupies twelve pages of the large folio catalogue of the Library of the British Museum. Although not the originator of what is known as the Natural System of Botany he was one of
192
MEMOIRS OF THE
its most prominent advocates, and lie was un- doubtedly tlie chief means of introducing that system into favour in Great Britain. In his zeal, however, for advancing the new doctrines, he unduly depreciated the merits of Linnaeus, and in too many instances wrote and spoke almost with contempt of that great and illustrious naturalist. His own Natural System, although a work of immense labour, shows the difficulty of devising any perfect scheme of botanical arrangement, for he himself altered it several times, and was at last so little satisfied with it as a system that he nearly abandoned in his lec- tures any consecutive classification of the Orders, and arranged them in arbitrary groups, admit- ting, as he himself writes in his "Flora Medica," that " no two writers on classification are agreed respecting the exact sequence in which the Natural Orders of plants should follow each other."
His Natural System, which was fully de- veloped in 1853 in his " Vegetable Kingdom," and which perhaps would have been still further expanded if his life had been prolonged, is founded essentially on the Systems of Jussieu and Decandolle, but with considerable modifica- tions, for, ^^hereas both those Botanists make three primary divisions of plants, Lindley in-
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 193
creases them to seven, namely, (1) Thallogens, or cryptogamic plants without a distinct woody stem, and (2) Acrogens, or Cryptogams which have a woody stem ; (3) Rhizogens, an inter- mediate tribe between Thallogens and Exogens ; (4) Exogens; (5) Dictyogens, plants with netted leaves intermediate between Exogens and Endo- gens ; (6) Gymnogens, plants with naked seeds, including the GonifercB and Gycaclacece; and (7) Endogens. These primary divisions are dis- tributed into the 303 Natural Orders comprised in Dr. Lindley's System.
Among other works piiblished by Dr. Lindley was the " Synopsis of the British Flora," pub- lished in 1829, being the first attempt to arrange British plants according to the Natural System, and intended to supersede the well-known works of William Hudson, Dr. Withering, Sir James Edward Smith, William Curtis, and Dr. Hooker, which were all arranged on the Linnsean Sys- tem. (The seventh edition of the last-named excellent work, however, published in 1855 conjointly by Sir William Hooker and Professor Arnott, was arranged for the first time on the Natural System.) Dr. Lindley also pubhshed in 1838 his " Elora Medica, a Botanical Account of all the more Important Plants used in Medicine in different parts of the World," but this work,
0
194
MEMOIRS OF THE
althougli very laboriously compiled, is of little practical use to the Profession for whom it is designed. Another work was a " Fossil Flora," which he wrote in conjunction with the well- known Geologist, Mr. Hutton, containing an admirable description of fossil plants, with numerous illustrations ; and there was one, which it is said he considered his masterpiece, as it contains the greatest amount of original matter, namely, the " Theory and Practice of Horticulture." With the beautiful and fantastic family of the OrcJddacece his name will be al- ways memorably associated, as he described a great number of new genera and species of this curious Order, and wrote a series of works relating to them.
Until he was past fifty he was in the habit of saying that he never knew what it was to feel tired either in body or mind. His first illness was in 1851, and was caused by his arduous duties as a Juror of the Great Exhibition held in that year, but he soon recovered. He under- took, however, against the wishes of his family, the charge of the Colonial Department of the Exhibition of 1862, and, although ailing, he continued at his post to the last. But his mental and physical powers then gave way, and he was compelled to rehnquish all active em-
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
195
ployment, though his bodily health remained pretty good until the 1st of l^^ovember, 1867, when he died of apoplexy.
In the same year another distinguished Botanist departed this life, but at the advanced age of eighty-one, namely, Sir "Wilham Jackson Hooker, author of a great number of botanical works, formerly Professor of Botany in the Uniyersity of Glasgow, but at the time of his death Superintendent of the magnij5cent Gar- den at Kew, now under the management of his no less distinguished son.
In this year, then. Dr. Lindley commenced 1836 his duties at Chelsea as Prsefectus Horti and Professor of Botany, and as Mr. Don had been elected Professor of Botany at King's College, and was consequently disqualified for holding the post of Examiner in Prizes for Botany at the Society of Apothecaries (see p. 179), the latter appointment was conferred on Mr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a distinguished Botanist, and a pupil and friend of Mr. Thomas Wheeler. This gentleman held the appointment until 1854.
Dr. Lindley entered upon his new sphere of action with his • characteristic energy, both in the delivery of the Lectures, and in ■ the " management of the Garden. The Lectures,
0 2
196 MEMOIRS OF THE
instead of being delivered once a week during five summer montHs at ten o'clock in the morning, were now given twice a week during May, June, and July at half-past eight. The arrangement of the plants in the Garden was also thoroughly revised, and Dr. Lindley made many lengthy reports both as to existing defects and as to the best means of improve- ment. On the 31st of May he reported to the Garden Committee that, having examined the collections of plants in the Garden, he had found them in a very defective state, owing to the want of catalogues, and that he thought this defect should be remedied. Being re- quested to memorialise the Court of Assistants on the subject, he did so in the following letter : —
To the Master, Wardens, and Court of Assistants of the Apothecaries^ Society.
21, Regeut St., June 2nd, 183fi.
Gentlemen, —
At the Meeting of the Garden Committee on Tuesday last, I found it my duty to hring before them the state of the living plants in the establishment, and especially to point out the circumstance that although the collections are extensive and valuable, their utility is almost destroyed by the general want of any catalogue to which Students can refer.
Of the Trees and Shrubs there is no Catalogue. Of the Glumaceous and Umbelliferous Plants there is no Catalogue, but in some cases written
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
197
names are attached to the Specimens, without, however, being in all cases correct. Of the large collection of Herbaceous Plants there does exist a MS. Catalogue, but from a variety of circumstances it has but little real relation to the Plants of which it purports to be a list. Of the Medicinal Plants there is a correct Catalogue, but these form so very small a portion of what the Garden contains as to affect in no material degree the statement I have made as to the general absence of any means available for Students of profiting by the materials for in- struction that the Garden contains. I suggested to the Committee that under these circum- stances it was absolutely necessary for the credit of the Society that means should be taken to ascertain wbat the Garden contains, and to mark the plants in such a manner that any person visiting the establishment should have the power of ascertaining the names of the species given them. I proposed to superintend the carrying the preparation of a Catalogue into effect ; but I stated that it was impossible for me to take upon myself the office of anything beyond superintendence and direction ; that the Gardener's time was fully occupied by the avocations connected with his appoint- ment, and that it would be necessary to furnish me with an Assistant till a Catalogue could be completed. I mentioned the sum of 251. as being sufficient to commence the operation with, and probably to complete the Catalogue of the plants not cultivated in the Hot-houses and Green- houses.
The Committee did me the honour to adopt my views and to recommend them to the consideration of the Court of Assistants, with whom the decision must rest as to whether my plan should be carried into execution.
I therefore have taken the liberty of troubling you with this communication, in the hope that this matter, which I
198
MEMOIES OP THE
consider a very important one, will meet with your concur- rence. Should it-be your pleasure to authorize the outlay of the sum of 251., I hope by the Meeting of the Garden Com- mittee next September, to be able to lay the Catalogue on their table, and then to develope my ulterior plans with reference to bringing the Garden into a more efficient state by the commencement of the next Medical Summer Session, I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
John Lindley.
This letter having been read at a Court of Assistants on the 21st of June, 1836, it was resolved, " That the Court cordially accede to the Professor's suggestions in reference to the preparation of a Catalogue, and do order that the required sum be advanced for carrying his recommendation into effect."
The Master stated to the Court that arrange- ments had been made for the Annual Exhibition of Plants at the Society's General Herborizing taking place at the Hall instead of at a Tavern as heretofore, and that it had been decided to invite to the delivery of the Professor's Lecture on that occasion the Officers of the several Societies connected with Botany, and other individuals eminent in that branch of Science.
In January, 1837, a long Report was read from Dr. Lindley on the condition of the Garden. It stated that the Garden had suf-
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
199
fered considerably from the unfavourable at- mosphere surrounding it, from the exhaustion and deterioration of the soil, and from the sandy nature of the soil itself. N'evertheless, the Report goes on to state, the Garden still contained a large number of plants well suited for the purpose of instruction, and the number might be increased without much ex- pense. The collections, however, were in great confusion, having been neglected for many years, and in their present state they were almost useless to the Students frequenting the Garden. Dr. Lindley then specifies the particular in- stances in which the collections are deficient or redundant, an excessive number of duphcates being kept of some, and others being absent altogether which were essential for instruction. He states, moreover, that the square occupied by the officinal plants admitted into the London Pharmacopoeia is kept in proper order, but that the plants are not sufficiently numerous. In this communication Dr. Lindley complains of the want of co-operation with his views and wishes evinced on the part of the Gardener. On reading this communication, it was resolved by the Garden Committee, that immediate steps should be taken to carry Dr. Lindley's sugges- tions and proposals into effect; that a new
200
MEMOIRS OF THE
arrangement of the plants should be made ; that duplicates and useless specimens should be removed ; that copies of a cheap list of the numbered plants should be published ; and that the Gardener should be directed in all respects to carry out immediately the directions of the Prgefectus.
In this year it was ordered that the Botanical Season should conclude at the end of July, and that in future' May, June, and July should be considered the Botanical Season.
In this year (Aug. 29), it was resolved that it should be recommended that the Botanical Examinations (two in number) should be com- bined into one, open to all Students, whether Apprentices to the Society or otherwise, and that the prizes given should be three, namely, (1) a gold medal, (2) a silver medal with books ; and (3) books only. These recommendations were adopted. 1838 In this year another long and very able Report was presented by Dr. Liudley, com- plaining that his previous recommendations had not been properly carried out, and com- menting very severely on the want of co-opera- tion on the part of the Gardener. The follow- ing verbatim extract from this Report admirably expresses what a Botanical Garden should be,
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
201
and wliat tlie Apothecaries' Society desired to make it : —
" The Society of Apothecaries have, with a rare liberality, applied annually a very considerable sum to the maintenance of this Garden for the use of Medical and other Students, and for the purposes connected with Medical Botany. Their object, I conceive, in doing so, has been to form a Garden of instruction which might supply the unavoidable deficiencies of the lecture-rooms of the metropolis, and to afford Students the means of acquiring a practical knowledge of plants in general, and more particularly of species useful in Medicine. Such objects are not effected by little ill-cultivated specimens starved in flower-pots, by crowds of spurious species which have sprung up in German and other Botanical Gardens, and which have no other effect than that of perplexing Students, and throwing Science itself into confusion ; or by nameless specimens, flowerless, and almost leafless, illustrating nothing except the endless variety of the Vegetable Kingdom, which requires no illustration. Important purposes such as those I have adverted to are to be accomplished in a very different way. They require well-cultivated specimens, illustrating remarkable peculiarities of organization, anomalous forms of vegetation, representatives of ^Natural Orders, and especially sjDecies known to possess energetic properties either poison- ous or curative. For such a collection the Society's Garden, with the existing houses, is sufficiently well adapted ; the locality offers no serious impediment to its preservation, and instead of requiring an additional annual outlay, I have no doubt of its being well maintained at an expense considerably less than that which is at present incurred."
The Report goes on to animadvert very strongly upon the conduct of the Gardener in opposing the writer's views, and it concludes
202
MEMOIRS OP THE
by asking the Committee to declare distinctly whether they adopt his (Dr. L.'s) views, or those of the Gardener. The Committee there- upon resolved that Dr. Lindley's views should be adopted, and that the Gardener be directed to follow out in all respects the directions and orders of the Prsefectus.
On the 28th August of this year, Dr. Lindley reported that the resolutions of the last Com- mittee were being carried into effect, but that little progress had yet been made in marking the plants with their names. It was ordered that a new arrangement of the plants in the Garden should be made under the direction of Dr Lindley, and that the Medical plants should be all marked before the next spring.
