BOTANICAL GARDEN OF BUITENZORG. 335 



relate. Huxley was great not because he correctly deciphered the 

 history of a fossil bone, not because he probed deep into the 

 anatomical or physiological mysteries of the living world, nor yet 

 for the reason that he was well-nigh the first one might say, 

 indeed, the first -to pound the truths and consequences of evolu- 

 tion into the material world, but because in addition to these 

 accomplishments, and much more, he molded the tendencies of 

 modern thought, and to a greater extent than any scientist of his 

 generation with the exception of Charles Darwin. Well could 

 this great philosopher observe that, had it not been for Huxley, 

 the acceptance of the evolutionary hypothesis would have been 

 removed from us by probably at least a generation. 







THE BOTANICAL GARDEN OF BUITENZORG, JAVA. 



By M. albert TISSANDIER. 



THE importance of establishing botanical gardens the utility 

 of which is incontestable in suitable spots, and particularly 

 in its colonies, has been perceived by nearly every nation. The 

 English, as early as 1786, planted a very fine garden at Calcutta, 

 under the direction of Colonel Robert Hyde ; and in 1821 they 

 created the Garden of Peradeniya, near Kandy, in Ceylon. The 

 French Government has laid out interesting botanical gardens at 

 Saigon, in Cochin China, and on the island of Reunion. 



The Dutch established in 1817 the Garden of Buitenzorg, on 

 the island of Java, and have made it the finest in the world. It is 

 situated on one of the long ridges that descend on the north from 

 the Salak Mountain to two hundred and eighty metres above the 

 level of the sea. In 1857 the garden was arranged by M. Hasskari, 

 botanist at the time, and at the suggestion of M. Diard, director 

 of a French Natural History Society, into sections, in which the 

 plants of the same family were grouped together. As a result of 

 this scientific organization, which then existed only incompletely in 

 other gardens, the establishment took the first rank. It possesses 

 other considerable advantages growing out of the exceptional im- 

 portance of its collections of all tropical species, and the generous 

 hospitality with which it receives all foreign naturalists who resort 

 to it for study. The present director, Dr. Treub, an accomplished 

 botanist, has labored constantly for the improvement of the plan- 

 tations. The garden has been much enlarged within recent years. 



The Dutch Government has comprehended from the very foun- 

 dation of this establishment that a single botanical garden would 

 not be enough, and has supplemented it with annexes. The gar- 

 dens supported by the state are divided into three parts : the 



