The Romance of the Apothecaries Garden
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THE ROMANCE OF THE APOTHECAR IES ’ GAR DE N AT CHELSEA A Garden is the p urest of h uman pleasures it is the greatest refreshm ent to the spirits of man . FRANCIS BACON . T H E R OMA NC E OF THE APOTHECARIES’ GARDEN A T C H E L S E A D AW T R E Y D R E W I T T . F. , M A , M .D . Fellow of the Roy al College of Phy sicians. C H A P M A N A N D D O D D , L I M I T E D L O N D O N A N D S Y D N E Y. M C M X X I I . PRINTED F OR CHAPMAN AND DODD B Y C AND CO LTD . AT G AHILL , DRO HEDA 7 2 C. D92! r PREFACE [ 4 2 1 A short time ago the writer was asked to represent the Royal College of Physicians on the Managing Committee of the Chelsea Physic — Garden now under Government control . The request was readily complied with . It ' afiorded an 0 portunity of learning the long h onourab and e history of the Garden , and of reading the records of its public - Spirited supporters , and of its rare trees and flowers . The story may interest some who were unaware of the existence of the Garden . Many must have found , with the writer , an absorbing pleasure in exploring some minute fraction of the great human past —o f under of standing something Yesterday , its aim and ” ' reason . There is in it all the novelty of a journey in an unknown country . This short journey has been exceptionally pleasant ; for it h as taken the writer among men of gentle and attractive lives— the old naturalists and botanists of the Physic Garden — men who lived near Nature— devoted to their dear Mother Earth . F . D . D . U LY 1 22 . J , 9 54 18- 22 AGRI CULTURE CONTENT S Introduction CHAP TER I ’ Existence of Apothecaries Garden from tim e of Stuarts — Botany — closely connected with medicine . Apothecaries b reak away from ’ — ’ Grocers C ompan y b ecome a City C ompany . Grocers petition — ’ James I for the return of th e Apothecaries . The Kin g s reply . The C ompany at last recognized and welcomed b y Lord Mayor . ’ — C ob ham House b ecomes Apothecaries Hall . Blackfriars Theatre ’ — h He bal! b next door . Jo nson , editor of Gerard s r , tastes ananas , organizes botanical excursions , dies fighting for King Charles . — — Money troub les during C ivil War . The Plagu e . The Fire of ’ — — London . Apothecaries Hall reb uilt pp . 13 23 CHAPT ER I I - Apothecaries take lease of Garden in Chels ea, 3 river side village , — ’ bounded on east b y the Westb ourne . King s Private Road not — — finished excellent site for Physic Garden . State barges . Origin — ’ of name Paradise Row . Sir Thomas More s Paradise — ’ in cluded Chelsea Park . Apothecaries Garden 3 Paradise . p p 24— 3 : CHAP TER I I I Plants transferred from Westm inster to the Chelsea Garden . — H L . 168 Visit of Professor erman of eyden Cedars planted 3 , and ’ produce cones in 17 3 2 . - S loane s letter to Ray on the Garden . ’ — — Evelyn s visit to the Garden . C inchona trees . Earl of ’ — — C larendon s visit Proposal to ab andon the Garden . Pe tiver . — ’ Natural History illustrations . Members of the Apothecaries — Society to b e taxed to maintain Garden . Sir Hans Sloane presents ’ G A c in — the arden to the pothe aries February , 1722 . pp . 3 2 44 CHAPT ER IV Sir Hans Sloane born in North of Irelan d delicate boy attends A ’ H C l P P lectures at pothecaries all , he sea hysic Garden , aris and Montpellier accompanies D uke of Albemarle to J amaica returns with large collection of Flora and Fauna practises as a physician in Bloomsb ury created a baronet by George I purchases the 1 Manor of C helsea ; dies in 7 53 , leaving his collections (under — conditions) to form a B ritish Museum . Horace Walpole a — trustee . - Statue placed in Physic Garden . S loane had saved the th ’ Physic Garden , and e right of residents in Chelsea to use King s — — Road Sloane Street represents his life pp . 