1839 On the 28th of May in this year it was reported by the Prsefectus that the new arrange- ment of the Medical plants had been completed as far as possible, and that the Society had received great assistance from the Messrs. Lod- diges of Hackney, in giving several plants.
1846 On the 27th May in this year a limb from the cedars of Lebanon was blown oft, and it was ordered by the Garden Committee that it should be converted into four chairs for the use of the authorities of the Hall, and this was accordingly done. A chair had been constructed of a branch
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
203
previously blown off in 1812, and it bears a suitable Latin inscription.
On the 16tli of October of this year it was announced that Mr. William Anderson, the Curator of the Garden, had died since the last meeting at the age of eighty, and that he had been buried between the graves of Sir Hans Sloane and Mr. Philip Miller.
"William Anderson was a man of humble ex- Mr. William traction, and was born in Scotland. He was ^^g^°^' brought up as a gardener, and officiated in that capacity all his life, but he had a considerable knowledge of Botany, particularly of indigenous plants, and was attached to the doctrines of Lin- , nseus, and either from advancing years, or early associations, was not much inclined to favour the promotion of the new Natural Systems. He held the office of Gardener (this title being changed during his lifetime to that of Curator) of the Chelsea Garden for thirty-two years, and although he was a man of rather rough manners, he was of a generous disposition, and did many kind acts for necessitous friends. He lived alone, and had no known relatives, those he had being discovered only after his death, in con- sequence of an advertisement inserted in the papers announcing that he had died intestate, and calling upon any of his kindred to come
204
MEMOIRS OF THE
forward and claim what little property he had left behind him. In consequence of this an- nouncement some distant relations presented themselves from a remote part of Scotland and obtained possession of his effects.
A singular instance of his kindness, and of the unostentatious and self-denying way in which he sometimes exercised it, is the following. He possessed a diamond ring, of the value of one hundred guineas, which had been presented to him by the Emperor of Russia, in return for the care he had bestowed on some valuable orange-trees belonging to His Majesty. Those who remember Mr. Anderson's tall and burly form and his ordinary coarse and old-fashioned style of dress, will be inclined to wonder, first, how a diamond ring of such value would be consistent with the rest of his attire, and secondly, what kind of ring it must have been to fit the gigantic finger of the wearer. The ring, however, was constructed specially for the purpose intended, and Mr. Anderson was of course very careful of it and proud of possessing it, although he very seldom wore it. But, on his death, this valuable ornament could nowhere be found, and after ransacking all his drawers and cabinets in vain, a pawnbroker's ticket was at last discovered showing where the costly
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 205
trinket had been pledged. It turned out on investigation, tliat Mr. Anderson had been induced on some occasion to help a necessitous friend, and not having the money sufficient to enable him to do so, had actually pawned this keepsake for the purpose ! The ring was forth- with redeemed, and the difference in value was added to the other few effects left by Mr. Ander- son, and the whole produce was divided, as before stated, among his distant relations. It does not appear that the friend, whoever he was, for whose benefit the ring was pledged, ever repaid the loan.
Mr. Anderson was a Fellow of the Linneean Society, and he wrote several papers on horti- cultural subjects in the periodicals devoted to gardening.
In order to supply the place of Mr. Anderson 1846 the Garden Committee asked the advice of Dr. •Lindley as to the choice of a successor, and Mr. Robert Fortune was recommended and eventually elected to the office of Curator of the Garden. The choice was a particularly happy one, for Mr. Fortune had held an important position as Botanical Collector to the Horticultural Society of London, and had just returned home after a three years' exploration of the Botany of China, from which country he
206
MEMOIRS OJ:^ THE
had brouglit back a great number of valuable specimens. The record of bis travels bas been given to the world in a most interesting work entitled " Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China, including a Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries, with an account of the Agriculture and Horticulture of the Chinese, New Plants, &c."
This book not only displays extensive Botanical and Horticultural knowledge, but it also contains a great amount of interesting anecdote, a,nd amusing descriptions of the manners, customs, and social life of the Chinese people, together with some excellent engraved illustrations of striking scenery.
Mr. Fortune's name has been perpetuated in the name of a tree of the walnut tribe (Jugland- acece) brought by him from China, the Fortuncea Chinensis, and in the specific names of many other plants, among others the Chamcerojjs Fortuni, brought by him from the island of Chusan, and a fine specimen of which is now • to be seen in one of the green-houses of the Chelsea Garden. 1847 Mr. Fortune, under Dr. Lindley's superin- tendence, exerted himself most energetically in re-arranging the plants in the Chelsea Garden, and in introducing such other reforms as the
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 207
advanced state of Botanical science demanded. In carrying out the changes thus deemed necessary, fresh expenses were unavoidably incurred, and a new subscription was called for at the hands of the members of the Apothecaries' Society. The actual outlay on new buildings and other improvements amounted to 1220Z., and a considerable sum was raised by private subscription among the members to discharge the debt thus incurred, but a considerable dej&ciency remained which was supplied by the Corporation of the Society, who voted 700?. for the purpose.
During Mr. Fortune's Curatorship two new span-roofed glass structures, a stove, and a greenhouse, were built and heated by the then new Polmaise, or hot-air system. This plan, however, did not succeed, and it was accordingly abandoned a year or two afterwards, and a hot- water apparatus was substituted.
Mr. Fortune's services as Curator of the 1848 Garden were of short duration, for he soon severed his connexion with the Apothecaries' Society under the following circumstances, which were very honourable to himself and to Horti- cultural science in general. On the 8th of May, 1848, Dr. Forbes Royle, on the part of the Court of Directors of the East India Company,
208
MEMOIRS OP THE
addressed a letter to tlie Garden Committee, requesting them to allow Mr. Fortune to proceed to China for the purpose of collecting the best kinds of Tea-plants and seeds in the northern parts of that Empire, with a view of cultivating the Tea-plant in the Himalayan mountains. Dr. Royle requested that facilities might be given to Mr. Fortune for carrying out this object, and the latter gentleman addressed a communication to the Garden Committee ex- pressing his willingness to accept the offer made to him by the Bast India Company, and asking for two years' leave of absence from his duties at the Chelsea Garden.
The Committee, after due consideration, came to the resolution that, regarding the interests of the Garden, they were unable to grant the required leave of absence to Mr. Fortune, but that they placed no obstacle in the way of that gentleman accepting the offer made to him. Thereupon Mr. Fortune, in very- courteous terms, tendered his resignation, which was accepted, with an expression of regret at the loss of his services, which had at all times given the greatest satisfaction, and with the best wishes for his future success and prosperity.
It may not be irrelevant to mention that
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA. 209
Mr. Fortune's mission was attended with great success both as regards himself and the objects for which his travels were undertaken, and that he is now living in comfort on the well-earned proceeds of his talents, industry, and enterprise.
On the 29th of May of this year Dr. Lindley was requested to name a successor to Mr. Fortune as Curator of the Garden, and he nominated Mr. Thomas Moore, who was sub- sequently elected, and who has continued to hold that ofiB.ce from that time to the present.
Here it may be interesting to record the annual expense of the Garden for twenty-seven years.
|
1850, the expenditure |
was £856 6 0 |
|
|
1851, |
)) |
574 18 1 |
|
1852, |
7) |
671 10 1 |
|
1853, |
)i |
522 2 7 |
|
1854, |
}> |
648 10 5 |
|
1855, |
}> |
443 5 10 |
|
1856, |
J> |
320 4 5 |
|
1857, |
}> |
332 7 5 |
|
1858, |
>} |
457 10 8 |
|
1859, |
» |
313 4 11 |
|
1860, |
J) |
272 19 3 |
|
1861, |
)) |
273 14 11 |
|
1862, |
)} |
677 17 3 |
|
1863, |
)> |
766 14 1 |
|
1864, |
}> |
447 4 9 |
|
1865, |
}) |
721 14 1 |
|
1866, |
>> |
369 16 7 |
|
1867, |
)) |
377 14 10 |
p
210
MEMOIRS OE THE
1868, „ £698 16 8
1869, „ 464 13 10
1870, „ 463 9 10
1871, „ 415 13 0
1872, „ 460 2 7
1873, „ 702 1 8
1874, ,„ 683 6 11
1875, „ 604 14 11
1876, „ 433 5 5
|g53 In this year some very important steps, but of a retrograde cliaracter in reference to the science of Botany, were taken in the affairs of the Chelsea Garden. It wiU be observed, on referring to the early part of these Memoirs, that the freehold property on which the Garden is situated belongs to the noble family of Oadogan, and that by the will of Sir Hans Sloane it is allowed to be used as a " Physick Garden," under the management and at the expense o£ the Society of Apothecaries. In case of this body declining or neglecting to maintain it, or applying it to any other than scientific purposes, it will be seen that the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physi- cians of London may successively become the occupiers of the ground on the same conditions as those imposed upon the Society of Apothe- caries, but if both these bodies decline the offer, then the property reverts to the descen- dants of Sir Hans Sloane, who are now repre-
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211
sented, as far as tlie Garden is concerned, by the Earl of Cadogan. It is perhaps unnecessary to mention, after what has been already written in these pages, that neither the Royal Society nor the Royal College of Physicians (except a donation from the latter of lOOZ. in the year 1723) have ever contributed anything to the support of the Garden, and that neither of those bodies has ever shown any desire to be- come possessed of it ; and it may also be men- tioned that the Cadogan family have never manifested any interest in the maintenance of the Garden as a scientific institution. Hence the whole expense of its support has fallen exclusively upon the Society of Apothecaries, who, except in reputation, have never received anything in return.
These prehminary observations having been introduced, it is only necessary to state that in the present year (1853) some correspondence was instituted with Lord Cadogan and others having reference to the probable relinquish- ment of the ground as a Botanic Garden, and during the negotiations it was thought expe- dient that the expenditure of the Garden should be reduced to the lowest possible point.
A series of sweeping changes were therefore proposed, the minute respecting them bearing
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date 27tli June, 1853, and most of them were carried into effect. The chief of these proposals were that the Lectures at the Garden should be discontinued, that the office of Praefectus Horti should be abolished, and that no plants should be cultivated at the Garden except such as could grow without artificial heat, the object of course being to save the expense of fuel. Other economical reforms were suggested, such as the discontinuance of the dinners which had previously been held m the Garden, the abohtion of the Fees for attendance on Garden Com- mittees, the dismissal of labourers, and the suspension of the annual award of Prizes in Botany ; and it was now proposed that only a fixed sum of 2601. per annum, to be paid out of the Corporate funds of the Society, should be devoted to the future maintenance of the Garden.
Thus the services of Dr. Lindley were dis- pensed with, the summer Lectures, which had been regularly delivered for twenty-three years, were discontinued, and the estabhshment was left under the sole care of Mr. Moore, the Curator. Some of the plants were sold, some of the more delicate ones were exchanged for hardy species, many of the hothouse and green- house plants which had been collected during
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many previous years were given away, and one of tlie new glass-houses was taken down and sold. But the whole of the recommendations were not adopted, for the annual Prizes were still awarded, and, although the dinners at the Garden were abolished, the Garden Committees after a short interval resumed their proceedings.
If any prospect, however, had been enter- tained of effecting some great immediate economy in reference to the maintenance of the Garden, the idea was rudely dispelled by an accidental occurrence which took place in the autumn of this year. On the 18th of October, 1858, at a Meeting of the Court of Assistants, it was announced that a sewer was about to be con- structed along the road which runs by the north side of the Garden, where the large lecture-room and the Curator's residence were situated, and that this construction would render the whole building in the Garden unsafe by undermining the foundations. It was therefore determined that the old building, which was in a decayed state from lapse of time, should be pulled down, and that on the site of the old lecture-room a new residence should be built for the Curator. These alterations were accordingly made, and the new building, as it now exists, was erected, but the expenses were considerable, amounting
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10 upwards of 300Z. ; and further expenses were subsequently incurred by the building of a com- mittee-room, with offices adjoining, and the whole outlay, which was spread over several years, amounted to between 7001. and 800Z.
