LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. XUl 



by scores, — the least valuable of which would have been hailed in 

 my early days of boyish love for natural history, as the greatest 

 boon that could have been oifered. Nor let it be supposed that 

 the results of such reading, elementary though it be, is of slight 

 import. The consequence may be very important, and some future 

 Cuvier or Owen may refer his earliest scientific tendencies to the 

 perusal of some of these educational works : " res parva, sed ini- 

 tium non parvse." 



There are few circumstances which have a more powerful ten- 

 dency to promote the love of such pursuits than the ready access 

 of the masses of the people to the most beautiful and interesting 

 natural objects, and their exhibition in a form at once pleasing and 

 instructive. In this respect, as well as in its more important 

 phase as illustrative of the progress of botanical science and its 

 application to practical purposes, there is no existing fact which 

 claims greater attention or excites deeper interest than the noble 

 gardens at Kew. The statistics of this great Government esta- 

 blishment are so important, and involve so many considerations 

 which are of public moment, as well a» such advantages to the 

 scientific student, that a brief account of the progress recently 

 made in its different departments, cannot fail to be interesting to 

 the Fellows of the Linnean Society. 



At a time when the public mind is fully awake to the great 

 importance of affording to the people the means of rational and 

 healthful enjoyment, and when the efforts of all who are earnest 

 on the great subject of popular education are directed to the best 

 means of instruction in those sciences which are at once econo- 

 mically useful and intellectually improving, the ready and free 

 access to such sources of mental enjoyment and practical informa- 

 tion as are here combined on a scale of unexampled magnificence, 

 must be a subject of the deepest interest, and the success of the 

 establishment a cause of hearty congratulation. 



The vast number, the extreme beauty and the healthy and 

 flourishing condition, no less than the intrinsic value of the living 

 vegetation within the precincts of the garden, especially in those 

 parts of it to which the steps of the public are ordinarily directed 

 — the admirable ari-angement of the grounds and the charming 

 walks — combined with the facility with which access is attained 

 to such attractions, render it no matter of surprise that even at 

 such a distance from the metropolis, the gardens are frequented 

 by visitors whose annual numbers are no longer to be counted by 