4 5 54 CHAPTER V — Year 17 22 brings new life to Physic Garden . James Sherard on — . P l M l The Garden Committee hi ip iller , gardener , pub ishes viii CONTENTS ' Gardener s Dictionary — Cotto n introduced into Georgia by the — — A . a R . All pothecaries Is ac and , demonstrator members of ’ — Apothecaries Society taxed to maintain Garden . Wharf built . — — Ho t - houses . Further subscriptions called fe n Monument to — S ir Hans Sloane by R y sb rac k . L inn ae us clas sifies all living Nature — L innae us visits Sir Hans Sloane and the Physic Garden 1 6 . is allowed by Miller to take plants and dried specimens , 7 3 P Kalrn Lin n s an d M 1 8 eter , pupil of mu , visits Garden iller , 74 H walks in footsteps of L inn aeus to Putney eath , and sees the yellow furze ; describes greenhouses in the Garden ; visits Sir Hans S loane an d the museum considers the C hels ea Garden a rival of the botanic gardens of Paris and Leyden . - William — — H . P M . udson , demonstrator hilip iller pensioned Two cedars — cut down and sold in 177 1 pp . 55 6 8 CHAPTER VI S B a P G n L ir Joseph anks s a boy at hysic arden , fishi g with ord S c O a andwi h at Eton and xford sails with Capt in Cook , 17 68 collects plants in Botany B ay typical old - world natural ist brings b ack lava from I celand for rockery in Physic Garden . S tan esby Alch orn e contributes stones from Tower of London . — — B S . C anks and olander present seeds Forsyth , gardener urtis , — — demonstrator . The B otanical Magaz ine Additional tax on — — Apothecaries . Botanical excur sions . Thomas Wheeler , demon ” strato r l A , 1835, successful teacher long ife . rtificial system of Linnaeus only lin k in chain of attempts at a natural ”— L ’ — l system . indley s energy . Robert Fortune , curator , eaves Gar — — den to in troduce tea into India . Expense of the Garden . Pro — fessorsh ip abolished in 1853 . Lab ourers discharged to reduce ex — p en ditu re . Nathaniel Ward introduces Wardian cases attempts to revive Garden . Wardian cases used throughout world . — pp . 69 86 CHAPTER VI I Chelsea Embankmen t opened — Loss of Thames water to the Garden and damage to trees .- Old Maidenhair - tree among the survivors extraordinary antiquity of th e Maidenhair - tree its disappearan ce from among the wild trees cultivated as a sacred tree in China — . M b - and Japan Old ul erry trees , monuments to continual attempts — at profitab le silk - cul ture . The Oriental Plane and London — Planes . I lex . Catalpa Persimmon . Loquat Wistaria . Kaelreuteria pp . 87- 9 5 CHAPT ER VI II S wall l on l — outh bui t Che sea Embankment . Thomas Moore , curator . — Garden passes to Charity Commissioners . - Trustees of London Parochial C harities undertake its management — Rebuildin g of ’ b — P curator s house , la oratory , lecture room , greenhouses . resent — — work on botanical research . Teachers and students Importance of some knowledge of bo tan y pp . 9 6 - 100 ILLU STRATI ONS Facing Page CHELSEA PHYS IC GARDEN FROM THE RIVER 13 ’ TITLE PAGE OF GERARD s HERBALL 20 THE PHYSIC GARDEN LOOKING NORTH OLD PERS IMMON TREE S IR HANS SLOANE STATU E OF S IR HANS SLOANE STATU E OF S IR HANS SLOANE S IR JOSEP H BANKS THE ROCKERY K(E LREU TERIA PAN ICU LATA . MAP OF CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN INTRODU CTION THE term Physic Garden — the Official name ’ for the Apothecaries Garden— is a little mis leading . Although for a few years a small part of the Garden supplied herbs to be used in the laboratory at Blackfriars— and although the chief reason for the study of plants at that time was to discover their medicinal qualities— it was will be seen that the Garden founded , not for the production of drugs , but for the advancement Of botany . The word physic had then a wider meaning than it has now . It could be used in i ts original sense Of pertaining to physical “ ” (i.e. natural) science . A Physic garden was a scientific garden , and like physical strength e and physical courage , not necessarily connect d with drugs In the 17th century the two old botanic gardens Of England — those of Oxford and — Chelsea were both styled Physic Gardens . Evelyn tells us that he went to “ the Physic Garden (at Oxford) where the sensitive lant was shewed us for a great wonder . p e r here grew canes , olive tre s , hubarb , u i l besides very good fr it , wh ch when the adies ” had tasted , we returned to our lodgings . It was not a drug - producing garden . The same may be said of the Garden O f the Princess Dowager of Wales at Kew , which xii INTRODU CTION 1 60 was made into a Physic Garden in 7 , and was the small beginning from which the great 1 Royal Botanic Gardens grew . The Physic Garden at Kew House was simply a scientific collection of herbaceous plants arranged by a ’ upil of Philip Miller s according to the new in nman system .