In the autumn of this year Mr. Nathaniel Bag- shaw Ward was elected Master of the Apothe- caries' Society, and he made his year of office memorable by his efforts to develope the scientific features of the Society, and especially by giving two large soirees, to which all the scientific world was invited, and in which the exhibition of microscopical objects formed the principal at- traction, although Mr. J ames Lowe Wheeler also contributed a beautiful series of chemical and electrical phenomena and experiments. Mr. Ward now relinquished the post of Examiner for Prizes in Botany, which he had held for seven- teen years, and he was succeeded in the duty by a gentleman who has since attained the highest eminence in science, namely, Dr. Hooker, now Sir James Dalton Hooker, lately President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and at present (1877) President of the Eoyal Society, and since the death of his father, Sir William Hooker, Superintendent of the Kew Garden.
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For about nine years after 1853 very little ■was done for the improvement of the Garden as a place of study, and a variety of proposals and suggestions in reference to the future destination of the property were considered or entertained, and a number of inroads on the part of Rail- way Companies were threatened ; and these cir- cumstances altogether militated against any attempt at the effectual promotion of Botanical Science, although the Garden was still visited by the Medical Students of the Metropolis for tlie purpose of instruction. But after this inter- regnum of what may be called the dark age of Botany at thie Chelsea Garden, and when it had been found that the various proposals as to the alienation of or encroachment upon the property liad fallen to the ground, the Executive of the Apothecaries' Society reconsidered the whole question as to the use and destination of the establishment.
At a Court of Assistants, held on the 31st of July, 1862, a communication was received from the Garden Committee, who suggested the necessity of improving the Garden, of rendering it better adapted to the purposes for which it was intended, and of cultivating it more effici- ently ; and it was thereupon resolved that a sum of 700/. should be placed at the disposal of the
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Garden Committee for the purpose of carrying out the recommendations with regard to the re- paii^s and improvements now rendered necessary.
On the 31st of October of this year, at a Meeting of the Court of Assistants, it was re- solved that the Herbarium existing ?.t Chelsea Garden should be presented to the Trustees of the British Museum, and this was accordingly done.
The Herbarium, or rather Herbaria, for there are three, thus handed over to the British Museum, forms a very valuable series. The chief part of it consists of the original herbarium of the distinguished British naturahst, John Ray, who bequeathed it to his friend Samuel Dale, ah-eady mentioned in these Memoirs (p* 66), who, at his death in 1739, left it, together with his own books and plants, to the Apothecaries' Society. It was preserved in suitable presses in the Chelsea Garden, under the direction of Sir Hans Sloane, as previously described in the above-mentioned page. Isaac Eand, a former Demonstrator of Botany at Chelsea, also made an extensive hortus siccus, which, at his death, was placed together with those of Eay and Dale, and these are the three herbaria now referred to. The herbarium of Ray, which is in good preservation, is contained in nineteen thin quarto fascicles, the plants being
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sewn on the paper, and labelled in tlie peculiarly- neat and plain handwriting of that illustrious botanist, and the specimens are accompanied by a manuscript index, entitled " Horti Sicci Eaiani Catalogus." The Journal of Botany for the year 1863, writing of this collection, then lately deposited in the British Museum, says that " the importance of this collection in determining precisely what are Ray's species cannot be over- estimated," and it goes on to state that together with the herbaria of Dale and Rand, and those of Sloane, Sherard, Petiver, and others, it will materially assist the preparation of a Report, then in contemplation, on " The Plants of Ray's Synopsis Stirpium." In a note on the subject of Ray's Hortus Siccus in the same Journal for 1870, by Mr. Henry Trimen, M.B., F.L.S., the writer adds his testimony as to the great value of the collection, and points out the localities from which most of the specimens were probably obtained, Ray having made collections of plants both in foreign countries and in Great Britain. He gives the modern names of several British plants thus preserved and described by Ray, and it is very interesting to compare the simplicity of the Linngean or modern nomenclature with the accurate but cumbrous terms used by Ray, who, it may be mentioned, died two years
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before Linnaeus was born. Thus, to quote only a single instance, tlie " Juncus parvus montanus cum parvis capitulis luteis " of Ray, becomes, in the short and simple Linngean nomenclature, " Scirpus csespitosus."
It was a happy thought to transfer these valuable herbaria from the sheds in Chelsea Garden, where they were gradually decaying under the influence of time, weather, and neglect, to the spacious rooms of the British Museum, where they are safely protected, and where they may be seen and appreciated by all lovers of Natural History. It should be men- tioned that, under the care of the present superintendents of the Botanical Department of the Museum, Mr. Carruthers and Mr. Trimen (1878), the specimens have been preserved from further decay, and are mounted on fresh paper. This transfer of the herbaria was in great measure due to the influence and the exertions of Mr. Ward, to whom botanical science is so much indebted in this as in many other respects. 1863 The Court of Assistants now determined to take active steps in improving the Garden, and in the words of a printed appeal by the Master and Wardens to the Members of the Society, published in January, 1863, " when they reflected how much benefit the Garden
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had conferred in times gone by, with what pride it had been cherished by their prede- cessors, and, above all, when they found how numerous a body of Medical Students were still anxious to profit by it (no fewer than 500 Students having applied for admission during the past summer) they unanimously resolved that the Garden should be continued, and that a vigorous effort should be made to render it as ef&cient as possible for the fulfilment of the important objects to which it has been so long devoted."
In order to carry this resolution into effect it was determined to make several new arrange- ments at the Garden, as for instance, to make a new and complete collection of all medicinal and economic plants ; to enlarge the collection of the more hardy herbaceous plants classified according to the Natural System ; to construct some new buildings and to rearrange others ; to introduce examples of Wardian Cases, in illustration of the utility of this contrivance in the cultivation of plants ; and to effect other important changes.
Among the members of the Society who took Mr. JSTatha- the most prominent part in restoring the Chelsea ^ard F E^S^' Garden to its former exalted position as a school F.L.S. of practical Botany was a gentleman whose
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name has been already mentioned, Mr. Nathaniel Bagshaw "Ward, who, although his modest and retiring character prevented his appearance in public either as an author or as a Lecturer, was one of the most accomplished Botanists of his day. ISTo excuse is necessary for the intro- duction of the following brief Memoir of this accomplished and excellent man, who is well remembered by many surviving friends, and whose memory must be dear to every member of the Apothecaries' Society.
He was the son of a medical practitioner in the east-end of London, and when quite young he exhibited a great love for natural history, and made little collections of plants and insects- It seems that he contracted some boyish inclina- tion for a sea-faring life, and his father indulged his fancy by sending him, when thirteen years of age, on a voyage to Jamaica. While the vessel in which he sailed was lying off the island he was delighted in admiring the sea-birds, the dolphins, and the flying fish, and on the edge of the coral reef which forms the outer margin of the harbour he was still more delighted by the beauty of the animal and vegetable forms growing in the water. When he visited the interior of the island the superb tropical vege- tation, especially the Palms and Ferns, made
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an impression on liis mind wliicTi was never effaced, and lie became from that time an ardent and devoted Botanist. But the voyage home quite cured him of his love for a sailor's life, and on his return to England he was apprenticed to the medical profession, and it may readily be supposed that under the guidance of Mr. Thomas Wheeler, at the Chelsea Garden and in the Herborizing Excursions, his love for Botany was still further developed and matured. His medical education was pursued at the London Hospital, where he zealously performed all the duties imposed upon him in that great establish- ment, paying special attention to the surgical cases and often acting as dresser. It is almost needless to remark that he passed creditably the necessary medical and surgical examina- tions, and became in due time a member of the College of Surgeons and of the A23othecaries' Society. He practised for a great number of years in Wellclose Square, in the east of London.
The early lessons inculcated by Mr. Wheeler at the Herborizings inspired him with such a love of Botany that, without in any way inter- fering with his medical practice, he took every possible opportunity of indulging in this favourite pursuit, and he accomplished his
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object by stealing from tlie day some of the early hours usually devoted to slumber, and some of tlie later ones usually devoted to ease or recreation. He was often out alone by sunrise in the summer time at Shooter's Hill, or Wimbledon, or elsewhere in the rural districts around London, where he collected all the plants he could find, and was back home and ready at the usual time for the professional business of the day ; or, when business was over, he would sally forth to Kew Gardens or the Chelsea Garden, or to the Messrs. Loddiges' well-known Garden at Hackney, and so finish the evening. When a family had gathered round him, and they were all staying, as they frequently were, at some favourite spot in Kent, he and his sons would often be up before sunrise among the brake, and the heather, and the wild flowers, and after two or three hours' search for plants they would all breakfast at some wayside inn, and after some more plant-hunting would return when the day was far advanced. Cobham Park, mth its magnificent scenery of forest-trees, was a favourite resort, and it was Mr. Ward's great delight to come here at sunset, when the sky overhead was almost darkened by the thousands of birds, — rooks, jackdaws, and herons, — coming home to their resting-places and making
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the air resound with their exuberant though far from melodious cries.
The residence of Mr. Ward in the closely peopled neighbourhood around Wellclose Square was the cause of the happy discovery he made as to the preservation of plants in closed cases. There was a little garden in front of his house, with a vine running up the wall, and there was every possible contrivance about the win- dows for the reception of plants ; there were also saxifrages on the roof, fig-trees and Yir- ginian creepers on the back of the residence, and a small but well stocked garden, in the rear. But this appearance of vegetable life and vigour was maintained with the utmost dif5- culty in the smoky atmosphere of the locality, the soot and dust clogging up the lungs of the plants and impeding their respiration, the cold dry winds carrying off the vapour from the leaves and the moisture from the subjacent mould, and the deleterious gases around poison- ing all the tissues. The only resource Mr. Ward possessed to preserve the semblance of verdure was to repair to the country or to nursery- grounds, and bring back a fresh supply of plants and flowers. But his difiiculties were eventually removed by a very simple method, which,however, had never struck the minds of his predecessors.
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In the summer of 1829, lie had placed the chrysalis of a moth in some mould in a glass bottle covered with a lid, in order to obtain a perfect specimen of the insect. After a time a speck or two of vegetation appeared on the surface of the mould, and turned out to be a fern and a grass, which continued to grow in this closed vessel. On reasoning out the matter, he found that in the bottle there existed the necessary conditions of vegetable hfe, namely, air, light and moisture, while deleterious influences were excluded. This simple experi- ment was followed by many others, and the Wardian cases (as they are called) are now so well known as to supersede any necessity of description. In 1836, Mr. Ward announced his discovery in a letter to the late Sir William Hooker ; in 1838, the late Mr. Faraday lectured on the subject to a large audience at the Royal Institution ; in 1842, the first edition appeared of Mr. Ward's work " On the Growth of Plants in Closely-glazed Cases ;" and a second edition appeared some years afterwards, with illus- trations by the present distinguished artist, Mr. B. W. Cooke, R.A., and his sister the late Mrs. S. H. Ward. A second lecture on the subject was delivered at the Royal Insti- tution in 1854 by Dr. S. H. Ward.
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The applications of the " Wardian Cases " are so numerous that only a few of them can be mentioned in these pages. Among those universally known are the facilities afforded by this contrivance for the growth of plants in the dwelUngs of all classes, and the preservation of verdure and freshness under every kind of deleterious influences in the atmosphere ; and for the preservation of some animals the plan is likewise adapted, the Vivaria, as they are called, being modifications established by Mr. Ward himself. But the application of the greatest importance to horticulturists is for the transport of plants to and from distant countries. Under the old plan plants were either packed in boxes or allowed to grow during the voyage, exposed to various injurious influences, as sea-water, storms, varying degrees of temperature, &c.; and the consequence was that a large percentage died in the transit. Mr. Fortune, already mentioned in these Memoirs, who brought over a great number of plants from China to this country, states that out of 250 plants put into the cases by him in China, only thirty -five died during the voyage ; while in 1819 it was stated in a communication to the Transactions of the Horticultural Society that at that time only one ^lant %n a thousand
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survived the voyage from China to England. Mr. Fortune also conveyed in these cases 20,000 Tea-plants from Shanghai to the Himalaya mountains, and, since that feat, the Cinchona tree, a native of South America, has by the same agency become established in India.
When residing in Wellclose Square, Mr. Ward gave frequent soirees, at which the microscope and its revelations were the pro- minent features. Out of these meetings sprang the Microscopical Society in 1840, Mr. Ward, the late Dr. Bowerbank, and the late Messrs. Jackson and Quekett being its principal founders.
Throughout the greater part of his life Mr. Ward was associated with the Apothecaries' Society. He held the office of Examiner for Prizes in Botany from the year 1836 imtil 1854, in which year he became Master, when he endeavoured to bring the scientific element of the Society into prominence by giving on a very large scale at the Hall, two microscopical soirees, which have never been surpassed either there or elsewhere ; and he ultimately filled the responsible post of Treasurer. He was always best known in the Society as the strenuous advocate of scientific progress, and he was eminently conspicuous in the management and
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improvement of the Chelsea Garden, especially during the few years before his death, when many beneficial changes, about to be referred to, were effected at his suggestion and under his superintendence.
In 1856 a large number of friends combined to recognize Mr. Ward's services by having his portrait painted by J. P. Knight, E.A., and placed in the rooms of the Linngean Society at Burlington House, and a portrait of him is also placed in one of the large rooms of the Apothecaries' Hall. He never received any recognition of his services from the State, but he was compensated for this neglect by the love and friendship of a large circle of friends, and by reflections such as the following passage from the Spectator conveys to the mind, and which is transcribed from his own handwriting in an interleaved copy of his little book. " The consciousness of approving one's-self a bene- factor to mankind is the noblest recompense for being so : and undoubtedly the most interested cannot propose anything so much to their advantage."
During the latter years of his life Mr. Ward resided at Clapham Rise, the house where he lived being now occupied by one of his married daughters, Mrs. Braithwaite ; and those who
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visited him there (and his house was open to all) will retain a vivid recollection of his unpre- tending hospitality, as well as of the many- botanical attractions the mansion presented, whether in the closed cases, or in the large Fern-house, or in the open air in the garden.
About the beginning of the year 1868, his health began to fail, and in May he went to St. Leonard's in hope of recovery, but he died there quite suddenly on the 4th of June, aged 77, and was interred at Norwood cemetery in the pre- sence of a large number of friends, among whom were many representatives of the Apothecaries' Society, whom he had served so long and so well.
Mr. Ward, as a medical practitioner, was an honour to his profession, and as a naturalist was a man of superior attainments. He was an excellent classical scholar, and although his modesty seemed to prevent him from making any public displays of oratory he was a ready and fluent speaker. He was a genial companion, full of anecdotes, which he related with great felicity, and he was not only cheerful himself but imparted his cheerfulness to those around him. A Journahst, whose friendship he enjoyed for many years, in noticing his death spoke of him as " one of the gentlest, kindest, and purest of human beings," and to this it may be added.
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partly from general and partly from personal knowledge of his character, that he was true in all the relations of life, and was a genuine and practical Christian. His life is a striking instance of the gentle influence imparted to the mind of man by the early love and contemplation of nature, a feeling which never forsook him to the last, and which, it may be moreover remarked, sustained him through many and great domestic sorrows, not the least of which was the loss of a son of very great promise, who was cut off in the very spring-time of fame and prosperity.
We cannot close this brief memorial without quoting the following passages from the pen of Dr. (the present Sir Joseph Dalton) Hooker, written on the occasion of Mr. Ward's death. " Mr. Ward, whom I knew for full thirty years of my life, was as warm and steady a friend as T ever possessed ; and it would be difficult to say which of the many excellent traits of his estimable character was most worthy of imitation, his love of truth, or his appreciation in others of gene- rous qualities far inferior to his own ; his un- selfish regard for the happiness of those around him; or the absence of all vanity, littleness, and self-love ; or his eager desire to promote the worthy aspirations of the young, and administer to the failing faculties of the old. He sought the
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acquaintance of youths, especially for the pur- pose of fostering the tastes of those who took to natural history, and instilling the love of Nature into those who did not, with the one object in both cases of rendering their lives the happier ; and he extended the same solicitude to the poorest of the poor with a zeal and single- ness of purpose which would have appeared morbid in a man of less cultivated tastes or less scientific acquirements .... In the memory of those who knew him, Mr, Ward will live as a type of a genial, upright, and most amiable man, an accomplished practitioner, and an enthusiastic lover of nature in all its aspects."
1863 The Court of Assistants having determined to carry out energetically the proposed altera- tions and improvements in the Chelsea Garden, the necessary orders were given, and 500/. were voted to defray the expenses. A provisional list of medicinal and other plants proposed to be cultivated in the Garden was prepared by the Curator, Mr. Moore, with great care, and was printed for distribution, the object being to induce the Members of the Society and others to assist in the completion of the various col- lections of plants by contributing specimens, either obtained by themselves or through the
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agency of correspondents or relatives abroad. This provisional list comprised a great number of species, and was arranged, in the main, on the principles of Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom and the Flora Medica of the same author, but references were also copiously made to Pereira's Materia Medica, Royle's Manual of Materia Medica, the Pharmacopee Universelle, and other sources. Mr. Moore evidently wished to make the Chelsea Garden as complete a repertory of Medical Botany as possible, and such as shouldbe available for instruction by Professors of Botany and their students, who were invited to make use of the establishment in its renovated form. The design of this list was to make suggestions as to the plants which might be contributed by correspondents at home or abroad, and in response to the appeal several contributions were received. Although the results did not altogether meet the expectations or the require- ments of the occasion, still some great and im- portant changes were effected, not only in the addition of new plants, but also in the construc- tion of new and improved buildings for the pro- tection and cultivation of the more tender species, and in the furnishing of the rooms of the Assistant Gardeners with suitable books and specimens for the instruction of these officials.
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In all tliese improvements, tlie services rendered bv Mr. Nathaniel B. Ward were emi- nently conspicuous, that gentleman being at the time now alluded to, and having been many years previously, an active Member of the Gar- den Committee. The Garden was now placed altogether in a much better condition ; hot-house plants were again taken into cultivation ; and a new structure, being a kind of Wardian Case on a large scale, was built for the purpose of keeping such plants as, although hardy, do not well bear the climate of London. Under the directions of Mr. Ward, too, the plants in the two lean-to greenhouses on the north side of the Garden were planted out on rocky mounds, and a new and more extensive collection of plants pos- sessing medicinal properties, or more or less employed medicinally, was at the same time formed near the entrance-gate, and the whole Garden underwent a process of renovation, which added most materially both to the beauty of its appearance and to its efficiency as a school of Botany. Indeed, from that time to the present, the establishment may lay claim to the possession of the most complete set of hardy medicinal plants of any of the London gardens, although, from the more ample accommodation and the more abundant means of acquiring rare
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plants possessed by some other institutions, the indoor collections at Chelsea are not in the same advanced condition.
In this year Dr. Hooker resigned the appoint- 1866 ment of Examiner for prizes in Botany to the Apothecaries' Society, and the Rev. JVIiles Berkeley, M.A., F.L.S., was elected to fill the vacancy, and he has held the post from that time to the present.
The opportunity here seems to be a suitable one for observing that prizes in Botany have been regularly awarded by the Society every year since 1830, and the recipients of these prizes are duly recorded in the annual lists pubhshed by the authorities. Among the names of the successful candidates, the follow- ing may be adduced as showing that the com- petition for these rewards was among the early struggles of many who have since arrived at distinction, either in the profession of Medicine, or in general science : — William Jenner, Golding Bird, Philip Bernard Ayres, "William Teget- meier, George Johnson, Thomas Henry Huxley, John Syer Bristowe, Frederick William Head- land, Maxwell Tylden Masters, John Harley, Charles Hilton Fagge, Henry Trimen, Henry Greenway Howse, Henry Charlton Bastian,
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Henry Power. Some of tliese are no more, al- though their names will be honourably remem- bered ; it would be invidious to select any of the living for special notice, and indeed their merits and their position are too well known to require any such specification.
1870 In this year a notice was served on the Executive of the Apothecaries' Society, to the effect that the Metropolitan Board of Works were about to construct an Embankment along the northern bank of the Thames, extending from Pimlico to Battersea Bridge, and that certain encroachments would be made on some part of the Chelsea Garden.
In order to explain the altered conditions which this construction would involve in refer- ence to the Garden, the River, and the ad- jacent bank, it is perhaps necessary to mention that in former times the Garden communicated directly with the Hiver, a wall running along the river side, and a gate opening upon some steps from which passengers could embark and dis- embark wben visiting the Garden. At high water, the river almost and sometimes entirely washed the Garden wall, and at low water a considerable space intervened between the
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Garden and the stream. The general and pubhc objects of the Embankment were manifold, and some of them are very obvious, namely, to contract in some measure the channel of the river ; to reclaim a large extent of foreshore for the purpose of a road and in order to erect public or private buildings, and generally to add to the ornamental appearance of the Metropolis ; which last object has undoubtedly been achieved by the magnificent Embankments of which London has now to boast.
By carrying out the proposed plan, the occupiers of the Chelsea Garden would lose their immediate access to the river and would sacrifice their right to their portion of the foreshore, and a road would intervene between the Garden and the river. Hence it became necessary to settle by legal arrangement the relative rights and claims of the Apothecaries' Society as tenants of the Chelsea Garden on the one hand, and the requirements of the Metro- politan Board of Works on the other.
The result of the correspondence and of the legal discussions and decisions, was that under the powers contained in the Thames Embank- ment (Chelsea) Act 1868, the Metropolitan Board of Works acquired, for the purpose of the Chelsea Embankment, the water frontage
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of the Society. But, in addition to other valuable rights which the Society obtained from the Board of Works by way of compensation, a large sum of money was paid to them by the Board for the erection of a handsome wall, railing, and entrance-gates, facing the Em- bankment.
The Society have in addition expended a considerable sum from their ovm funds in constructing an ornamental slope or bank behind the new wall.
1874 On the 9th of May of this year the Chelsea Embankment was opened to the public, the ceremony being inaugurated by his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and his then newly married bride. The Court of Assistants of the Apothecaries' Society invited a large party to view the procession from the Garden, and as the weather was fine the scene afi'orded much pleasure to the assembled company.
1876 During this year, while the improvement and enlargement of the Garden were in progress in connexion with the completion of the Chelsea Embankment, it became known to some Mem- bers of the Court of Assistants that the Director of a large establishment at Chelsea for the
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education of young women as teachers had requested the permission of access to the Society's Garden, for the purpose of instruction in Botany. The Court at once acceded to the request, and the result was found to be highly satisfactory, large numbers of these young women, accompanied by their teachers, having since this period visited the Garden, and having derived great benefit from the opportunities for study thus afforded.
It was consequently determined by the Court 1877 of Assistants to encourage still further the pro- secution of botanical study by young women, and the Court, in June, 1877, resolved that they would offer to candidates of the female sex prizes for proficiency in Botany of the same value and to be competed for in the same manner as in the case of Medical students. In passing this resolution, it was not at aU intended to promote the assumption by ladies of medical titles, or to sanction the adoption of the medical profession by females, but merely to encourage in that sex the acquisition of botanical knowledge as a branch of general science. The authorities of Kew Garden, especially Sir Joseph Hooker, who had formerly held the post of Examiner for Botanical prizes at Apothecaries' Hall, and Mr. Thiselton Dyer, the Assistant Superintendent at
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Kew, were communicated witli, and the project received tlieir warm support.
With a view, therefore, of proraoting among young ladies the acquisition of accurate know- ledge in a branch of Natural History so entirely consistent as Botany is with female tastes and pursuits, but without any reference whatever to the connexion of this science with Medicme, a Committee was appointed to prepare a scheme for the proposed competition, and the results were embodied in the following published paper : —
EXAMINATION" FOE PRIZES IN BOTANY FOE YOUNG WOMEN.
REGULATIONS.
The Society op Apothecaries of London offer to young Women Students of Botany, for proficiency in that Science, Prizes to be competed for under tlie following conditions : —
The Competition wiU he open to aU young Women who shall produce from their teachers certificates that their age at the time of Examination does not exceed 20 years.
The Examination will he in General and not Medical Botany.
The Examination will consist of questions both written and oral, in —
1st, Structural Botany, 2nd, Vegetable Physiology, 3rd, Description of Living Plants, 4th, Systematic Botany,
so far as those subjects are contained in Sir Joseph Hooker's "Science Primer " — " Botany," and in Professor Oliver's " Lessons in Elementary Botany."
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The first Examination will take place in London, on the third Wednesday and the third Friday in June, 1878.
A portion of the second day's Examination will be devoted to Microscopical demonstration.
Certificates of Merit will be awarded, in the first instance, to a certain number of Candidates to be determined by the Examiner ; and such selected Candidates will be allowed to compete for the Prizes, consisting of the Society's Gold Medal to be awarded to the first in order of merit, and of a Silver Medal or of Books to the second.
Candidates will be required to send their names and their residences, at least fourteen days before the Examination, to the Beadle, Apothecaries' Hall, Blackfriars, E.C., when they will receive tickets of admission to the Examination.
Copies of the Eegulations may also be obtained by appli- cation to the Beadle as above.
By order of the Court,
J. E. UPTOI^", Clerh to the Society.
Apothecaries' Hall, London, 1878.
For tlie following description and plans of tlie Garden, and the Catalogue of the plants it contains, the Editor is mainly indebted to the co-operation of the distinguished Curator, Mr. Thomas Moore.
The Chelsea Botanic Garden at the present 1878 time occupies about four acres of land. The ^^^^^^^j^
^ _ state 01
figure of the Garden is that of a trapezium, the the four sides not being equal in length, and the inequality is now increased by the addition
240
MEMOIIIS OP THE
of a slip of reclaimed land, whicli has been thrown in with the older portion since the con- struction of the new river-side embankment. At the eastern end, of the side facing the river, the angle formed by the boundaries is an acute one, and at the western end the angle is obtuse, while the side looking on to the river is longer than that running parallel to the Queen's Road at the northern boundary. The old wall still incloses the Garden on three of its sides, but on the embankment front, or southern side, a handsome and substantial iron fence, with entrance-gates, has recently been erected.
The general disposition of the ground is that shown in Plan I. Near the centre stands a marble statue by Rysbrach of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., the donor of the ground. On the right of the entrance-gate (1), on the plot marked A, is a new plantation of hardy medicinal plants recently made. This is shown more in detail on Plan II., and is planted in serial order after the system of De Candolle. Westward from this, on Plots B and 0, as shown in detail on Plan III., is an older plantation of medicinal plants arranged according to Lindley's " Flora Medica." This is not quite so extensive a series as the former, and many of the subjects are duphcates, which is found rather an advantage
BOTANIU GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
211
than otherwise, as from variations of soil and aspect, and in some degree also from treatment, a longer snccession of flowers is obtained than would be furnished by a single patch of each plant.
It will be seen that from the entrance in Swan Walk (1) a gravel path crosses the Garden from east to west, and this is crossed by another from north to south, the statue of Sir Hans Sloane standing at the point where the paths intersect. Starting from the same point another path skirts the four sides of the Garden, while a further loop-hne traverses the new ground added near the embankment. In general terms, therefore, the portion of the Garden to the right or north of the centre path entering from Swan Walk is devoted to medical plants, and that on the left hand or south of this path, indicated by the plots D, E, F, G, to beds of hardy herbaceous plants arranged in natural orders, a few trees and shrubs, mostly the remains of former arrange- ments, being interspersed. H is an enclosed yard for storing fuel, soils, and other necessary materials.
There are four glass houses, besides pits and frames devoted to propagation. The reference figure 2 indicates the position of a span-roofed house divided in the interior into stove and
B
242
MEMOIRS OF THR
greenhouse, and primarily devoted to sucTi medicinal plants as will not grow out-doors.
The lean-to houses 3 and 4 have their contents planted out d la Ward, and may be taken to represent on a very small scale the mixed vege- tations of climates warmer than our own. The plants are not medical but of general botanical interest, No. 3 containing a considerable number of succulents. The house No. 5 is the cold house already mentioned, also planted a la Ward. At 6 and 7 are warm propagating pits, 8 is a cold pit, and 9 indicates the site of cold frames for various cultural uses in rearing young plants to supply the different collections in the Garden. A tank for water-plants (10) is situated at the lower part of the plot E. The plot I is intended for annual flowers, arranged in a serial manner according to their natural orders ; 11 is a bed of Yuccas ; 12, 12 are mixed borders of hardy flowers on the east side, useful as afi"ording different aspects for some of the same plants which occur in other parts of the Garden ; 13 is a similar border on the west side partly filled with shrubby plants ; while 14, 14 are grassy slopes running up to the embank- ment, having a series of mixed ornamental shrubs within the low inner wall, and a holly hedge between the inner wall and the outer fence.
BOTANIO GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
243
The extreme eastern corner is reserved as a plot for nursery purposes.
Within the area of the yard H stands one of the finest Oriental Planes {Platanus orientalis) to be seen in or about London, a tree of noble proportions, which it may be hoped will not materially sufi'er from its water supply being cut off by the embankment. On plot F. stands the sole remaining Cedar of Lebanon (Gedrus Lihani)y one of the original trees introduced to this country ; and on plot Gr is a handsome, straight- stemmed, evergreen oak (Quercus ilex). On the wall skirting Swan Walk, south of the entrance-gate, is an old tree of Styrax officinalis, and on the northern side a fine Wistaria, while close to the north boundary wall, near bed 11, stands a very good example of the Maidenhair tree (Salishuria adiantifolia) .
u 2
A
PiAN II. — Plan sliowing Beds of Hardy Medicinal Plants, arranged De Candolle on Plot A of Plan I.
LIST OF MEDICAL PLxiNTS IN PLOT A,
AFTER THE ARRANGEMENT OP DE CANDOLLE.
{See Plan 11.)
Bed 1, commencing at N. end.
Order Ranunculacece.
Clematis erecta, All. — Central Europe. Clematis Flammula, Lin. — South Europe. Anemone Pulsatilla, Lin. — England. Eanunculus acris, Lin. — England. Eanunculus Flammula, Lin. — England. Helleborus foetidus, Lin. — England. Helleborus niger, Lin. — Central Europe. Helleborus orientaHs, Lam. — Asia Minor, Greece. Aconitum Napellus, Lin. — England. Aconitum ferox. Wall. — Nepal. Aconitum paniculatum. Lam. — Europe. Aconitum Lycoctonum, Lin. — Europe. Delphiaium Consolida, Lin. — England-
Bed 2.
Delphinium Staphisagria, Lin. — South Europe. Pseonia officinalis, Retz. — Europe. Actsea spicata, Ldn. — Europe. Xanthorrhiza apiifolia, Herit. — Virginia. Cimicifuga racemosa, Bart. — iN'orth America. Podophyllum peltatum, Lin. — l^Torth America. Order Magnoliacece.
Liriodendron Tulipifera, Lin. — North America. Magnolia glauca, Lin. — North America.
246
MEMOIRS Oy THE
Order Berber idacece.
Berberis vulgaris, Lin. — England. Order Fapaveracece.
Chelidonium majus, Lin. — England.
Argemone mexicana, Lin. — Mexico.
Papaver Rhceas, Lin. — England.
Papaver somniferum, Lin. — Levant, South Europe.
Order Cruciferce.
Isatis tinctoria, Lin. — England. Cochlearia Armoracia, LAn. — Europe. Cochlearia officinalis, Lin. — England.
Bed 3, S. end.
Cardamine pratensis, Lin. — England. Sinapis alba, Lin. — England. Sinapis nigra, Lin. — England.
Order Violacece.
Viola odorata, Lifi. — England. Viola canina, Lin. — England.
Order Polygalacece.
Polygala vulgaris, Lin. — England.
Order Caryophyllacece.
Agrostemma Githago, Lin. — England. Dianthus Caryophyllus, Li7i. — England. Saponaria officinalis, Lin. — England. Vaccaria vulgaris, Host — Europe.
Order Tamaricacece.
Tamarix gaUica, Lin. — England, Mediterranean region. Myricaria germanica, Desv. — Europe, Caucasus.
Order Hypericacem.
Androssemum officinale. All. — England, Greece.
Oi'der Malvacece.
Althaea officinalis, Lin. — England. Malva sylvestris, Lin. — England.
Order Tiliacece.
Tilia europsea, Lin. — England.
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA. 247 Bed 4.
Order Linacece.
Linum usitatissimum, Lin. — England.
Order Oxalidacece.
Oxalis crenata, Jacq. — Mountains of Peru.
Order Geraniacece.
Geranium maculatum, Lin. — North America, Geranium Eobertianum, Lin. — England. Erodium moschatum, Willd. — England.
Oi'der Zygophyllaceoe.
Zygophyllum Fabago, Lin. — Syria, Morocco.
Order Rutaceoe.
Euta graveolens, Lin. — South Europe, Dictamnus albus, Lin. — South Europe.
Order Xanthoxylacece.
Xanthoxylon fraxineum, Willd. — N'orth America. Ptelea trifoliata, Lin. — I?"orth America.
Order Aquifoliaceoe.
Ilex Aquifolium, Lin. — England.
Order CelastraceoB.
Euonymus europseus, Lin. — England.
Order RJiamnacece.
Ehamnus catharticus, Lin. — England.
Bed 5, I^. end.
Ehamnus infectorius, Lin. — South Europe. Order Vitacece.
Vitis vinifera, Lin. — South Asia, Greece, &c.
Order Sapindacece.
^sculus Hippocastanum, Lin. — Asia, ITorth India. -(Esculus ohioensis, Michaux — North America.
Order Anacardiacece.
Pistacia Lentiscus, Lin. — South Europe, North Africa, Levant.
248
MEMOIRS OF THE
Elms Toxicodendron, Lin. — North America. Ehus Cotinus, Ldn. — South Europe, Caucasus. Rhus glabra, Lin. — North America.
Order Con'ariacece.
Coriaria myrtifolia, Lin. — Mediterranean region.
Order Ler/umivosce.
Baptisia tinctoria, R. Br. — North America. Astragalus Pseudo-Tragacantha, Fall. — Eastern Cau- casus.
Spartium junceum, Lin. — South Europe. Sarothamnus scoparius, Wimm. — England. Trigonella coerulea, Seringe — South Europe, North Africa.
Trigonella foenum-greecum, Li7i. — South of France.
Glycyrrhiza glabra, Lin. — South Europe.
Colutea arborescens, Lin. — Central and South Europe.
Ervum Ervilia, Lin. — South Europe.
Ervum Lens, Lin. — Europe.
Eaba vulgaris, Moench. — Caspian region.
Lathyrus tuberosus, Lin. — England.
Coronilla Emerus, Lin. — Central and South Europe.
Order Drupaceoe.
Amygdalus communis dulcis, DO. — Levant, North Africa.
Amygdalus communis amara, DO. — Levant, North Africa.
Amygdalus persica, Lin. — Persia.
Cerasus virginiana, Michaux — North America.
Cerasus Laurocerasus, Loisel. — Trebizond.
Prunus spinosa, Lin. — England.
Prunus Armeniaca, Lin. — Armenia.
Order Pomacece.
Pyrus Aucuparia, Gcertn. — England. Mespilus germanica, Lin. — England. Cydonia vulgaris, Pers. — South Europe.
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
249
I Bed 6, S. end.
Order Rosacece.
Eosa centifolia, Lin. — East Caiicasns,
Rosa gallica, Lin. — Central and South Europe.
Eosa canina, Lin. — England.
Eubus Idseus, Lin. — England.
Eubus villosus, Ait. — Korth America.
Potentilla reptans, Lin. — England.
Potentilla Tormentilla, Nestl. — England.
Agrimonia Eupatoria, Lin. — England.
Geum urbanum, Lin. — England.
Geum rivale, Lin. — England.
Geum canadense, Murr. — N"orth America.
Spir^a Ulmaria, Lin. — England.
Poterium Sanguisorba, Lin. — England. Order Calycanthacece.
Calycanthus floridus, Lin. — Carolina. Order Myrtacece.
Punica Granatum, Lin. — Syria, N'orth Africa, &c. Order Lythracece.
Lythriim Salicaria, Lin. — England. Order Gucurhitacece.
Bryonia dioica, Jacq. — England.
Cucurbita aurantia, Willd. — Patria ignota,
Ecballium Elateriiim, Kick. — South Europe.
Oi'der Datiscacece.
Datisca cannabina, lAn. — Asia Minor, Persia, l^orth India.
Order Crassulaceoe.
Sedum acre, Lin. — England. Sedum Telephium, Lin. — England. Sempervivum tectorum, Lin. — England,
Order Saxifragacece.
Heuchera americana, Lin. — !N"orth America. Order Grossulariece.
Eibes nigrum, Lin. — England.
250
MEMOIRS 0¥ THE
Order Umhelliferce.
Eryngium maritimum, Lin. — England
Cicuta vii'osa, Lin. — England.
Apiuni graveolens, Lin. — England.
Petroseliniim sativum, Hoffm. — England.
Slum Sisarum, Lin. — China, Japan, Mongolia, &c.
Pimpinella Saxifraga, Lin. — England.
Carum Carui, Lin. — England.
Bed 7, JST. end.
(Enanthe crocata, Lin. — England.
-(Ethusa Cynapium, Lin. — England.
Eceniculuni vulgare, Gcertn. — England.
Meum Athamanticnm, Jacq. — England.
Archangelica officinalis, Hoffm. — ^Europe.
Opopanax Chironium, Koch — South Europe.
Ferula persica, Willd. — Persia.
Eerula Eerulago, Lin. — Mediterranean region.
Eerula tingitana, Lin. — ]S"orth Africa, Tangiers.
Narthex Asafoetida, Falconer — North-west India.
Imperatoria Ostruthium, Lin. — England.
Anethum graveolens, Lin. — Central Europe, Egypt, &c.
Pastinaca sativa, Lin. — England.
Peucedanum officinale, Lin. — ^England.
Daucus Carota, Lin. — England.
Anthriscus Cerefolium, Hoffm. — South Europe.
Conium maculatum, Lin. — England.
Smyrnium Olusatrum, Lin. — England.
Coriandrum sativum, Lin. — ^England. Order Araliacece.
Gunnera chilensis, Lam. — Chili, Peru.
Hedera Helix, Lin. — England.
Aralia nudicaulis, Lin. — ISTorth America. Order Coi'nacece (Riihiacece).
Cornus mascula, Lin. — South Europe.
Cornus circinata, Herit. — North America.
Cornus sericea, Herit. — North America.
Cornus florida, Lin. — North America.
EOT AN [0 GAEDEN AT OHBr,SEA:
251
Order CtiprifoUacece.
Sambucus nigra, Lin. — England.
Orde7' Galiacece (Ritbiacece).
Asperula odorata, Lin. — -England.
Eubia tinctorum, Lin. — South Europe, Levant.
GaKum Aparine, Lin. — England.
Order Valerianacece.
Valeriana celtica, Lin. — Alps of Europe (in frames). • Valeriana officinalis, Lin. — England.
Bed 8, S. end.
Valeriana Phu, Lin. — Central Europe.
Order Compositce, § Tuhuliflorce.
Tussilago Earfara, Lin. — England.
Inula Helenium, Lin. — England.
Anthemis nobilis, Lin. — England.
Achillea Millefoliuni, Lin. — England.
Achillea nobilis, Lin. — Central and South Europe.
Ptarmica vulgaris, DC. — England.
Pyrethrum Tanacetum, DO. — South Europe.
Pyrethrum Parthenium, Smith — England.
Artemisia Abrotanum, Lin. — South Europe.
Artemisia Absinthium, Lin. — England.
Artemisia pontica, Lin. — Europe, Central Asia.
Artemisia Santonica, Lin. — Tartary, Siberia.
Artemisia Dracunculus, Lin. — South Europe, Siberia.
Tanacetum vulgare, Lin. — England.
Doronicum Pardahanches, Lin. — England.
Arctium majus, Schknhr — England.
Cnicus benedictus, Gcertn. — South Europe, Persia.
Carthamus tinctorius, Lin. — India, Egypt.
Cynara Scolymus, Lin. — South Europe.
Order Compositce, § Ligidiflorce.
Cichorium Endivia, Lin. — India, Asia Minor, Greece. Cichorium Intybus, Lin. — England. Tragopogon porrifolius, Lin. — England.
252
MEMOIRS OF THE
Scorzonera hispanica, Lin. — Europe, North Asia. Lactuca sativa, Lin. — Europe. Lactuca virosa, Lin. — England. t Taraxacum Dens leonis, Desf. — England. Order Loheliacece.
Lobelia cardinalis, Lin. — I^orth America. Lobelia syphilitica, Lin. — N'orth America. Lobelia inflata, Lin. — North America.
Order Ericacece.
Arbutus Unedo, Lin. — South Europe, Ireland. Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, Spr. — England.
Bed 9, K end.
Gaultheria procumbens, Lin. — North America. Kalmia latifolia, Lin. — North America. Ledum latifolium, Ait. — North America. Rhododendron ferrugineum, Lin. — Switzerland. Azalea pontica, Lin. — Asia Minor, Caucasus.
Order Ehenacece.
Diospyros virginiana, Lin. — North America.
Order Primiclacece.
Anagallis arvensis, Lin. — England.
Cyclamen europaeum, Lin. — South Europe, England.
Primula veris, Lin. — England. Order Jasminacece.
Jasminum officinale, Lin. — China, South Europe. Order Apocynacece.
Apocynum androsaemifoKum, Lin. — North America.
Apocynum cannabinum, Lin. — North America.
Order Asclepiadacece.
Asclepias tuberosa, Lin. — North America.
Yincetoxicum officinale, Moencli — Europe. Order Oleacece.
Eraxinus excelsior, Lin. — England.
Eraxinus Ornus, Lin. — South Europa
Olea europsea, Lin. — South Europe, Barbary, Levant
Syringa vulgaris, Liji. — East Europe, Persia.
BOTANIC OAIIDEN AT CHELSEA.
253
Order Gentianacece.
Menyanthes trifoliata, Li'w.'— England. Erytlirsea Centaurium, Pers. — England. Gentiana lutea, Lin. — Alps of Europe.
Order Convolvulacece.
Calystegia sepium, R. Br. — England.
Convolvulus arvensis, Lin. — England.
Convolvulus Scammonia, Lin. — Greece, Levant.
Pharbitis Nil, Gltoisy — India, Tropics generally. Ordei' Solanacece.
Kicotiana Tabacum, Lin. — Tropical America.
Datura Stramonium, Lin. — England.
Hyoscyamus niger, Lin. — England.
Atropa Belladonna, Lin. — England.
Capsicum annuum, Lin. — India, South America, Mexico.
Solanum Dulcamara, Lin. — England.
Solanum nigrum, Lin. — England.
Bed 10, S. end.
Lycopersicum esculentum. Mill. — South America, Peru. Order Boraginacece.
Anchusa tinctoria, Lin. — South Europe.
Borago officinalis, Lin. — England. Oi'der Lahiatce.
Ocimum Basilicum, Lin. — India, "Western Asia.
Lavandula Spica, DC. — Mediterranean region, Algiers.
Lavandula vera, DC. — Mediterranean region, Morocco.
Mentha piperita, Lin. — England,
Mentha viridis, Lin. — England.
Mentha Pulegium, Lin. — England.
Mentha aquatica, Lin. — England.
Salvia officinalis, Li7i. — South Europe.
Eosmarinus officinalis, Lin. — South Europe, Asia Minor, Algiers.
Bed 11.
Origanum Majorana, Lin. — Central Asia, Arabia, North Africa.
254
MEMOIES OP THE
Origanum vulgare, Lin. — England. Satureia hortensis, Lin, — South Europe. Thymus Serpyllum, Lin. — England. Hyssopus ofl&cinalis, Lm,— South Europe, Central Asia.
Melissa ofl&cinalis, Lin. — South Europe, England. !N"epeta Cataria, Lin. — England. Nepeta Glechoma, Benth. — England. Marruhium vulgare, Lin. — England. Teucrium Chamsedrys, Lin. — England.
Order VerhenacecB.
Verbena officinalis, Lin. — England. Order Scrnpliulariacece.
Yerbascum Thapsus, Lin. — England.
Linaria \ailgaris, Mill. — England.
Scrophularia nodosa, Lin. — England.
Gratiola officinalis, Lin. — Europe.
Bed 12, N. end. Digitalis purpurea, Lin. — England. Order Plumbaginacece.
Armeria vulgaris, Willd. — England.
Plumbago europaea, Lin. — South Europe, Asia Minor.
Order Plantaginaceoe.
Plantago Psyllium, Lin. — South Europe. Plantago Cynops, Lin. — Europe.
Order Cflienopodiacem.
Chenopodium anthelmintic urn, Lin. — North America, Brazil
Chenopodium Vulvaria, Lin. — England. Chenopodium Botrys, Lin. — South Europe, North Africa.
Order Nyctaginacece.
Mirabilis Jalapa, Lm.— Peru, Mexico. Mirabilis longiflora, Lin. — Mexico.
BOTANIC GAEDEN AT CHELSEA.
265
Order Phytolaccacece.
Phytolacca decandra, Lin. — JS'orth America.
Order Polygonacece.
Eheum undiilatum, iyiw. — Siberia. Eheum palmatum, Lin. — Chinese Tartary. Eheum Emodi, Wall. — Himalaya. Eheiim officinale, Baillon — Eastern Thibet, Western China.
Bed 13.
Kumex Hydrolapathum, Huds. — England. Eumex alpinns, Lin. — England, Eumex Acetosa, Lin. — England. Polygonum Bistorta, Lin. — England.
Order Thymelacece.
Daphne Mezereum, lAn. — England. Daphne pontica, Lin. — Asia Minor. Daphne Laureola, Lin. — England.
Order Elceagnacem.
Elseagnus angustifolia, Lm/.— South Europe, Central Asia.
Bed 14, S. end.
Order Lauracece.
Sassafras officinale, Nees — North America. Laurus nobilis, Lin. — South Europe, Asia Minor. Benzoin odoriferum, Nees — E'orth America.
Order Buxacece.
Buxus sempervirens, Lin. — England.
Order Euphorhiaceoe.
Eicinus communis, Lin. — India. Mercurialis annua, Lin. — England. Mercurialis perennis, Lin. — England. Euphorbia Cyparissias, Lin. — England. Euphorbia Gerardiana, Jacq. — Europe.'
256 MEMOIES 0¥ THE
Euphorbia hyberna, Lin. —England. Euphorbia pakistris, Liu. — Eui'ope. Euphorbia Lathyris, Li7i. — England. Euphorbia Peplus, Lin. — England. Euphorbia helioscopia, Lin. — England.
Order Empetracece.
Empetrum nigrum, Lin. — England.
Oi'der Corylacece.
Quercus pedunculata, Willd.— England. Quercus sessiliflora, Smith — England. Quercus lusitanica (infectoria), TFe/j& —Mediterranean region.
Order Juglandaceoe.
J uglans regia, Lin. — Asia Minor, Levant, &c.
Order Moracece.
Eicus Carica, Lin. — South Europe, Asia Minor.
Morus alba, Lin. — Asia.
Morus nigra, Lin. —South Europe, Persia.
Order Cannahinacece.
Humulus Lupulus, Lin. — England. Cannabis sativa, Lin. — India, Persia,
Order Urticacece.
Parietaria officinalis, Lin. — England. Urtica dioica, Lin. — England.
Bed 15, E. end.
Order Ulmacece.
Ulmus montana. Smith — England.
Celtis australis, Lin. — South Europe, North Africa.
Order Aristolochiac.ece.
Aristolochia Clematitis, Lin. — Europe, England. Asarum canadense, Lin. — North America. Asarum europium, Liji. — England.
Order Saururacooi.
Saururus cemuus, Lin. — North America.
BOTANIO GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
Order Myricacece.
Comptonia aspleniifolica, Gcertn. — North America. Myrica Gale, Lin. — England. Myrica cerifera, Lin. — JSTorth America.
Order Betulacece.
Alnus glutinosa, Willd. — England. Betula nigra, Lin. — North America. Betula alba, Lin. — England.
Order Salicaceoe.
Populus balsamifera, Lin. — North America. Populus nigra, Din. — England. Salix pentandra, Lin. — England. Salix fragilis, Lin. — England. Salix Kusselliana, Smith — England. Salix purpurea, Lin. — England.
Order Platanacece.
Liquidambar styraciflua, Lin. — North America.
Order Conifei'ce, § Taxinece.
Taxus baccata, Lin. — England.
Bed 16, N. end.
Order CmifercB, § Ahietinece.
Picea balsamea. Loud. — North America.
Picea pectinata. Loud. — Central and South Europe.
Abies nigra, Michauz — North America.
Abies excelsa, DC. — North Europe.
Pinus Pinaster, Soland. — South Europe.
Pinus sylvestris, Lin. — England.
Pinus Pumilio, Hcenke — Central Europe.
Larix europsea, DC. — European Alps, Siberia.
Juniperus communis, Lin. — England.
Juniperus Sabina, Lin. — Central Europe.
Thuja occidentalis, Lin. — North America.
Order Dioscoreacea.',.
Tamus communis, Lin. — England.
S
258
MEMOIRS OF THE
Order Smilacece.
Smilax aspera, Lin. — South. Europe, Levant. Order Marantacece.
Canna edtilis, Ker — Peru, Order Hcemodoracece.
Aletris farinosa, Lin. — ITorth America. Ordea' AmaryUidacece.
Leucoium sestivum, Lin. — England.
Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus, Lin. — England.
Narcissus Tazetta, Lin. — South Europe, North Africa.
Pancratium maritimum, Lin. — Mediterranean region.
Order Iridacem.
Crocus sativus, Lin. — Greece, Asia Minor. Iris foetidissima, Lin. — England. Iris florentina, Lin. — South Europe, Iris germanica, Lin. — Europe. Iris Pseudacorus, Lin. — England.
Order Liliacece, § Tulipece.
Eritillaria imperialis, lAn. — European Turkey, Persia, Lilium candidum, Z^'w,— South Europe, Asia Minor,
Order Liliacece, § Scillece.
Allium ascalonicum, Lin. — Asia Minor. Allium Cepa, Lin. — Mountains of Caucasus, Allium fistulosum, Lin. — Siberia, Altaic Alps, Allium Porrum, Lin. — South Europe, Egypt, Allium sativum, Lin. — Sicily, Egypt, Allium Scorodoprasum, Lin. — England. AUium Schcenoprasum, Li7i. — England.
Bed 17, W. end.
Order Liliacece, § Asparagece.
Ruscus aculoatus, Lin. — England. Polygonatum officinale. All. — England. Asparagus officinalis, Li7i. — England,
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
259
Order Melanthaceoi.
Colchicura variegatnm, Lin. — South Europe, Lovaut. Colchicum autumnale, Lin. — England. Veratrum album, Lin. — Europe.
Veratrum nigrum, Lin. — Central and South Europe, Siberia.
Order Orontiacece.
Acorus Calamxrs, Lin. — England.
Order Aracece.
Arum maculatum, Lin. — England. Dracunculus vulgaris, Scliott — South Europe.
Order Graminacece, § PhalarecB. Zea Mays, Lin. — Paraguay.
Order Graminacece, § Panicece.
Panicum miliaceum, Lin. — India.
Setaria italica, Kunth — Europe, India, !N"ew Holland.
Order Graminacece, § AvenecB.
Avena sativa, Lin. — Mesopotamia.
Order Graminacece, § Hordece.
Lolium temulentum, Lin. — England.
Triticum repens, Lin. — England.
Triticum vulgare, Vill. — Central Asia.
Secale cereale, Lin. — Caucasico-Caspian Desert.
Hordeum distichum, Lin. — Mesopotamia, Tartary.
Order Cyperacece.
Carex hirta, Lin. — England. Carex arenaria, Lin. — England.
260
MEMOIRS OF THE
LIST OF MEDICAL PLANTS IN" PLOTS B AND C,
AFTER THE ARRANGEMENT OP LINDLEY.
{See Plan III.)
Bed 1, commencing at S. end.
Order Ranunculacece.
Clematis Plammula, Lin. — South. Europe. Clematis erecta, All. — Central Europe. Clematis Vitalba, Lin. — England. Anemone coronaria, Lin. — South Europe. Adonis vernalis, Lin. — Europe. Eanunculus acris, Lin. — England. Eanunculus hulbosus, Lin. — England. HeUehorus niger, lAn. — Central Europe. Helleborus foetidus, Lin. — England. Helleborus viridis, LAn. — England. Delphinium Staphisagria, Lin. — South Europe. Delphinium Consolida, lAn. — England. Aconitum Napellus, Lin. — England. Aconitum paniculatum, Lam. — Europe. Paeonia ofl&cinalis, Retz. — Europe.
Bed 2, N. end.
Podophyllum peltatum, Lin. — North America.
Order Papaveracece .
Sanguinaria canadensis, Lin. — North America. Papaver soniniferum, Li7i. — Levant, South Europe. Papaver Rhoeas, Lin. — England. Chelidonium majus, Z-m.— England.
BOTANIO GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
261
Order Umhelliferoi.
Cicuta virosa, Lin. — England. Apium graveolens, Zrt'w. — England. Petroselinum sativum, Hoffm. — England. Carum Carui, Lin. — England. CEnanthe crocata, Lin. — England. Archangelica officinalis, Hoffm. — Europe, ^thusa Cynapium, Lin. — ^England (on border by adja- cent Holly bedge). Eceniculuni vulgare, Goertn. — England. Eryngium campestre, Lin. — England.
Bed 3, S. end.
Dorema Asafcetida, Hort. Edin. — Persia. Opopanax Cbironium, Koch. — Soutb Europe. Ferula persica, Willd. — Persia. Ferula tingitana, Lin. — K"ortb Africa. !N"artbex Asafcetida, Falc. — l^ortb-West India. Imperatoria Ostrutbium, Lin. — England. Anethum graveolens, Lin. — Central Europe. Heracleum SpbondyHum, Lin. — England. Daucus Carota, Lin. — England. Antbriscus sylvestris, Hoffm. — England. Conium maculatum, Lin. — England. Smymium Olusatrum, LAn. — England. Coriandrum sativum, Lin. — England.
Bed 4, N". end.
Order Berberidacece.
Berberis vulgaris, Z/i?^. — England.
Oi'der Vitacece.
Vitis vinifera,Z(ire. — Soutb Asia, Greece, &c. Order Myrtacece.
Punica Granatum, Lin. — Syria, Nortb Africa, &c.
Order Cucurbitacece.
Ecballium Elaterium, Rich. — Soutb Europe,
2G2
MEMOlliS OF THE
Order Crucifercc.
CocUearia Armoracia, Liii. — Europe. Coclilearia officinalis^ Lin. — England. Cardamine jDratensis, Lin. — England. Sinapis alba, Li7i. — England. Sinapis nigra, Lin. — England. Crambe maritima, Lin. — England.
Order Linacece.
Linum usitatissimum, Lwz. — England.
Eed 6, S. end.
Order Malvacece.
Malva sylvestris, — England.
Althaea officinalis, Lin. — England. Order Lythracece.
Lythrum Salicaria, Liii. — England. Order MhamnacecB.
Ehamnus catharticus, Lin. — England (on Plot Order Buxaceob.
•Buxus sempervirens, Lin. — England.
Order Eupliorhiacece.
Eicinus communis, Lin. — India. Mercurialis perennis, Lin. — England. Euphorbia Lathyris, Lin. — England. Euphorbia Cyparissias, Lin. — England.
Order Tamaricacece.
Tamarix gallica, lA.i. — England, Mediterranean. Order Rutacece.
Euta graveolens, Lin. — South Europe.
Dictamnus albus, Lin. — South Europe.
Bed 6, N. end.
Order Geraniacece.
Geranium maculatum Lin. — North America. Geranium Eobertianum, Lin. — England.
BOTANIC GAliDEN AT CHELSEA.
2Go
Order Oxalidaceoi.
Oxalis crenata, Jacq. — Mouutaius of Peru.
Order Coriariaceie.
Coriaria myrtifolia, Lin. — Mediterranean region.
Order Rosaceie.
Potentilla Tormeutilla, Ncstl. — England. Geum rivale, Lin. — England. Geum urbanum, Lin. — England. Agrimonia Eupatoria, Lin. — England. Kubus villosus, Ait. — North America, liosa canina, Lin. — England.
Bed 7, S. end.
E,osa centifolia, Zi/i.— East Caucasus.
Eosa gallica, Lin. — Central and South Europe.
Order Rosacece, § Pnmece.
Amygdalus communis, Liii. — Levant, North Africa. Cerasus Laurocerasus, Loisel. — Trebizoud. Prunus spinosa, Lin. — England. Prunus domestica, Lin. — England.
Order Rosaceoi, § Pomece.
Pyrus Aucuparia, Gcertri. — England. Cydonia vulgaris, Pe/w. — South Europe.
Order Legwninosce.
Cytisus Laburnum, Lin. — Alps of Europe.
Bed 8, N. end.
Sarothamnus sccparius, Wimm. — England. Glycyrrhiza glabra, Zm. — South Europe. Colutea arborescens, Lin. — Central and South Europe. Coronilla Emerus, Lin. — Central and South Europe Coronilla varia, Lin. — South Europe.
Order Crassidacece.
Sempervivum tectorum, Lin. - England. Sedum acre, 7^/'//. — England.
264
MEMOIRS OP THE
Order Anacardiacece.
Ehus Toxicodendron, Lin. — Korth America. Pistacia Terebiiithus, Lm, — South Europe, North Africa, Levant, (on Plot F),
Bed 9.
Order Moracece.
Morus nigra, Lin. — South Europe, Persia.
Bed 10.
Order CannabinacecB.
Humulus Lupulus, Lin. — England.
Bed 11.
Cannabis sativa, Lin. — India, Persia.
Bed 12, end.
Order Oleaceoe.
Olea europaea, Lin. — South Europe, Barbary, Levant.
Order Platanaceoe.
Liquidambar styraciflua, Lin. — North America.
Order Thymelacece.
Daphne Mezereum, Lin. — England.
Order Lauraceoe.
Lindera (Laurus) Benzoin, Meissn. — North America. Sassafras officinale, Nees. — North America. Laurus nobilis, Lin. — South Europe, Asia Minor.
Order Aristolochiacece.
Aristolochia Serpentaria, Lin. — North America (in
greenhouse). Asarum europseum, Li7i. — England. Asarum canadense, Lin. — North America.
Order Polygonacece.
Eheum palmatum var. tanghuticum, Regel. — Mongolia, Kansu.
Rheum undulatum, lAn. — Siberia. Rumex Acetosa, Lin. — England.
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
2G
Order Ericacece.
Azalea pontica, Lin. — Asia Minor, Caucasus. Gaultheria procumbens, Lin. — North America. Arctostapliylos Uva-ui'si, Spr. — England.
Order Styracece.
Styi'ax officinalis, Lin. — Greece, Asia Minor (on east wall
Bed 13, S. end.
Order Convolvulacece.
Convolvulus Scammonia, I/in. — Greece, Levant,
Exogonium Purga, Bentli. — Mexico. Order Lobeliacece.
Lobelia cardinalis, Lin. — E"orth. America.
Lobelia syphilitica, Lin. — l^orth America.
Lobelia inflata, Lin. — l^"orth America.
Order Gaprifoliacece.
Sambucus Ebulus, Lin. — England. Sambucus nigra, Lin. — England.
Order Rubiacece.
Eubia tinctorum, Lin. — South Europe, Levant. Order Compositce, § Senecionidece.
Tussilago Eariara, Lin. — England, Order Compositce, § Inuloidece.
Inula Helenium, Lin. — England. Order Compositce, § Anthemidece.
Tanacetum vulgare, Lin. — England.
Pyrethrum Parthenium, Smith — England.
Aitemisia Absinthium, Lin. — England.
Artemisia Abrotanum, Lin. — South Europe.
Artemisia Dracunculus, Lin. — South Europe, Siberia.
Anthemis nobilis, Lin. — England.
Bed 14, IST. end.
Order Compositce, § Cichoriacece. Lactuca sativa, Lin. — Europe. Lactuca virosa, Lin. — England.
266
MEMOIES 0¥ THE
Taraxacum Dens-leonis, Desf. — England. Cichorium lutybus, Lin. — England.
Order Valerianaceoi.
Valeriana officinalisj Lin. — England.
Order Lahiatce.
Lavandula vera, DC. — Mediterranean region, Morocco. Mentha viridis, Lin. — England. Mentha piperita, Lin. — England. Mentha Pulegium, Lin. — 'England. Salvia officinalis, Lin. — South Europe. Rosmarinus officinalis, Lin. — South Europe, Asia Minor, Algiers.
Origanum vulgare, Ldn. — England.
Hyssopus officinalis, Lin. — South Europe, Central Asia.
Melissa officinalis, Lin. — South Europe, England.
Nepeta Cataria, Lin. — England.
Nepota Glechoma, Benth. — England. ■
Bed 15, S. end.
Leonurus Cardiaca, Lin. — England. Stachys Betonica, Benth. — England. Marrubium vulgare, Lin. — England.
Order Scrophulariaceca.
Digitalis purpurea, Lin. — ^England. Scrophularia nodosa, Lin. — England. Linaria vulgaris, Mill. — England. Gratiola officinalis, Lin. — Europe.
Order Sulanacece.
Hyoscyamus niger, Lin. — England.
Atropa Belladonna, Lin. — England.
Capsicum annuum, Lin. — India, South America, Mexico.
Datura Stramonium, Lin. — England.
Solanum Dulcamara, Lin. — England.
Nicotiana Tabacum, Lin. — Tropical America.
Order Asclepiadacece. ■ Vincetoxicum officinale, Mcencli. — Europe.
BOTANIC GAliDEN AT CHELSEA.
267
Ordar Gentianacece.
Gontiaua luteii, Lin. — Alps of Europe.
Menyauthes trifoliata, Lin. — England (in Tank No. 10). Order Oleucece.
Olea europsea, LAn. — South Europe, Barbary, Levant, (See Bed 12.)
Bed 16, N. end.
Order Coniferce.
Pinus sylvestris, Lin. — England.
Abies balsamea. Mill. — North America.
Abies excelsa, DC. — North Europe.
Larix europrea, DC. — European Alps, Siberia.
Juniperus communis, Lin. — England.
Juniperus Sabiua, Lin. — Central Europe. Order Taxacece.
Taxus baccata, Lin. — England. Order Amaryllidacece.
Narcissus poeticus, Lin. — England.
Pancratium maritimum, Lin. — Mediterranean region. Order Irido.cece.
Iris Pseudacorua, Lin. — England.
Iris florentina, Lin. — South Europe.
Crocus sativus, Lin. — Greece, England. Order MelantliacecB .
Veratrum album, Lnn. — Europe, Caucasus.
Veratrum viride. Ait. — North America.
Veratrum nigrum, Lin. — Central and South Europe, Siberia.
Colchicum autumnale, Lin. — England.
Bed 17, N. end.
Order Liliacecv.
Urginea SciUa, Steinh. — South Europe, Mediterranean
region (in greenhouse). Allium Porrum, Lin. — South Europe, Egypt. Allium Cepa, Lin. — Caucasian Mountains. AUium sativum, Lin. — Sicily, Egypt.
268
MEMOIRS OP THE
Order Smilacece.
Smilax aspera, lAn. — South Europe, Asia Minor. Smilax tamnoides, lAn. — ISTorth America.
Order OrontiacecB.
Acorus Calamus, lAn. — England.
Order Graminacece.
Triticum vulgare, Vill. — Central Asia. Hordeum distichum, Lin. — Mesopotamia, Tartary. Secale cereale, Lin. — Caucasico-Caspian Desert. Avena sativa, Lin. — Mesopotamia.
Order Cyperacece.
Carex arenaria, Lin. — England. Carex hirta. Lin. — England. Cyperus longus, Li?i. — Eng'land.
Order Filices.
Pteris aquilina, Lin. — England.
Lastrea Eilix-mas, Presl. — England.
Osmunda regaHs, Lin. — England (in No. 5 house).
Bed 18, Supplementary, commencing at E. end.
Order Polygalacece.
Polygala Chamaebuxus, Li7i. — Europe.
Order Rosacece.
Spiraea Ulmaria, Lin. — England. Spiraea Eilipendula, Lin. — England.
Order Leguminosce.
Baptisia tinctoria, E. Br. — North America. Lathyrus tuberosus, Lin. — England.
Order Aristolochiacece.
Aristolochia Clematitis, Lin. — Europe, England.
Order Polygonaceoe.
Polygonum amphibium, Lin. — England.
BOTANIC GARDEN AT CHELSEA.
269
Order Primulacece.
Primula veris, Lin. — England.
Order CoriariacecB.
Coriaria myrtifolia, Lin. — Mediterranean region. Order Bubiacece (Galiacece.)
Asperula odorata, Lin. — England.
Order Compositce, § Asteroidece.
Solidago odora, Ait. —North America. Order Compositce, § Anthemidece.
Ptarmica vulgaris, DG. — England. Ordi,er Compositce, § Calendulacece.
Calendula officiaalis, Lin. — South Europe. Order Compositce, § Cynaroidece.
Centaurea Centaurium, Lin. — Italy.
Centaurea Jacea, Lin. — Central Europe.
Silybum marianum, Gcertn. — England.
Cnicus henedictus, Gcertn. — South Europe.
Cynara Scolymus, Lin. — South Europe.
Order Plantaginacece.
Plantago Cynops, Lin. — Europe. Order Plumbaginacece.
Plumbago europsea, Lin. — South Europe, Asia Minor.
Order Boraginacece.
Symphytum officinale, Lin. — England. Borago officiaalis, Lin. — England.
Order Labiates.
Lycopus europffius, lAn. — England. Order Solanacece.
Solanum nigrum, Lin. — England.
Solanum guiueense. Lam. — Guinea, Brazil.
Order Amaryllidacece.
Oporanthus luteus, Herb. — South Europe. Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus, Lin. — England.
270
MEMOIRS OP THE
Order Iridacece.
Iris versicolor, Lin. — North America. Order Liliacece.
Allium Schoenoprasum, Lin. — England. Order Graminacece.
Lolium temulentum, Lin. — England.
Setaria italica, Kunth. — Europe, India.
Order Cyperacece.
Cyperus esculentus, Lin. — South Europe, Levant.
BOTANTO PtAWEN AT CHKLSEA. 271
LIST OF NATURAL ORDERS OF HERBACEOUS PLANTS ON PLOTS D, E, F, G. (See Plan L)
The plants grown on the South, side of the Central path, on Plots D, E, F, G-, are, as already stated, chiefly herbaceous perennials grouped in beds, each bed containing usually one Natural Order. These Orders are not in any regular sequence, having originally been disposed to fit the open spaces on the ground. They will, however, be readily found on the several Plots, as follows :
The most interesting trees on this Plot are Kdlreuteria paniculata, Acer creticum, Planera Richardi, Diospyros Lotus, Quercus Gramuntia, Qmrcits Ilex, and Pyrus tSorhus.
Natural Orders on Plot D.
Scrophulariacese.
Compositse.
Dipsacese.
Valerianaceae.
Campanulacefe.
Lobeliacete.
CaprifoliaceEe (shnibby
Galiacese (Rubiacese).
Umbelliferse.
AraHacese.
Aristolochiaceaa.
Ribesiacese (shrubby plants).
Philadelphaceae (shrubby
plants). Onagracese.
plants).
Natural Orders on Plot E.
Verbenaceae.
Labiatse.
Plumbaginacete.
Plantaginaceaa.
Solanaceae.
Polemoniaceae.
Convolvulaceae.
Boraginacese.
Celastracese (shrubby plants). Leguminosae.
272 MBMOIES OP THE BOTANIC GAEDEN.
Eosacese. Hypericacea; (shrubby Sanguisorbacese. plants).
Lytliracese. Malvaceae.
Saxifragaceae. Caryophyllaceae.
Cucurbitaceae. Cruciferaj.
Eanunculacese. Cistaceas. (shrubby plants).
Berberidacea3 (shrubby Eutaceae.
plants). Anacardiacea3.
Papaveraceae. Ericaceae (chiefly Rhodo- Geraniaceae. dendron).
The most remarkable trees, climbers, &c., arc Periploca grcBca, Rhamnus catharticus, Prunus virginiana, Ostrya vulgaris, Ficus Corica, Morus alba, Gydonia vulgaris, and Mespilus germanica.
Natural Orders on Plot F.
Polygonaceaj. Phytolaccaceae. Chenopodiaceae. Urticaceae. NyctaginaceEe. Euphorbiaceae.
On this plot stands the old Cedar of Lebanon {Gedrus Libani) one of the first plants introduced to this country. Two young trees have been planted on Plots E and F, right and left of the central walk from the Embankment. Here also grow Quercus Ilex, Corylus Colurna, Bro'iissonetia papyrifera, Ailaiitus glandulosa, Pistacia TerebintJiits, and Fraxinas excelsior heterophylla.
Natural Orders on Plot G.
Commelynacece. Araceae.
Liliaceae. Amaryllidaceae.
Melanthaceae. Iridaceae.
DioscoreacesB. Graminaceae.
Smilaceae. Cyperaceae.
A notable specimen of Quercus Ilex, with a fine clean stem, stands on this Plot.
GIIiBERT AND BIVINGTON, PBINTEllS, ST. JOIIN'S SQUAllE, -LONDON.
i
1
II